Tom Dalzell – The Routledge Dictionary of Modern American Slang (2009)

Автор: Tom Dalzell
Название книги: The Routledge Dictionary of Modern American Slang (2009)
Формат: PDF
Жанр: Лингвистика
Страницы: 1120
Качество: Изначально компьютерное, E-book

The Routledge Dictionary of Modern American Slang and Unconventional English offers the ultimate record of modern American Slang.

The 25,000 entries are accompanied by citations that authenticate the words as well as offer lively examples of usage from popular literature, newspapers, magazines, movies, television shows, musical lyrics, and Internet user groups. Etymology, cultural context, country of origin and the date the word was first used are also provided.

This informative, entertaining and sometimes shocking dictionary is an unbeatable resource for all language aficionados out there.

This dictionary is an intended consequence of a larger
project, the New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and
Unconventional English, in which Terry Victor and I
updated the work of Eric Partridge. Contributors from
around the globe supported us as we recorded and
defined the slang of the English-speaking world since the
end of World War 2. We worked hard to continue the
Partridge tradition, observing his high standards of
lexicography while producing an accessible work informed
by, and infused with, the humor, mischief and energy that
are endemic to slang. Partridge’s body of work,
scholarship and dignity of approach led the way and set
the standard for every other English-language slang
lexicographer of the twentieth century, and we tried to do
as we thought he would have done.
Partridge limited his work to the language of Great
Britain and her dominions. He explicitly decided to
exclude American slang, and this decision created
increasingly difficult problems for him as the years passed
and the influence of American slang grew.
Because Partridge did not record American slang, my
task for the New Partridge was to start from scratch, not
to review and cull Partridge’s previous work and then
update it. To some extent I relied on reference works, but
for the most part I read extensively from popular
literature. I mined fiction, non-fiction, screenplays, scripts,
newspapers (especially underground newspapers),
magazines, and popular song lyrics for headwords and
citations.
For this dictionary, I extracted the American entries
from New Partridge and reviewed each entry, definition,
and citation. I ultimately excluded many entries from New
Partridge, and many others benefited from new citations
or new first-usage dating information. I added several
thousand new entries, and then trimmed the whole to fit
our extent parameters.
Criteria for inclusion
I use three criteria for including a term or phrase in this
dictionary. I include (1) slang and unconventional English;
(2) used in the United States; and (3) after 1945.
Rather than focus too intently on a precise definition
of slang or on whether a given entry is slang, jargon or
colloquial English, I borrow the wide net cast by Partridge
when he chose to record “slang and unconventional
English” instead of just slang, which is, after all, without
any settled test of purity. I have considered for inclusion
all unconventional English that has been used with the
purpose or effect of either lowering the formality of communication
and reducing solemnity and/or identifying
status or group and putting oneself in tune with one’s
company. A term recorded here might be slang, slangy
jargon, a colloquialism, an acronym, an initialism, a
vulgarism or a catchphrase.
In all instances, an entry imparts a message beyond
the text and literal meaning. If there was a question as to
whether a potential entry fell within the target register, we
erred on the side of inclusion. I present my evidence of
usage to the reader who is free to determine if a
candidate passes probation. I chose to avoid the slang of
sports. Entire dictionaries are devoted to sports slang, and
there was little that I could add to this work. Because golf
and bowling are such social sports, I was tempted to
dabble in their slang, but in the end chose not to.
Secondly, all entries were used in the United States.
Regardless of the country of origin, if the word or phrase
was used in the United States, it is a candidate for inclusion.
A number of entries show countries of origin other than the
United States, which simply reflects the fact that
globalization has affected many facets of life, not the least
of which is our language. I also include pidgin, Creolized
English and borrowed foreign terms used by Englishspeakers
in primarily English-language conversation.
Thirdly, I include slang and unconventional English
heard and used at any time after 1945. I chose the end of
the war in 1945 as my starting point primarily because it
