E. Partridge – The Routledge Dictionary of Historical Slang (2006)

Автор: E. Partridge
Название книги: The Routledge Dictionary of Historical Slang
Формат: PDF
Жанр: Лингвистика
Страницы: 6031
Качество: Изначально компьютерное, E-book

This book is an abridgement of the 1961 edition of Eric Partridge’s A Dictionary of Slang
and Unconventional English, containing only those words and expressions which were
already in use before the First World War, and which may therefore be considered as
historical, rather than modern, slang. The process of abridgement has also entailed
omitting solecisms, malapropisms and grammatical points recorded in the 1961 edition.

There are two main systems of arranging words in a dictionary. The strictly alphabetical;
the ‘something before nothing’. No system is wholly satisfactory; the arrangements in the
O.E.D., in Webster and, to compare small things with great, the present dictionary are
open to severe criticism—severe but unreasonable. No arrangement is, for no
arrangement can be, perfect.
Here, the ‘something before nothing’ system has been adopted—for the simple reason
that it is the most suitable to a dictionary of this kind. Thus A.B. precedes abaddon, but it
also precedes Aaron. Perhaps an example is more illuminating: a; A.B.; A.B.C.; ABC, as
easy as; a-cockbill; A.D.; a.f.; A from a windmill; A1; Aaron; abaa; abaddon. Further, all
come (or come-) terms, beginning with come, including come it, come out, come the…,
and ending with come Yorkshire, precede comedy-merchant. Phrases in which the
headword comes last precede those in which it comes first; thus bell, sound as a precedes
bell, book and candle. Phrases in which the headword is in the plural or in the genitive do
not immediately follow those where the headword is in the nominative singular, but take
their own alphabetical place; thus bells down follows bellowser (not bell-rope), and bull’s
eye follows bullocky (not bull-puncher). Terms that are spelt both as two words (e.g.
cock-tail) and as one (cocktail) present a difficulty; I give them as, e.g., cock-tail and at,
e.g., cocktail insert a cross-reference: to scholars, some of these precautions may seem
mere foolishness, but there are others to be considered. Cross-references to words
included elsewhere in this dictionary are set in small capitals; references in italics are to
S.E., dialect, or foreign words, or to modern colloquialisms, etc.