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

writing on the wall • writing on water
writing on the wall —(also: handwriting on the wall) warning
signs of impending disaster: Many Britons invested in private
pensions and private health care because they could see the
writing on the wall for the welfare state.
writing on water —said of an action that will not yield lasting
results and is therefore futile: Seeking wisdom when you are
old is like writing on water; seeking it when you are young is
like graving on stone.
wrong in the head • wrong-headed
wrong in the head —crazy; insane: When we read the first
part of the saga, we naturally presumed Andy was somewhat
wrong in the head.
wrong-headed —
1
. persistent in erroneous opinion: To us,
at that time, he was a wrong-headed young man who had
– 337 –
wrong in the head

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thrown away a good career, and was vain enough to think he
could be an author. 2. (of a belief, decision, etc.) wrong and
irrational: The choice of Murphy was so wrong-headed that
even some of the people who negotiated the deal were embar-
rassed by it.
Y
yellow black • yellow nigger
yellow black —(U.S. sl., may sound offensive) said of a light-
skinned Black American (also: high yellow black): It has always
been somewhat bothersome for me as a so-called “high-yel-
low” black American when people approach me about my
ancestry.
yellow nigger —(U.S. sl., taboo) an offensive name for an East
Asian: He recalled that he was denounced as a “yellow nigger”
when he took part in civil-rights marches in the 
1
960s and
early 
1
970s.
Yellow Book • yellow newspaper
Yellow Book —rule book for listed companies which governs
their behavior: The Financial Yellow Book brings you accurate
information on 822 public and private financial companies in
the United States.
yellow newspaper —a newspaper of unscrupulously sensa-
tional character: The man who in a yellow newspaper makes
a ferocious attack on good men is a potent enemy of those of
us who are really striving to expose bad men.