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• Reputation: 639 Q&A: 22 0 0 205 6 0 Classifieds: 0 0 what's this? Expert: 5 topics Books & Writing Book Recommendations General Book Discussion Other Books & Writing Book Club- A Visit from the Goon Squad Follow Following 2 David Wright

  4 0 Shoot - too busy with patrons at the library to come in first, but this question put me into fits of nerdboy librarian glee. Fnarf is right: Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable is a true delight - one of my all time favorite reference books, and one that is a lot of fun for casual browsing as well as reference. The Gutenberg one is an older edition - still enjoyable and very interesting, but a bit antiquated in its selections. There have been many newer editions in the century since which pick up on much more current expressions, so I highly recommend looking into a more recent one. I own the 16th edition, which we have reference copies of at about half our libraries, but the latest edition in print is the 18th. If you are at all the sort of person who enjoys owning reference books, I unreservedly recommend this delightful doorstop as a worthy addition to your collection - it will give you DAYS of aimless browsing pleasure. They also publish Brewer's Dictionary of Modern Phrase and Fable, which is about half the size of the full Brewer's. Other useful sources include The Facts of File Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins, The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, Eric Partridge's excellent Dictionary of Catch Phrases. (I think Partridge was the fellow who wrote Shakespeare's Bawdy, for all your naughty Elizabethans out there). Also, of related interest the Oxford Dictionary of Allusions. There are also many shorter, more casual popular interest titles for browsing pleasure such as Verbivore's Feast One and Two, The Real McCoy, Black Sheep and Lame Ducks, Common Phrases and Where They Came From, and such. David Wright answered in Book Recommendations about 1 year ago | Report 1 comment by Irena… 0 0 I just placed an order for the 18th edition online. Thanks for the info, David, and thanks to Mister Cagro for asking the question! Irena commented about 1 year ago | Report Enter your comment or ask a new question preview THIS IS A PREVIEW: Click "Post" to submit it or "Edit" to make changes. edit Please wait… This could take a minute if the tubes are clogged.

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  2 0 I figure David Wright has this question covered officially, so I will mention one book which has always been a favorite of mine and is somewhat related (but specialized): An Exaltation of Larks by James Lipton which recounts the origins and unique group names we use for animals, people and things (336 pages of it). http://www.amazon.com/Exaltation-Larks-Ultimate-James-Lipton/dp/0140170960 Russ Campbell, NWEBS answered in Book Recommendations about 1 year ago | Report 2 comments by David Wright and Russ Campbell, NWEBS… 0 0 YES! That is a really fun one, I agree - it was one of my nephew's favorite books for a while. Plus the fact that the author is THAT James Lipton - he of Inside the Actor's Studio and Will Ferrell parodies thereof - just makes it that much better. David Wright commented about 1 year ago | Report 0 0 I did not know that! Thanks for including that information. My copy disappeared long ago. Looking at the online copy I noted: a prattle of parrots also a company of parrots or how about: a durante of toucans (too much!) Russ Campbell, NWEBS commented about 1 year ago | Report Enter your comment or ask a new question preview THIS IS A PREVIEW: Click "Post" to submit it or "Edit" to make changes. edit Please wait… This could take a minute if the tubes are clogged.

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  2 1 The classic is Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. It's old, and leans heavily toward the classical (i.e., Greek and Latin), but awesome. Online here: http://www.bartleby.com/81/ Fnarf answered in Book Recommendations about 1 year ago | Report 1 comment by Mister Cagro… 0 0 Cool, I'll check it out. Mister Cagro commented about 1 year ago | Report Enter your comment or ask a new question preview THIS IS A PREVIEW: Click "Post" to submit it or "Edit" to make changes. edit Please wait… This could take a minute if the tubes are clogged.

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