No slang-worthy subject is too taboo for this collection of more than 15,000 definitions of words that allude to drugs, sports, contemporary society, and a seemingly unending supply of slang terms for sex and bodily functions. Fully revised and expanded, and with lively examples of usage throughout, this up-to-the-minute reference paints a vivid picture of our cultural and social preoccupations while bringing intriguing examples of eccentricity and irreverence back to the linguistic frontline.
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. Read more...
