Mutual Friends
Preserved but no longer current.
Can people have mutual friends? Strictly speaking not; but since Dickens adopted the solecism in the title of his novel, Our Mutual Friend (1864), many people have objected to the correct term, com- mon friends. Mutual implies reciprocity from one to the other (Lat. mutare, to change) ; the friendship between two friends should be mutual, but this mutuality cannot be extended to a third party.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “Mutual Friends” mean?
Can people have mutual friends? Strictly speaking not; but since Dickens adopted the solecism in the title of his novel, Our Mutual Friend (1864), many people have objected to the correct term, com- mon friends. Mutual implies reciprocity from one to the other (Lat. mutare, to change) ; the friendship between two friends should be mutual, but this mutuality cannot be extended to a third party.
Is “Mutual Friends” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.