A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue [Hardcover]

Francis Grose (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 396 pages
• Publisher: Books for Libraries; 3rd edition (June 1971)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 083696652X
• ISBN-13: 978-0836966527
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,168,025 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars TERRIFIC DICTIONARY OF UNDERWORLD CANT, July 9, 2005

By 

Jaundiced Eye "jaundicedeye" (Hollywood, California, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue (Hardcover)

Review of Third Edition, 1963:

This isn't fictional "thieve's cant" as used in some role-playing games, this is the real deal! Thousands of terms used by the British and American underworld are carefully explained and, in some cases, early literary references are also noted.

A few examples of this strange dialect include: "eternity box," a coffin; "Mahometan gruel," for coffee (because it was introduced from Muslim Turkey); "one of us" or "one of my cousins" was used for a harlot; "quill driver," a scribe or hackney writer; "Friday face," a dismal countenace (because Fridays were fast days in The Roman Church); "goloshes" comes from "Goliath's shoes," so-called because these outer shoes are very large; "Bo-Peep," one who sometimes hides and sometimes shows himself in public. There are *thousands* of such cool usages in this book.

I have seen limited lists of thieve's cant on various web sites, but many of them crib from some edition or other of this book. Barnes & Noble should *definitely* release a new edition of this as a paperback!