“Look it up in your Funk & Wagnalls” used to be sort of a byword. I remember seeing large F&W dictionaries in the public schools I attended, from 1964 through 1975. But now F&W seems to have declined to the point of publishing cheap grocery-store encyclopedias that are full of glaring errors–things like equations in the Calculus article having incorrect exponents, and so on. I don’t think I’ve seen any F&W work in a library, or for sale in a bookstore, for 20 years, but then I haven’t looked for them either.
Anyone else noticed this, or have any comments to make?
I don’t know about the quality of the current Funk & Wagnall’s reference books, although they do seem to be primarily geared toward (young) students, but I do know that the phrase “Look it up in your Funk & Wagnalls” didn’t develop because Funk & Wagnalls was a highly esteemed reference. The phrase was just one of many goofy catchphrases that originated on the T.V. show Laugh-In. Others included “You bet your bippy,” “Here comes da judge,” and “Sock it to me.” None of them was particularly meaningful.
Well, ever since Johnny Carson retired and took with him Carnak the Magnificent, Funk and Wagnall’s has ceased to be important. You’ll recall that the questions to the answers were hermetically sealed in a mayonaise jar and kept on Funk and Wagnall’s backporch since noon on the day of the show.
Well, in the 70s, there was a book called The Best by Peter Passell, which purported to name the best in all sorts of categories. I forgot exactly what encyclopedia he listed, but the article said, essentially, that, for the money, the Funk and Wagnall’s was the one worth buying. We have one at home, and it seems to be fine, though it’s possible the quality has deteriorated (we’ve had it about 15 years).