Product Description

Focusing on the English language of the 20th and 21st centuries, this impressive volume examines the linguistic and cultural significance of over 7,500 popular words and phrases. Its encyclopedic entries cover a diverse selection of catchphrases, buzzwords, characters from film, TV and literature, slogans, idioms and modern cultural references. From Harry Potter to Posh and Becks, Chelsea tractors to 'cheap as chips', Brewer's Modern Phrase and Fable defines the world we live in.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #553542 in Books
• Published on: 2006-10-15
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 868 pages

Review

"I can't remember when I last learnt quite so many different things from one book"

"...peerless...Brewer's has kept ahead of the game by compiling this
marvelous compendium...It has captured the flavour of the past 100 years"

About the Author
Ian Crofton has compiled many works of reference, books of quotations and miscellanies over the yers, including A Dictionary of Musical Quotations (with Donald Fraser), A Dictionary of Art Quotations, The Guinness Encyclopedia (as editor-in-chief), Brewer's Dictionary of Curious Titles, and, with John Ayto Brewer's Britain and Ireland and the 2nd edition of Brewer's Dictionary of Modern Phrase and Fable. He lives in North London. John Ayto is a writer and lexicographer. He is the editor of the 17th edition of Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable and co-author (with Ian Crofton) of Brewer's Britain and Ireland. His other authorial credits include The Oxford Dictionary of Rhyming Slang and The Bloomsbury Dictionary of Word Histories. He lives in London. Ian Crofton is a writer and editor. His publications include Brewer's Curious Titles, A Dictionary of Musical Quotations and A Dictionary of Art Quotations, and he was editor-in-chief of The Guinness Encyclopedia. He lives in London.