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A simple quantitative method in terms of the Akaike information criterion is proposed, which can be used to highlight the difference between the Weibull and normal or other favourite distributions, and further to  find out which model is better. As an example, the fit of fracture data  of brittle materials to several distributions, such as the Weibull, normal, and log-normal distributions, is compared. The results show that there seems to be no sufficient  evidence that the Weibull  distribution is always in  preference to other distributions, and the uncritical use of the Weibull distribution is questioned. This is also verified by recent experiments on the fracture strength of electroceramics.