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Nice review of what is a very useful book. It will age rather quickly, as you said. One thing I found a little confusing was the use of the word 'fulsome'. My dictionary gives the definition as 'of large size or quantity' and indeed the Porterhouse used the word to describe their Wrassler's, which is quite accurate. Guinness is relatively fulsome in this sense but, I don't think that Iorworth would openly slate Guinness when he was so diplomatic with the many other mass produced offerings.

Yay! Semantics.

Right, well Chambers has this[/url:1xa7v8hl].
Merriam-Websters says this[/url:1xa7v8hl], which is a bit more positive, but only a bit, and warns against ambiguity.

But yes, I was being smart-arsed about Iorwerth and Guinness.

I'll trump you with the OED (I have a paper version, imagine that!). It gives 'flattering to an excessive degree' and 'of large size or quantity'. I reckon Iorworth was hinting at the fuller body and mouthfeel of Guinness when he used the word fulsome, in much the same way the Porterhouse used it in describing Wrassler's. I find it hard to believe he meant it in a negative sense.

Strangely enough, I picked up my paper copy of the Concise OED after reading the review, but I wasn't going to get into a semantic word battle with a librarian! <!-- s:D --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_biggrin.gif" alt="" title="Very Happy" /><!-- s:D -->

I'm an ex-librarian. I fear no man.

Nice article, I leafed through this book briefly in the B&C one evening but it sounds like it's worth a place on the bookshelf.