Slang Down the Ages

Slang Down the Ages

by JonathonGreen (Author)

Synopsis

Coined in the spontaneity of the everyday spoken act, slang exists as a testament to human nature's inventive and subversive instinct. This history of English slang documents our verbal predilections for the racier side of life, at the expense of the more quotidian, let alone respectable - it is no coincidence that the longest chapters in this book concern sex, money, drink and drugs. Slang Down the Ages tackles its subject theme by theme, taking standard English words and phrases and tracing the ingenuity of their slang equivalents over time, in each case approximating 'earliest use'. Be amused by the playfulness of our linguistic heritage, intrigued by our need for encrypted signs and appalled by some of the more bold-faced puns, as Jonathon Green charts five centuries of our developing and ever-diversifying vocabulary.

$3.33

Save:$9.52 (74%)

Quantity

2 in stock

More Information

Format: Paperback
Pages: 400
Publisher: Kyle Cathie
Published: 25 Aug 2005

ISBN 10: 1856266370
ISBN 13: 9781856266376

Author Bio
Jonathon Green is Britain's foremost authority on slang and a highly respected lexicographer; he recently added The Cassall Dictionary of Slang to an impressive list of related titles: amazon.co.uk said of this title that he had achieved for the second half of the 20th century what the legendary Eric Partridge did for the first half. The Dictionary of Contemporary Slang, The Slang Thesaurus, The Dictionary of Jargon and Neologisms all confirm his unrivalled scholarship and authority in this field. He is also the author of Famous Last Words, published by Kyle Cathie.