MED Magazine – The Phrase Finder

MED Magazine - Issue 53 - June 2009

MED Web Watch
by Mairi MacDonald

Next in a series of short articles looking at web resources useful for teachers and learners of English. As a rough guide, each site is marked out of 25 in terms of content, design and ease-of-use.

The Phrase Finder
www.phrases.org.uk/index.html

Phrase Finder is a collection of short articles that explore the meaning and origin of 1500 phrases, sayings and idioms. The site started life as a searchable database of phrases developed as a project on computational linguistics at Sheffield Hallam University. The Meanings and origins section was added later and now contains the bulk of the content. The material can be browsed alphabetically, or alternatively you can type in an idiom or phrase of your choice using the Google search box at the top of each page.

The articles provide a fascinating introduction to any class activity on idioms. Etymological myths are put in their place and their meaning is explained. Primary sources such as newspapers and books are quoted wherever possible, along with reference. Some sayings have been categorized thematically (nautical phrases, biblical sayings and phrases from Shakespeare). If you're interested in the myths behind well-known phrases, take a look at The Nonsense Nine.

The Discussion Forum allows readers to ask questions or discuss the origins of phrases. A glance through the topics shows that the site has a lively following. As the introduction warns, however, these are speculative explanations from the site's audience and, unlike the main content, aren't fully researched.

The original Phrase Finder - the Phrase Thesaurus - is still linked to the site. You have to pay to access this, but there is a free sample that allows you to play around with a handful of specified words. This differs from a regular thesaurus in that the searches return phrases rather than single words. The phrase lists generated by the thesaurus don't give any further information, but simply copy and paste one of the phrases back into the search box on the Phrase Finder site to get an explanation. If you have a list open in a separate window you have the beginnings of a nice activity that will familiarize your students with the site.

In general, this is an easy site to navigate, however if you click on the link to the Phrase Thesaurus, it takes you to a separate site with no return link (use your browser's back button to find your way back). To add to the confusion, the thesaurus site has the address www.phrasefinder.co.uk while the site called Phrase Finder can be found at www.phrases.org.uk.

Letting your students loose on this site is an excellent way for them to reinforce their existing understanding of idiomatic language. Furthermore, this is a resource that is continually growing and well worth a regular return visit.

Score
current and archived content
up-to-dateness/topicality
graphic design and navigation
speed and technical performance
features and functionality
overall score	20 out of 25