Slang: The Topical Dictionary of Americanisms [Hardcover]

Paul Dickson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 3, 2006

Slang is evidence that the spoken language is continually changing to meet new needs for verbal expressions, tailored to changing realities and perceptions. Unlike most slang dictionaries that list entries alphabetically, Slang takes on modern American English one topic at a time, from "auctionese" to "computerese", the drug trade and sports slang. Slang was originally published by Pocket Books in 1990 in paperback (ISBN 0671672517, out of print) and revised in 1998 in hardcover and paperback (ISBN 0671549200 and 0671549197; hc out of print soon after publication, pb in print until 2005). The new Slang has 50% new material, including new chapters on slang associated with work cubicles, gaming, hip hop, and coffeehouses. Dickson brings slang into the twenty-first century with such blogger slang as TMPMITW, which stands for "the most powerful man in the world" (the president).  Whether you want to be privy to the inside banter of the boardroom, backroom or the Washington Beltway, Slang is an indispensable resource, and a lot of fun.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Slang is so bountiful in American English that it lends itself to a variety of lexicographical approaches. A number of slang dictionaries have treated this most unconventional of vocabularies through the conventions of the standard canonical dictionaries, ranging them alphabetically, assigning usage labels, summarizing their origins, and defining them. At least two have taken different approaches, clustering terms in categories. One is Richard A. Spears' NTC's Thematic Dictionary of American Slang (McGraw-Hill, 1998). Slang: The Topical Dictionary of Americanismsis another.

While Spears' dictionary has more than 800 categories and is more historical than edgy, Dickson's dictionary of American slang differs in significant ways. Its 30 topical areas include the timeless, such as "Food and Drink," "Medical and Emergency Room Slang," "Teen and High School Slang," and, of course, "The Sultry Slang of Sex." It also includes the very contemporary, such as "Java-speak" (modern coffeehouse slang) and "Net-speak." However, the Net-speak chapter falls short through a lack of slang terms from the world of bloggers. Blogassary [http://www.blogossary.com/] offers more.

Dickson's bare-bones entries simply offer definitions on each term--no origins, no usage labels, no examples of the word in use. Occasional sidebars, however, provide fuller information on select terms, such as numbers with special meaning in drug culture, the emergence and acceptance of phat, and bird-watchers' lingo.

A prefatory essay introduces each topical area and characterizes its argot. These essays underscore the creativity of slang as well as its occasional absurdity, as in the grandiose names for what could unpretentiously be called small, medium-sized, and large cups of coffee. Informative, reliable, entertaining, and modern, this topical slang dictionary complements the more staid slang lexicons and more scholarly general dictionaries. James Rettig
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

Praise for Paul Dickson:

 

 "With focus, a passion for language, and a word-class ear, Dickson has produced brilliant chapter after brilliant chapter, any one of which would be a lifetime achievement for most lexicographers."--Tom Dalzell, Senior Editor The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English and author of Flappers 2 Rappers--American Youth Slang and The Slang of Sin

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 464 pages
• Publisher: Walker & Company; 1St Edition edition (October 3, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0802715311
• ISBN-13: 978-0802715319
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #441,172 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Paul Dickson is the author of more than 45 nonfiction books and hundreds of magazine articles. Although he has written on a variety of subjects from ice cream to kite flying to electronic warfare, he now concentrates on writing about the American language, baseball and 20th century history. His most recent titles include Drunk: The Definitive Drinker's Dictionary, The Dickson Baseball Dictionary, Sputnik: The Shock of the Century and Slang: A Topical Dictionary of Americanisms.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Our Language is Evolving, Boy is it Evolving., December 14, 2006

By 

John Matlock "Gunny" (Winnemucca, NV) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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

The French have a special committee to ensure that the purity of the language doesn't get corrupted by among others those vulgar Americans. As such, they are effectively marginalizing their language to the past and preventing people from being able to discuss current trends.

The English language, especially the American variant lacks any such sense of formality and is creating new words just as fast as anyone can think them up. Many of them, especially in the computer field aren't words at all but TLA's (Three Letter Acronym) that substitute brevity to save typing.

Every aspect of American society has been busy creating new words, almost it would seem just for the fun of it. And this book is organized (if you can call it organized at all) by the general areas where the new words began, such as: Automotive, Bureaucrat, Computer, Drugs, Media, Medical (Sub-title: words you don't want to hear from your hospital bed --C&T Ward: Place where comatose patients are placed in a hospital - it stands for 'cabbages and turnips.'), politics, schools, and on and on.

It's easily enough to keep you ROTFLOL - Rolling on the Floor Laughing Out loud, or even ROTFLMAO - Rolling on the Floor Laughing My A__ Off.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A revised, updated version of a classic slang dictionary arranged by topic, December 12, 2006

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

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

Regional U.S. slang and uniquely 'American' terms are covered here in Slang: The Topical Dictionary of Americanisms: a revised, updated version of a classic slang dictionary arranged by topic. The unique arrangement by subject rather than word allows for easier cross-comparison of slang: having an updated version with new chapters and 10,000 words further enhances its usefulness as a definitive slang reference.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars New Words for New Times, October 23, 2006

By 

Thomas B. Allen (Bethesda, Md United States) - See all my reviews

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

I had always thought that slang was what your mother told you not to use at the dinner table. That turns out to be an old-fashioned idea. Slang, according to this enlightening, entertaining, and--dare I say it?--educational book, is the way the American language replenishes itself. (Some words once labeled slang: bogus, clumsy, snide, and spurious.) The latest round of replenishment comes from the Internet, which, author Paul Dickson says, "could be the greatest of all dispensers of slang and new English since the invention of movable type." One of the innovations of this book is the division of slang into categories: You look up definitions by turning to "Net-speak," say, to find out what, say, "kevork" means: "To ban electronically from a site or bulletin board. From the name Jack Kevorkian, a doctor who assisted suicides." Net-speak is one of thirty categories. Others include Java-speak (black eye: "Expresso mixed with brewed coffee") and that grand old American dialect, Bureaucratese (fuzz: "To blur on purpose; to make less direct"). As you can see, it's a book not for just looking things up but for browsing, for searching out new words, and for replenishing your own noggin.