marked the beginning of a series of profound cultural
changes that produced the lexicon of modern and
contemporary slang. The cultural transformations since
1945 are mind-boggling. Television, computers, drugs,
music, unpopular wars, youth movements, changing racial
sensitivities and attitudes towards sex and sexuality are all
substantial factors that have shaped culture and language.
No term is excluded on the grounds that it might be
considered offensive as a racial, ethnic, religious, sexual or
any kind of slur. This dictionary contains many entries and
citations that will, and should, offend. To exclude a term
or citation because it is offensive is to deny the fact that
it is used.
Using The Routledge Dictionary of Modern
American Slang and Unconventional English
I hope that my presentation is self-evident and that it
requires little explanation. I use only a few abbreviations
and none of the stylistic conceits near and dear to the
hearts of lexicographers.
Headwords
I use indigenous spelling for headwords. For Yiddish words,
I use Leo Rosten’s spelling, which favors “sh-” over “sch-”.
An initialism is shown in upper case without periods (for
example, BLT), except that acronyms (pronounced like
individual lexical items) are lower case (for example,
snafu). Including every variant spelling of a headword
seemed neither practical nor helpful to the reader. For the
spelling of headwords, I chose the form found in standard
dictionaries or the most common forms, ignoring
uncommon variants as well as common hyphenation
variants of compounds and words ending in “ie” or “y”.
For this reason, citations may show variant spellings not
found in the headword. Placement of phrases
As a general rule, phrases are placed under their first significant
word. However, some invariant phrases are listed
as headwords; for example, a stock greeting, stock reply or
catchphrase. Terms that involve a single concept are
grouped together as phrases under the common
headword; for example, burn rubber, lay rubber and peel
rubber are all listed as phrases under the headword
“rubber.”
Definition
I use conventional English in the definitions, turning to
slang only when it is both substantially more economical
than the use of conventional English and is readily
understood by the average reader. If a term used in a definition
or gloss is itself defined in the dictionary, it appears
in SMALL CAPS BOLD.
Gloss
The gloss is the brief explanations that Partridge used for
“editorial comment” or “further elucidation.” Partridge
warned against using the gloss to show what clever and
learned fellows we are – a warning that I tried to heed.
Country of origin
As is the case with dating, further research will
undoubtedly produce a shift in the country of origin for a
number of entries. I resolutely avoided guesswork and
informed opinion.
Dating
Even Paul Beale, who as editor of the 8th edition of
Partridge was the direct inheritor of Partridge’s trust,
noted that Partridge’s dating “must be treated with
caution.” I recognise that the accurate dating of slang is
far more difficult than dating conventional language.
Virtually every word in our lexicon is spoken before it is
written, and this is especially true of unconventional
terms. The recent proliferation of electronic databases
and powerful search engines will undoubtedly permit the
antedating of many of the entries. Individualised dating
research, such as Allen Walker’s hunt for the origin of
“OK” or Barry Popik’s exhaustive work on terms such as
“hot dog,” produces dramatic antedatings: I could not
undertake this level of detailed research for every entry.
Conclusion
In the preface to his 1755 Dictionary of the English
Language, Samuel Johnson noted that “A large work is
difficult because it is large,” and that “Every writer of a
long work commits errors.” In addition to improvements
in my dating of terms and identification of the country of
origin, it is inevitable that some of my definitions are
incorrect or misleading, especially where the sense is
subtle and fleeting, defying paraphrasing, or where kindred
senses are interwoven. It is also inevitable that some
quotations are included in a mistaken sense. For these
errors, I apologise in advance. I carry the flame for words
that are usually judged only by the ill-regarded company
they keep.
Just as Partridge did for the sixteenth-century
beggars and rakes, for whores of the eighteenth century,
and for the armed services of the two world wars, I try
to do for the slang users of the last 60 years. I embrace
the language of beats, hipsters, hippies, GI’s in Vietnam,
pimps, druggies, whores, punks, skinheads, ravers,
surfers, Valley Girls, dudes, pill-popping truck drivers,
hackers, rappers and more. I have tried to do what
Partridge saw as necessary, which was simply to keep up
to date.