Overview

The definitive work on slang and unconventional English, this edition is fully revised and updated by Paul Beale and includes some 500 new entries. The dictionary gives a fully documented account of English slang over four centuries and will entertain and inform all lovers of the English language.

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9780415291897

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A most fascinating book; an archaeological museum, a veritable Madame Tussaud's of the vulgar language. It is a really epoch-making, monumental piece of work, carried out with astonishing industry and learning. -New Statesman

At nearly 1500 pages, this massive volume may put considerable strain on the reader's arm muscles, but it's worth every sinew-taxing moment, so fascinating is the material here. All of us use slang, and it's instructive to see how Eric Partridge has strip-mined the language to identify those words and phrases which have become part of the lingua franca we all use. Partridge made the study of language his life's work, but slang was his real speciality. This eighth edition of his classic dictionary, impressively edited by Paul Beale, is the first to be published in paperback. There is much interest in seeing now-forgotten slang (such as rabbo, the street cry of a rabbit-meat vendor, which meant, simply, rabbit; and one doubts that anyone these days is described as a rantallion: according to Partridge, 'one whose scrotum is so relaxed as to be longer than his penis'), but there are plenty of phrases still in current use, such as 'some mothers do 'ave 'em' (and while defining this as a jibe at clumsiness, the dictionary takes into account its more familiar use as the title of a BBC TV series). It's also fascinating to see the etymology of some famous phrases, such as 'something nasty in the woodshed', which actually originated in Stella Gibbons's novel Cold Comfort Farm. The balance of erudition and humour is perfect, the two co-existing happily throughout. A warning, though: if you purchase this, you'll be spending a great deal of time browsing. (Kirkus UK)

A most fascinating book; an archaeological museum, a veritable Madame Tussaud's of the vulgar language. It is a really epoch-making, monumental piece of work, carried out with astonishing industry and learning. -New Statesman

A most fascinating book; an archaeological museum, a veritable Madame Tussaud's of the vulgar language. It is a really epoch-making, monumental piece of work, carried out with astonishing industry and learning. <br>-New Statesman <br>

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