John Ayto

Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable is one of the world's best-loved reference books. First published in 1870, this treasury of 'words that have a story to tell' has established itself as one of the great reference classics—the first port of call for tens of thousands of terms, phrases and proper names, and a fund of fascinating, unusual and out-of-the-way information.

At the heart of the dictionary lie entries on the meaning and origin of a vast range of words and expressions, from everyday English phrases to Latin tags. Alongside these are articles on people and events in mythology and religion, and on folk customs, superstitions and beliefs. Major events and people in history are also treated, as are movements in art and literature, famous literary characters, and key aspects of popular culture, philosophy, geography, science and magic. To complete this rich mix of information, Brewer and his subsequent editors have added an extraordinary and enticing miscellany of general knowledge—lists of patron saints, terms in heraldry, regimental nicknames, public house names, the principal English horse-races and famous last words.

For the Seventeenth Edition of Brewer's the entire existing text has been revised and updated and more than 1500 new articles added. These include:

• words and phrases (best thing since sliced bread, bling, where the bodies are buried);
• characters and places from fantasy literature and film (Gollum, Hogwarts, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Voldemort);
• political, celebrity and sporting nicknames (Butcher of Baghdad; Dubya);
• miscellaneous arcana (Chorasmian Waste, dilligrout, dwile flonking).

This first new Brewer's of the 21st century maintains and respects the book's 135-year-old tradition, while offering a wealth of fascinating new material to reflect the 'phrase and fable' of a changing world.

If your other reference books aren't funky enough for you, get a nickel bag of unorthodoxy with the Oxford Dictionary of Slang. This comprehensive look at informal English from around the world and across the centuries is organized thesaurus-style into sections for easy browsing by category. Look up underground terminology for drugs and sex and you'll be browsing for a month of Sundays. Of course, if you need to get the skinny on a particular term but have no idea what it could mean, there's an alphabetical index that'll take you right where you need to go. Each word or phrase is thoroughly documented, as you'd expect from an Oxford dictionary; its first print sighting, place of use, meanings, and cross-contextual references are included, as well as illuminating usage quotes. The Dictionary is easy to use and the definitions are concise--you can get the information you need quickly with time left to linger over related terms. More than 10,000 entries yield plenty of insight into commonly used but still-not-quite-kosher parts of our language. When your New Zealander buddy refers to someone as a cow-spanker, you won't have to wonder for long just who you're dealing with (don't worry, she's a dairy farmer); the Oxford Dictionary of Slang will give you the moxie to deal with a discombobulated world. --Rob Lightner [via]

Over the past decade, the Oxford-Duden family of German-English dictionaries has established itself as a world leader, recommended for teachers, translators, and students. Backed up by the unique language databanks maintained and continuously expanded by Oxford University Press and the Dudenverlag (Germany's leading language reference publisher) for their celebrated monolingual dictionaries, every title in the range provides a more accurate, up-to-date, and complete picture of real language than has ever been possible before.
Now comes The Oxford-Duden German Dictionary, the flagship of the line, in a major new edition. Here one will find unmatched coverage of German worldwide (including Swiss and Italian German), incorporating the spelling changes ratified in 1996. It features:
* Over 260,000 words and phrases
* Over 450,000 translations
* Thousands of example sentences illustrate real language in use
* All-new innovative in-text boxes cover topics such as
nationalities, jobs, greetings, and apologizing, grouping
together word patterns and expressions to help with usage,
construction, and vocabulary building
* New preferred German spellings are given throughout
* Helpful boxes on a wide variety of subjects including grammar,
numerical expressions, weights and measures, and a
guide to letter writing
* Numerous full-page maps
Acclaimed by language professionals the world over, the unabridged Oxford-Duden is the most comprehensive, accurate, and up-to-date dictionary of German and English. [via]