Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Pastimes : SI Grammar and Spelling Lab -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Jacques Chitte who wrote (3273)	7/26/1999 9:15:00 PM
From: jbe	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 4711

TO ALL: Slang Dictionaries. A recent "Feelies" debate” (if you could call it that) about a couple of slang expressions really underscored for me the value of slang dictionaries. So I would like to share some info. I have collected about them. I. SERIOUS REFERENCE DICTIONARIES. Available only in print. The multi-volume The Random House Historical Dictionary of American Slang (edited by J. E. Lighter, J. Ball, & J. O'Connor) is the acknowledged best of the best. In this old post, I cited some of the raves it has received: techstocks.com Unfortunately, as I noted in my post, the latest volume only goes up to the letter “P”. In the meantime, there are these alternatives: The Dictionary of American Slang by Robert L. Chapman, Barbara Ann Kipfer (Contributor), Harold Wentworth The Oxford Dictionary of Modern Slang (Oxford Paperback Reference) by John Ayto (Editor), John Simpson (Editor) 21st Century Dictionary of Slang (21st Century Reference Series) by Princeton Language Insitiute (Editor), Karen Watts (Compiler) An abridged version of the Chapman/Kipfer dictionary is available in paperback (cheap). For those whose interest is primarily in that special sub-genre of slang once known as naughty language, there are the following (among others): Slang and Euphemism : A Dictionary of Oaths, Curses, Insults, Sexual Slang and Metaphor, Racial Slurs, Drug Talk, Homosexual Lingo, and Related Matters by Richard A. Spears The Dictionary of Contemporary Slang : With More Than 5,000 Racy and Raffish Colloquial Expressions-From America, Great Britain, Australia, the Carib by Tony Thorne (Editor), Erroll McDonald (Editor) Then there are regionalisms, many of which we would consider “slang.” Here again, there is a great, multi-volume, but as yet uncompleted (and again going up only to the letter “P”) dictionary: Dictionary of American Regional English , by Frederick G. Cassidy (Editor), Joan Houston Hall (Editor), Frederic G. Cassidy (Editor). And again, there are alternatives: a number of volumes in Robert Hendrickson's Facts on File Dictionaries of American Regional Expressions. They include: Whistlin' Dixie : A Dictionary of Southern Expressions Yankee Talk : A Dictionary of New England Expressions Mountain Range : A Dictionary of Expressions from Appalachia to the Ozarks New Yawk Tawk : A Dictionary of New York City Expressions Finally, here is what looks like an excellent list of slang dictionaries published in the UK. Completely different titles (with only a couple of exceptions): page27.co.uk II. ONLINE SLANG DICTIONARIES There are a few “general” slang dictionaries on the net, but they are pretty feeble, and the emphasis (surprise!) is on “naughty language.” On the other hand, there are quite a few “specialized” ones (hackers' jargon, rappers slang, etc.) that have material you might not find even in the big reference dictionaries. The following sites have lots of links (some overlap): linkopp.com (My favorite here: the Dictionary of Antarctic Slang) aunz.yahoo.com lib.utulsa.edu Happy hunting, all! Joan