7 JANUARY 1944, Page 12

ALLIED ENGLISH

SIR,—In view of the effort we are all making to promote understandin with our American allies, I would be grateful if some of your reade would explain the following phrases taken from Time of November 22nd. 1943: r. "A backlog in a barbershop."

2. "The book derives its strength from a dash of civet . . the p1 is a triangle whose base is broad, whose chief points are streamlined b agelessness."

3. " High-priced goon."

4. " Some of them had semantic reservations."

5. "A horrendous plot."

With the exception of civet, the underlined words are not in Chambe Twentieth Century Dictionary.

Can one buy a book of American phrases with English equivalents?