Third edition
Edited by Elizabeth Knowles
Over 5000 entries
‘ Gathers together the brightest and wittiest thoughts of the 20th and 21st centuries … There's good fun to be found here.’ – The Times
This up-to-date collection offers a vivid picture both of the world today, and of the landmark events and key voices leading to it. From Scott's Antarctic Expedition in 1912 to the attack on the World Trade Centre in 2001, it charts watersheds such as two World Wars as well as the ebbs and flows of popular culture.
Containing over 5,000 quotations from authors as diverse as Elizabeth Arden, Billy Connolly, Bertolt Brecht, Linda Evangelista, Eddie Izzard, Alison Lurie, Carl Sagan, William Shatner, and Desmond Tutu, the dictionary is author-organized with generous cross-referencing. Special categories for film taglines and cartoon captions have been added to accompany misquotations, official advice, newspaper headlines, and many more. Informative and entertaining, this book is a vital part of the modern reference shelf, perfectly designed to answer the questions, ‘Who said that … and when … and why?’
Elizabeth Knowles is a historical lexicographer, having previously worked for ten years on the New Shorter Oxford English Dictionary.
Print edition ISBN: 9780199547463; 0199547467
Publishing history: First published 1991; second edition 2002; third edition 2007; third edition published in paperback 2008
Copyright: © Oxford University Press 2002, 2003, 2004, 2007, 2008
