John Ayto, "The Oxford Dictionary of Slang"

Slang is language with its sleeves rolled up, colorful, pointed, brash, bristling with humor and sometimes with hostility. Here, John Ayto has brought together over 10,000 slang words and phrases common to 20th-century English, to provide a comprehensive and highly engaging guide to the most outspoken corner of our language.

Unlike most such dictionaries, this volume is organized thematically, with slang words gathered under such headings as "the body and its functions" or "sustenance and intoxication." Within each section, the words are listed chronologically, starting with the century's earliest words and phrases and progressing right through to the present day, thus illuminating the development of slang and colloquial language over the last hundred years.

Word origins and other interesting features of usage are given wherever possible, as are illustrative quotations from a wide range of authors.

A comprehensive A-Z index lists all words included in the dictionary, so you can find a particular word quickly. From "five-finger discount" to "forty-rod whiskey," this is an authoritative and up-to-date record of slang throughout the English-speaking world.

Amazon.com Review
If your other reference books aren't funky enough for you, get a nickel bag of unorthodoxy with the Oxford Dictionary of Slang. This comprehensive look at informal English from around the world and across the centuries is organized thesaurus-style into sections for easy browsing by category. Look up underground terminology for drugs and sex and you'll be browsing for a month of Sundays. Of course, if you need to get the skinny on a particular term but have no idea what it could mean, there's an alphabetical index that'll take you right where you need to go.

Each word or phrase is thoroughly documented, as you'd expect from an Oxford dictionary; its first print sighting, place of use, meanings, and cross-contextual references are included, as well as illuminating usage quotes. The Dictionary is easy to use and the definitions are concise—you can get the information you need quickly with time left to linger over related terms. More than 10,000 entries yield plenty of insight into commonly used but still-not-quite-kosher parts of our language. When your New Zealander buddy refers to someone as a cow-spanker, you won't have to wonder for long just who you're dealing with (don't worry, she's a dairy farmer); The Oxford Dictionary of Slang will give you the moxie to deal with a discombobulated world.

From Library Journal
The 10,000 slang terms defined here originated mainly in the United States, Britain, Australia, or New Zealand and include both old and new coinages. The dictionary's arrangement is topical in thesaurus fashion, e.g., informal synonyms for police officers—"bull," "cozzpot," "dick," "fuzz," "peeler," "pig," and "walloper"—are conveniently grouped under "The Police" in a large category called "People and Society." Users can also access any entry in the book via an A-to-Z index.

Ayto, coauthor with John Simpson of The Oxford Dictionary of Modern Slang (Oxford Univ., 1992), candidly warns, "Do not expect to find every single piece of English slang here." Among the missing are such choice recent neologisms as "lotion boy" and "suck [or sucking] face." Still, this work will be a useful addition to most collections as a complement to the Lewins' Thesaurus of Slang (LJ 8/94) and the indispensable Random House Historical Dictionary of American Slang (LJ 11/15/97).

Contents

Preface
The body and its Functions
People and Society
Animals
Sustenance and Intoxication
Articles and Substances
Money, Commerce, and Employment
Behaviour, Attitudes, and Emotions
Thought and Communication
The Arts, Entertainment and the Media
Time and Tide
Location and Movement
Abstract Qualities and States
Index

Tags: Slang, EnglishExpressions, WritingReference

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