Dictionary of Phrase and Fable

[Wispy68]

I'd like to buy a Dictionary of Phrase and Fable for Christmas, and the two most popular ones seem to be either Brewers or Oxford. Which is the best one?

[Obo]

My personal choice is Brewers.

[ravenhair]

Brewer's is a fun book to browse through, but you should be warned that some of the content is a little . . . unreliable, let's say.

[Quizmonster]

Click http://www.bartleby.com/81/ Nicola, and a link will take you directly to the website of the "Brewer's Dictionary of P & P". If you make a note of the URL, you can refer to it at any time online free! So, why not make the Oxford the one you actually buy?

[Wispy68]

Thank you very much for your answers. Good thinkin' Quizmaster! The only thing is that the book is a gift for my Dad, who doesn't use the internet. So, which one do you think I should go for? Also, Ravenhair, do you have an example of the unreliable content of the Brewers book? I'm not being picky, but you've intrigued me a little!

[Wispy68]

Oooops!! Sorry. I mean Quizmonster.

[Cetti]

We wouldn't be without Brewers - it comes to our rescue for no end of things - including family spats! I don't know if it's still available but I bought the paperback as it's a lot cheaper. The Brewers "Quotations" is also a good buy as well as a great browse.

[Quizmonster]

I'd still suggest buying the Oxford, even though I am not familiar with it at all. The reason I say so is because - if your Dad doesn't find the answer he's looking for in it - he can easily phone you (I presume) and you can then refer to the Brewer's website in the hope that the answer's there. Still the best of both worlds, in a sense! Cheers

[ravenhair]

Well, we use it a lot at work as a reference tool and recently we were looking at French phrases which have passed into the English language (like carte blanche, or whatever). So Brewer's contains quite a lot of French phrases which it claims are modern French and have been borrowed into English. However, on further research, most of these don't actually exist in French at all, or were used by just a handful of people in the 17th century. This, of course, may not be of any concern to your Dad, but I wonder how well the rest of the content is researched.

[sft42]

I personally use the Bloomsbury reference book which is edited by Nigel Rees. I've always found it to be just as good as the others but Brewer's does have the name as being the best.