Tony Thorne “Dictionary of Contemporary Slang "
A & C Black Publishers Ltd | 2006-12-20 | ISBN:0713675292 | 512 pages | PDF | 5,2 Mb
This book is absolutely the best about "slang" that I have ever seen. Every "slang" word that I can think of is in here. If you need books for an interesting read or to help with teaching English then this is one of those you must have.
Slang derives much of its power from the fact that it is clandestine, forbidden or generally disapproved of. So what happens once it is accepted, even in some cases embraced and promoted by ‘mainstream’ society? Not long ago the Oxford English Dictionary characterised slang as ‘low and disreputable’; in the late 1970s the pioneering sociolinguist Michael Halliday used the phrase
‘anti-language’ in his study of the speech of criminals and marginals. For him, theirs was an interestingly ‘pathological’ form of language. The first description now sounds quaintly outmoded, while the second could be applied to street gangs – today’s posses, massives or sets – and their secret codes. Both, however, involve Value judgements which are essentially social and not linguistic.
Attitudes to the use of language have changed profoundly over the last three decades, and the perceived boundaries between ‘standard’ and ‘unorthodox’ are becoming increasingly ‘fuzzy’.
Today, tabloid newspapers in the UK such as the Sun, the Star and the Sport regularly use slang in headlines and articles, while the quality press use slang sparingly – usually for special effect –
but the assumption remains that readers have a working knowledge of common slang terms.
if you like it, you buy it
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