A dictionary of Confusable Phrases: More Than 10,000 Idioms and Collocations

short talk • tall talk
short talk —a brief lecture or address: The Director said that
he would like me to broadcast a short talk under my own name.
tall talk —(coll.) boastful or pretentious talk (also: big talk):
Tall talk is luckily an object of suspicion to Englishmen.
Note: 
The expression does not correlate in meaning with the
phrase talk highly—(also: speak highly) praise a person or thing:
He talks very highly of his students and the faculty.
short time • small time
short time —
1
. fewer than the regular number of hours allot-
ted to daily or weekly work: 80,000 textile workers were flung
out of work, and thousands more were on short time. 2. (sl.)
a brief visit to a prostitute: They [sailors] make straight for
the nearest bar and then on to the brothel for what is known
in the jargon as “a short time.”
small time —said of smth. that does not bring much profit
or receives little public notice: In these years occur the first
productions of all Shaw’s early plays. Commercially, it was
small time. Cf.: big time — said of a very high level of attainment:
Jason is doing extremely well for a freshman and his winning
goal against Indiana was big time.
Note:
The expression is not equivalent in meaning to the phrase
thin time—(coll.) a miserable, unhappy period: The Germans
are having a thin time at present, but they have a past they
can recall, and they still have a hope of the future.
See also: short hours / small hours.
shout at someone • shout to someone
shout at someone —talk to a person angrily in a loud voice:
She shouted at us for spoiling her lovely evening.
shout to someone —address smb. in a very loud voice that
can be heard from a long distance away: Davis was struggling
to carry the heavy wireless set; I shouted to him to ditch it
and save himself.