Dictionaries of slang

nickel

Administrator
Staff member
Τα τελευταία χρόνια έχω στη βιβλιοθήκη μου το Cassell's Dictionary of Slang (στην 1η έκδοση, του 1998), το οποίο είναι πολύτιμο στις δύσκολες στιγμές, αν και πια, για τις πιο πρόσφατες σημασίες, μπορώ να καλυφτώ από το Urban Dictionary.

Αυτές τις μέρες κυκλοφορεί το Chambers Slang Dictionary, που αποτελεί την 3η πια έκδοση του παραπάνω.

Γράφει γι' αυτό ο Michael Quinion στο εβδομαδιαίο ηλεδελτίο του:

Jonathon Green's name is familiar to every student of slang in the
UK: he has been researching it for 25 years and is an authority on
this most intriguing and intractable aspect of lexicography.

The title makes it seem as though this is an entirely new book but
in essence it is the third edition of the Cassell Dictionary of
Slang. The change of publisher has resulted in subtle changes in
layout and content. Most significantly, entries have been presented
in a different way - derivatives of a word are placed together as
sub-entries of the main word, rather than as individual entries.
This technique, called nesting in the business, may seem a small
change, even a fussy one, but it simplifies entries and highlights
the relationships between terms. The opportunity has been taken to
add items of recent slang, to rewrite definitions and improve the
dating. To my eye—though this is a subjective view—the text is
clearer and easier to read.

Slang being the seamy underside of language, you shouldn't expect a
positive view of life to emerge from its pages. Jonathon Green has
computed (using his huge database of material that will some year
soon form the basis of his magnum opus, an OED of slang) that among
this book's 85,000 words and phrases from throughout the English-
speaking world are 5,012 entries for crime and criminals, 4,589 for
intoxicating liquor and its effects (with 3,976 more on drugs),
3,343 for money, 1,365 for penis, (and 1,131 for vagina), 1,740 for
sexual intercourse, 945 for masturbation, 831 for death and dying
and 219 for vomiting, but "sweet FA" for anything caring, sharing
or compassionate.

[Jonathon Green, Chambers Slang Dictionary, published by Chambers
Harrap on 24 October 2008; hardback, pp1477; ISBN-13:978-0550-
10439-7, ISBN-10:0550104399, publisher's list price GBP30.00.]
 

curry

New member
Επιφυλάσσομαι αργότερα σήμερα ή αύριο να ποστάρω μερικά links για online λεξικά αγγλικής slang (από διάφορα μέρη του κόσμου όπου μιλάνε αγγλικά). Αν έχετε κι εσείς, βάλτε τα, μ' αρέσουν πολύ!

Βλέπετε, έχω τα πάντα στο laptop και τώρα βαριέμαι να το ανοίγω, η τεμπελάρα!
 
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