Dictionary of Contemporary Slang (Paperback)

~ (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Rife with ribaldry, with an amusing contrast between tart words and cool, analytical definitions, this book may mobilize the censors. A typical entry has variant spelling or wording, geographical range, meanings, and comments--often guesswork--on tone, nuance, associations, social context, history, derivation, and related words. Pronunciation is sometimes left unclear. A few slang styles, such as backslang and pig Latin, are noted. Published as the Bloomsbury Dictionary of Contemporary Slang in Britain , this work covers Britain, the United States, and Australia well, other English-speaking areas lightly. The author, a lexicographer, draws from the media and personal observation of such users of slang as hippies and Valley Girls. Recommended more as a fun reflection of speech in recent decades than as definitive scholarship.
- William A. Donovan, Chicago P.L.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"As up-to-date a dictionary of 'strikingly informal' contemporary language as you are likely to find." www.mantex.co.uk/reviews "Thorne is a kind of slang detective, going down the streets where other lexicographers fear to tread." Daily Telegraph --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 583 pages
• Publisher: Pantheon; 1st American ed edition (November 12, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0679737065
• ISBN-13: 978-0679737063
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 5.5 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,417,029 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars good browsing, good reference, April 9, 2000

By	ltp1 "ltp1" (Manchester, NH USA) - See all my reviews

This is makes for good browsing OR handy reference. You can discover the meaning of an unfamiliar word or the origin of a word you know. For that matter, you can find new terms with which to jazz up your own sentences.

It's particularly interesting for us Americans to learn about British slang along with our own. Did you know a "bath-dodger" is, in British-speak, "an unwashed or habitually dirty individual"? Some of these are worth adopting!

It's easy on the eyes and easy to find what you want (plenty of white space, and main entries in bold type).

Definitions are written in clear ordinary language, and examples are given where useful.

There's everything from the graphically sexual to the criminal to the eminently printable like "mugwump" and "penguin suit". There are ones you never heard of and there are vocabulary staples ("cool", "OK"). This was published in 1990, so anything newer won't be here, but that's not saying much.