With thousands of contemporary words and phrases and a wide selection of entries on the cultural preoccupations of our times,
Brewer’s Dictionary of Modern Phrase & Fable is an invaluable guide to modern language and culture. Focusing on the 20th and 21st centuries, it applies the trademark Brewer’s treatment to a fascinating selection of buzzwords, catchphrases, slang, nicknames, fictional characters and intriguing cultural phenomena from pop culture to politics, literature to technology.
Encompassing everything from the Battle of Britain to the Brazilian wax, McCarthyism to McDonald’s and
Waiting for Godot to Wallace and Gromit,
Brewer’s Modern is wonderfully diverse, addictively browsable and bound to broaden your horizons.
John Ayto is a lexicographer and writer who lives in London. He edited the 17th edition of
Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase & Fable, and co-authored (with Ian Crofton)
Brewer’s Britain and Ireland. His other authorial credits include
The Oxford Dictionary of Slang,
The Bloomsbury Dictionary of Word Origins and Twentieth Century Words. He was a contributor to the
Oxford Dictionary of Food.
Ian Crofton is a writer and editor. His previous
Brewer’s titles are
Brewer’s Curious Titles,
Brewer’s Britain and Ireland (with John Ayto) and
Brewer’s Cabinet of Curiosities. His other publications include
A Dictionary of Musical Quotations and
A Dictionary of Art Quotations, and he was editor-in-chief of
The Guinness Encyclopedia. He also lives in London.
e-reference edition ISBN: 9780199916108
Print edition ISBN: 9780550105646
Print edition publication date: 2010
Publishing history: First edition published 2001, second edition published 2010
Copyright: © Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd
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