Author: Eric Partridge Publisher: Routledge ISBN: 1317432150 Category : Language Arts & Disciplines Languages : en Pages : 489
Book Description
First published in 1933, this book explores both contemporary and historical slang, focusing on the characteristics and quirks of the English and American languages. As well as looking at commonly used slang, there are sections that give the reader insight into more unusual areas such as Cockney slang, slang in journalism and slang in commerce, as well as slang used by sailors, the law and the church. The book will be of interest to scholars and the general readers who take an interest in language.
Author: Eric Partridge Publisher: Read Books Ltd ISBN: 1447495799 Category : Language Arts & Disciplines Languages : en Pages : 706
Book Description
Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. We are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.
Author: Michael Adams Publisher: Oxford University Press ISBN: 0198042949 Category : Language Arts & Disciplines Languages : en Pages : 257
Book Description
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.
Author: Eric Partridge Publisher: National Geographic Books ISBN: 1405930594 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 0
Book Description
The perfect stocking filler for anyone who imagines themselves flying a spitfire . . . Drop your visiting cards, put aside your beer-lever, stop being a half-pint hero and discover the gloriously funny slang which was part of everyday life in two world wars. Passion-killers: Airwomen's service knickers, whether twilights (the lighter, summer-weight variety) or black-outs (the navy-blue winter-weights). A wise directive has purposely made them as unromantic in colour and in design as a wise directive could imagine. Thanks to the work of Eric Partridge in 1945, the hilarious slang of the Royal Air Force during the first two World Wars has been preserved for generations to come. While some phrases like 'chocks away!' have lasted to this day, others deserve to be rediscovered . . . Beer-lever: From pub-bars, meaning the 'Joystick' of an aircraft. Canteen cowboy: A ladies' man. Half-pint hero: A boaster. One who exemplifies the virtue of Dutch courage without having the trouble of going into action. Tin fish: A torpedo. Umbrella man: A parachutist. Visiting-card: A bomb. Wheels down: Get ready - especially to leave a bus, tram, train. From lowering the wheels, preparatory to landing. Whistled: In a state of intoxication wherein one tends to whistle cheerfully and perhaps discordantly. The Dictionary of RAF Slang is a funny and fascinating insight into the lives of our RAF heroes, in a time gone by.
Author: Jonathon Green Publisher: Sterling Publishing Company, Inc. ISBN: 9780304366361 Category : Language Arts & Disciplines Languages : en Pages : 1600
Book Description
With its unparalleled coverage of English slang of all types (from 18th-century cant to contemporary gay slang), and its uncluttered editorial apparatus, Cassell's Dictionary of Slang was warmly received when its first edition appeared in 1998. 'Brilliant.' said Mark Lawson on BBC2's The Late Review; 'This is a terrific piece of work - learned, entertaining, funny, stimulating' said Jonathan Meades in The Evening Standard.But now the world's best single-volume dictionary of English slang is about to get even better. Jonathon Green has spent the last seven years on a vast project: to research in depth the English slang vocabulary and to hunt down and record written instances of the use of as many slang words as possible. This has entailed trawling through more than 4000 books - plus song lyrics, TV and movie scripts, and many newspapers and magazines - for relevant material. The research has thrown up some fascinating results
Author: Julie Coleman Publisher: OUP Oxford ISBN: 0191630721 Category : Language Arts & Disciplines Languages : en Pages : 468
Book Description
This book traces the development of English slang from the earliest records to the latest tweet. It explores why and how slang is used, and traces the development of slang in English-speaking nations around the world. The records of the Old Bailey and machine-searchable newspaper collections provide a wealth of new information about historical slang, while blogs and tweets provide us with a completely new perspective on contemporary slang. Based on inside information from real live slang users as well as the best scholarly sources, this book is guaranteed to teach you some new words that you shouldn't use in polite company. Teachers, politicians, broadcasters, and parents characterize the language of teenagers as sloppy, repetitive, and unintelligent, but these complaints are nothing new. In 1906, an Australian journalist overheard some youths on a street-corner: Things will be bally slow till next pay-day. I've done in nearly all my spond. Here, now; cheese it, or I'll lob one in your lug. Lend us a cigarette. Lend it; oh, no, I don't part. Look out, here's a bobby going to tell us to shove along. What, he wondered, was the world coming to. For the 411, read on ...
Author: Eric Partridge Publisher: Routledge ISBN: 1134963653 Category : Foreign Language Study Languages : en Pages : 1426
Book Description
The definitive work on the subject, this Dictionary - available again in its eighth edition - gives a full account of slang and unconventional English over four centuries and will entertain and inform all language-lovers.
Author: Connie Eble Publisher: UNC Press Books ISBN: 1469610574 Category : Language Arts & Disciplines Languages : en Pages : 241
Book Description
Slang is often seen as a lesser form of language, one that is simply not as meaningful or important as its 'regular' counterpart. Connie Eble refutes this notion as she reveals the sources, poetry, symbolism, and subtlety of informal slang expressions. In Slang and Sociability, Eble explores the words and phrases that American college students use casually among themselves. Based on more than 10,000 examples submitted by Eble's students at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill over the last twenty years, the book shows that slang is dynamic vocabulary that cannot be dismissed as deviant or marginal. Like more formal words and phrases, slang is created, modified, and transmitted by its users to serve their own purposes. In the case of college students, these purposes include cementing group identity and opposing authority. The book includes a glossary of the more than 1,000 slang words and phrases discussed in the text, as well as a list of the 40 most enduring terms since 1972. Examples from the glossary: group gropes -- encounter groups squirrel kisser -- environmentalist Goth -- student who dresses in black and listens to avant-garde music bad bongos -- situation in which things do not go well triangle -- person who is stupid or not up on the latest za -- pizza smoke -- to perform well dead soldier -- empty beer container toast -- in big trouble, the victim of misfortune parental units -- parents
Author: Eric Partridge
Author: Eric Partridge
Author: Eric Partridge
Author: Eric Partridge
Author: Michael Adams
Author: Eric Partridge
Author: Jonathon Green
Author: Julie Coleman
Author: Eric Partridge
Author: Connie Eble