Dictionary of American Slang. Second Supplemented Edition - Wentworth Harold, Flexner Stuart Berg

More than two thousand brand-new slang terms and familiar expressions that have acquired new meanings appear in the supplement to this unique dictionary. Together, the original compilation and the supplement contain more than 22,000 definitions, illustrated by quotations from published sources. Terms long in use are cited with both early and recent quotations, often with examples selected at ten-years intervals.Acclaimed on its publication in 1960 as a pioneering achievement in lexicography, the Dictionary represents American slang in all its vigor and variety, from that widely accepted to the taboo. Expressions from all strata of society are here, including the special terms of all vocations and avocations, and many regionalisms and colloquialisms. America s most recent concerns, including the Watergate affair, the gay and women s liberation movements, the swinging sex scene, and agreatly increased interest in gambling, are reflected in a new supplement, which also encompasses a surprising variety of Yiddish, Spanish, and Black expressions that have come into use.Ten years went into the preparation of the original edition, during which the editors and their colleagues scoured thousands of popular and rare magazines, newspapers, and books, and interviewed innumerable members of cultural subgroups, teen-agers and college students, the beat and the cool, politicians, soldiers, space scientists, lab technicians, and longshoremen CIA and FBI men and local police pick-pockets, prostitutes, hoboes, and drug addicts popular entertainers, jazz musicians, surfers, stripteasers, and Madison Avenue wordsmiths. Notes on word origins and pertinent historical and sociological information increase the Dictionary s interest,Two features of the original volume, written by Mr. Flexner, elicited almost as much praise as the dictionary proper. His preface contains a discussion of what slang is, why and how it is created, how the choice of words reveals one s character, and the relationship of American slang to the national character. His appendix contains an introduction to the mechanical processes of slang formation, and discusses (with thousands of examples) 150 specific types of formation. These include words formed with suffixes (-eroo words such as switcheroo), shortened forms (preemie, fab), abbreviations (ac-dc, WASP), reduplications (buddy-buddy), and rhyming slang (nitwit). There is also a list of the many slang synonyms for drunk, a list showing the psychologisally interesting relationship between sex and food words, and a list that demonstrates the tendency to equate sex with cheating and failure.The result is an exploration in depth of aspects of American language and culture that have heretofore received scant scholarly attention. The Dictionary of American Slang is a source book for language students, writers, historians, and collectors of Americana, and an invaluable adjuct to any standard dictionary. It should be on the bookshelf of everyone concerned with the meaning and usage of words.