The Dictionary of American Slang [Hardcover]

Robert L. Chapman (Author)

Book Description

Series: Dictionary of American Slang | Publication Date: February 17, 1998

Originally published in 1960, The Dictionary of American Slang is widely regarded as the standard in its field. Expanded and completely updated, this third edition contains more than 19,000 terms of representing the variety and vigor of American slang, from the most widely acceptable to the taboo, and covering all periods of American history -- from the gypsies, soldiers, railroad workers and cowboys of the 19th century to more modern spawning grounds such as the rock 'n' roll world, the corporate sector, African-Americans, gays and lesbians and many more.

Intimately connected with the fringes of our culture and responding with vigilance to new developments in technology, slang is the fastest changing part of our language. This new edition considers the subcultures that have emerged in the wake of the past decade's technological and communication advances, including the advent of computer usage at home and in the workplace and the explosion of the Internet and the World Wide Web. With more than 2,000 new terms, the Lexicon of the '90s is recorded here in definitive detail.

Like previous editions, this edition features pronunciation guides, word origins, examples of appropriate usage as well as a helpful highlighting system that lets you know which terms should be used with caution, and never in polite company. Both as important archive of the way America is really talking and a lot of fun to read,The Dictionary of American Slang  will prove to be an invaluable companion in keeping up with the dauntingly jargon-filled, quickly evolving language of today.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Dollars to doughnuts, your reference shelf lacks a good slang dictionary, and that's a fine how-de-do. Whether you're a stuffy writer looking to gussy up your prose, a poindexter who thinks studying dictionaries is the cat's pajamas, or a muttonheaded fogey hoping to get a clue, Robert Chapman's Dictionary of American Slang fills the bill. Containing more than 19,000 terms of American slang, this lexicon represents all periods of American history, from phrases out of the 1880s, such as carrot-top for "redhead," to current '90s jargon such as carjacking. It covers the widely acceptable and the taboo, slang from cowboys and railroad workers and slang from rock & rollers, corporate America, and the gay community. It includes obsolete phrases such as canoeing for "making-out," and up-to-date terms relating to technology, such as listserv for "electronic mail list." Each item features pronunciation guides, word origins, and usage examples, and words that are derogatory or impolite are clearly labeled as such. A righteous reference and a lulu of a browser, the Dictionary of American Slangis an elegantly produced and scholarly rigorous linguistic knockout. --Stephanie Gold

About the Author

Dr. Robert L. Chapman was the revising editor for the fourth edition of Roget's International Thesaurus®, the supervising editor of the Funk & Wagnalls Standard College Dictionary and author of The New Dictionary of American Slang. Dr. Chapman recently retired as Professor of English at Drew University.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 640 pages
• Publisher: Collins Reference; 3 Sub edition (February 17, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 006270107X
• ISBN-13: 978-0062701077
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 7.6 x 2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #241,066 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #78 in Books > Education & Reference > Dictionaries & Thesauruses > Slang & Idioms

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

106 of 109 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Probably the Best of Three Slang Dictionaries I Skimmed, February 27, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Dictionary of American Slang (Hardcover)

In the library, I did a side-by-side comparison of this book (Chapman: Dictionary of American Slang, 3rd ed., 1995) with: (a) Spears, Richard: NTC's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions, 3rd ed., 2000 and (b) Green, Jonathon: Cassell Dictionary of Slang, 1998. The advantages of this dictionary over the other two are: (1) some words and phrases are in this book but not the other two (e.g., "love bug," "love me, love my dog"); (2) it gives specific quotations and sources (e.g., "Had Feldstein deliberately low-balled the original numbers? - Newsweek"); (3) it indicates what sort of people originated or might use the word/phrase (e.g. "lot louse... [used in the] circus"); and (4) thorough cross-references are integrated into the body of the dictionary (e.g., "love, see CALF LOVE, FOR THE LOVE OF PETE, PUPPY LOVE"). It has 617 pages and claims to have 19,000 entries, which is between the other two books. On the other hand, the Cassell Dictionary contains a large percentage of the entries in this book as well as many more entries, and it's the oldest of the three dictionaries. Still, if you had to buy only one of the three, this is probably the one to get.

50 of 53 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent resource, June 30, 2000

By 

scherf.com "scherf.com" (Las Vegas, NV USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Dictionary of American Slang (Hardcover)

This dictionary is an absolute must-have for every writer, fiction or nonfiction. We haven't found a better slang dictionary yet. It has virtually all the slang words in there, words that you just won't find anywhere else. One of the very nice and helpful features is that it tells you in what year the word was used first and susequently, and in which publication (book or newspaper, etc.), and how the meaning changed over the course of the decades. The dictionary also has sentence examples on how the word was used, e.g. in which context, so you know exactly when and how to use it in your applications. It's just very interesting to find out the original meaning and usage of certain slang words and to enrich your own vocabulary. We highly recommend it!

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A true way to solidify your American heritage, March 15, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Dictionary of American Slang (Hardcover)

The regional and social diversity of American English presents a great many problems, if you ain't into something (say a subculture like surfing) you probably ain't know squat about it. The average American only knows "general slang." This book breaks down the barriers of subcultures allowing anyone, foreign or local to involve himself/herself in the subtlety of authentic American street lingo. Even if you think you know it all, get the book, you'll be surprised.