Slang: The People's Poetry [Hardcover]

Michael Adams (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 2009 | ISBN-10: 0195314638 | ISBN-13: 978-0195314632 | Edition: 1

Slang, writes Michael Adams, is poetry on the down low, and sometimes lowdown poetry on the down low, but rarely, if ever, merely lowdown. It is the poetry of everyday speech, the people's poetry, and it deserves attention as language playing on the cusp of art. In Slang: The People's Poetry, Adams covers this perennially interesting subject in a serious but highly engaging way, illuminating the fundamental question "What is Slang" and defending slang--and all forms of nonstandard English--as integral parts of the American language. Why is an expression like "bed head" lost in a lexical limbo, found neither in slang nor standard dictionaries? Why are snow-boarding terms such as "fakie," "goofy foot," "ollie" and "nollie" not considered slang? As he addresses these and other lexical curiosities, Adams reveals that slang is used in part to define groups, distinguishing those who are "down with it" from those who are "out of it." Slang is also a rebellion against the mainstream. It often irritates those who color within the lines--indeed, slang is meant to irritate, sometimes even to shock. But slang is also inventive language, both fun to make and fun to use. Rather than complain about slang as "bad" language, Adams urges us to celebrate slang's playful resistance to the commonplace and to see it as the expression of an innate human capacity, not only for language, but for poetry.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Adams' theories are brilliant, and he draws on a startlingly diverse universe to illustrate his points, leaping without apparent effort from Chaucer to stamp collectors; from snowboarders to UPS drivers; from T.S. Eliot to Charles Dickens; from Buffy the Vampire Slayer to The Simpsons. With a love of the subject matter and a glorious grasp of the language, he carries you effortlessly from one big idea to another. What a book!"
--Tom Dalzell, editor of The Routledge Dictionary of Modern American Slang and Unconventional English

"A lively and engaging look at English slang and its multitudinous forms."
--Ben Zimmer, The Visual Thesaurus

"The depth of the argumentation and the richness of the writing and the archive make Slang a text that is at once highly readable and theoretically productive."
--Phillip M. Carter, Language in Society

"Michael Adams's Slang is not a collection of words but an examination of the scope and function of slang in our language and our lives. It's scholarly yet highly readable--just as you would expect from the author of Slayer Slang."
--Jan Freeman, Boston Globe

"Brilliant.... Adams' theory of slang as a poetic device is truly insightful."--Semiotica

"This is an intelligent book, executed with passion. Slang offers important comment and documentation on an aspect of our culture that is very often overlooked."--January Magazine

"Book length studies (as opposed to dictionaries) of slang are few and far between, so with this volume Adams has done scholars, students, and aficionados of slang a great service. Adams has a knack for illuminating both linguistic ephemera and its underlying principles. Speaking to the general reader, the author uses linguistic jargon sparingly, puts scholarly observations in everyday terms, and illustrates key ideas with in-depth examples rather than drive-by word citations. This book is a must for libraries and lovers of language. Essential." --CHOICE

"[A] lively and informative book."--Library Journal

"Slang is the wink-wink, nudge-nudge of language. It gives the illusion (and creates the impression) that it is all, like, edgy and cazh, but Michael Adams shows it is much more than just flash and trash. This book puts slang near the center of human language, and our journey to it is, as Jo said in Little Women (1868) 'fun, and no grubbage.'"--Richard W. Bailey, Professor of English Language and Literature, University of Michigan

"Slang: The People's Poetry takes the study of slang well beyond words and phrases and into the discursive functions as well as the cognitive underpinnings of slang. Adams' knowledge of high culture and low culture as well as his careful observation of contemporary language use make his analysis of slang fresh and appealing to twenty-first century readers."--Connie Eble, Professor of English, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

About the Author

Michael Adams teaches English language and literature at Indiana University. He is the author of Slayer Slang: A Buffy the Vampire Slayer Lexicon and editor of From Elvish to Klingon. For several years, he was editor of Dictionaries: Journal of the Dictionary Society of North America. He is currently editor of the journal American Speech.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA; 1 edition (April 1, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0195314638
• ISBN-13: 978-0195314632
• Product Dimensions: 5.6 x 0.9 x 8.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (41 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #775,216 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating! April 16, 2009

By NaughtiLiterati VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

Though this books is for linguists and scholars and written by one, it is also a comprehensive read for those lovers of language like myself who are always questioning the how and why of words. It will make you feel smarter and each section is very informative with tons of examples that will almost have you nodding your head in recognition and laughter; and amazement because of how well-put together the book overall is! If you're a hip word nerd or know one, this book is the perfect gift!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars A tedious textbook April 8, 2009

By Stephen M. Charme HALL OF FAMETOP 10 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

I was an English major in college and enjoy reading books about language and writing, especially since I am in a profession that requires me to write clearly and persuasively. I was looking forward to reading a book whose title held the promise of exploring in a clever way a colorful use of the English language. Instead I found a tedious textbook filled with jargon, and written in a manner that I think even academics would find boring.

To be sure, this book contains a wealth of information, and the list of slang terms in the index is a fun way to look up terms that you are familiar with as well as learn about many new slang terms. But the discussion in this book about these terms is not of interest to a general reader. For example, here is what the author has to say (at p. 134) about the term "f**king -A": "According to McMillan's Rule, infixed and interposed inserts aren't supposed to carry lexical meaning, but f**king-A, a form of both expletive and meaningful has it both ways." He then "explains" this by saying that the examples he has cited "suggest that McMillan's Rule extends not only to infixing, but also to syntactic interposing,'the insertion of emotive intensifiers into collocations that are normally not interruptible or are interruptible under restrictions that exclude intensifiers.'" Not to be disrespectful, but that kind of jargon is meaningless to a reader who does not have expertise in the author's field.

In the preface the author states that he has written the book not just for "Lexicographers, language historians, linguists of various stripes, and cultural critics," but also "for 'everyone', by which I mean university-educated or other really smart people interested in slang and contemporary American culture." However, while this book may serve as interest as a reference to "everyone"--at least those who can understand all of the jargon--this is not something that you will want to read from cover to cover.

I have read the reviews of people who really enjoyed this book, but without exception I found this a tedious textbook that succeeded in focusing not on the poetry of slang, as the subtitle misleadingly suggested, but rather on a pedantic analysis that buries the fun and shock value of even the most colorful terms under a pile of jargon.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting, but its more like "slang for aliens" April 17, 2009

By Mr. Ben VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

If I had to teach an alien (or an android like Star Trek's Data) what slang is, I would give them this book. It is full of the "how and why" of slang, something most people grasp naturally. The issue then is presenting this information in an engaging way, and unfortunately it seems like Mr. Adams has spent too much time buried in literature and academia to really pull in the casual/average reader.
I studied linguistics (electives, did not major in it) in college and this book would feel at home on a professor's syllabus or stacked dauntingly in a college book store. But, despite the inviting title, I can't really see too many people wanting to sit down with this academic drag. Its written in a way that is casual only to people who read academic journals and its not 'slangy' enough on its own. The writer sounds almost too nerdy about the subject to get me to come along for the ride here.

I love geeking out on things, but for a casual read this was too dry.