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Who’s saying what about
Nigel Rees and “Quote... Unquote”

“Nigel Rees is Britain’s most popular lexicographer –
the lineal successor to Eric Partridge and, like him, he makes etymology fun.”
– The Spectator

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“Britain's leading expert on colloquial language.”
– Sir David Frost

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“The BBC's quotation guru.”
– The Sunday Times

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“The ‘Quote...Unquote’ Newsletter is interesting and informative, scholarly and still entertaining. Libraries should subscribe to it, as should individuals with inquiring minds.”

– Anthony W. Shipps
Author, The Quote Sleuth

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“Totally British, totally irreverent, totally entertaining. You never know what you're going to stumble upon in its pages.”

– Landon Parvis
Political and Corporate Writer
Former White House Speechwriter

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“Congratulations on a first-rate piece of work – delightfully informative.”
– Edward Callary, Editor
NAMES, the Journal of the American Name Society

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“It is great fun...”
– The late William F. Buckley, Jr.
Author, television host and
Founder of the National Review

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“Quotations are indigenous to speeches and every speaker deserves access to this witty and helpful newsletter. ‘Quote...Unquote’ provides accuracy and preserves good humor.”

– Frank E.X. Dance, Ph.D., President
Frank E.X. Dance Associates, Consultants in Human Communication

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“The best and perhaps only hope for the future of our language is to study the way people have found ways to use it in the past. Nigel Rees’s work in recycling words is a considerable contribution to our verbal ecology. He does the state of our language much service...”

– Barry Day
Director of Creative Communications
Interpublic Group of Companies

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“Nigel Rees is without doubt one of the authorities when it comes to finding out the origin, history, and meaning of quotations, slogans, proverbs, proverbial expressions, and other formulaic statements that are part of the phraseology of the English language. His many books, among them Sayings of the Century (1984) and Dictionary of Popular Phrases (1990), have become standard reference works. But in addition to producing major books, Nigel Rees also publishes the unique and invaluable ‘Quote..Unquote’ Newsletter.

“It appears four times a year and contains fascinating information on the origin and dissemination of all kinds of formulaic language. While Rees includes comments on older expressions, he also emphasizes questions that arise concerning quotations, proverbs, and proverbial expressions from the 20th century. In addition to presenting detailed answers to the various queries concerning the authorship and history of certain standard phrases, he also lists questions and bits of additional information submitted by readers. Bibliographical references to the newest books on quotations and proverbs are also included.

“Altogether this newsletter has become a new Notes & Queries of sorts, specializing in the serious study of formulaic language. Anybody interested in the complex but intriguing field of phraseology needs to consult this important publication. It is a major resource for scholars but also for general readers who are eager to learn more about the history, nature, and meaning of quotations and idioms.”

– Dr. Wolfgang Mieder
Dr. Meider is Editor of Proverbium, The Yearbook of International Proverb Scholarship; chairman of the Department of German and Russian at the University of Vermont, and author of over 100 books relating to proverbs, including the The Proverbial Winston S. Churchill – An Index to Proverbs in the Works of Sir Winston Churchill, co-authored with George B. Bryan, Greenwood Press, 1995, and “Yes We Can&rdquo: Barack Obama's Proverbial Rhetoric, 2009.
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Copyright © 2012 by Nigel Rees