A history of cant and slang dictionaries. Volume III, 1859-1936 /
"This book continues Julie Coleman's acclaimed history of dictionaries of English slang and cant. It describes the increasingly systematic and scholarly way in which such terms were recorded and classified in the UK, the USA, Australia, and elsewhere, and the huge growth in the publication...
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| Format: | eBook |
| Language: | English |
| Language Notes: | English. |
| Published: |
Oxford ; New York :
Oxford University Press,
2009.
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| Edition: | First edition. |
| Series: | A History Of Cant and Slang Dictionaries.
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | Connect to the full text of this electronic book |
| Summary: | "This book continues Julie Coleman's acclaimed history of dictionaries of English slang and cant. It describes the increasingly systematic and scholarly way in which such terms were recorded and classified in the UK, the USA, Australia, and elsewhere, and the huge growth in the publication of and public appetite for dictionaries, glossaries, and guides to the distinctive vocabularies of different social groups, classes, districts, regions, and nations. Dr Coleman describes theorigins of words and phrases and explores their history. By copious example she shows how they cast light on everyday life across the globe - from settlers in Canada and Australia and cockneys in London to gang-members in New York and soldiers fighting in the Boer and First World Wars - as well as on theoperations of the narcotics trade and the entertainment business and the lives of those attending American colleges and British public schools.The slang lexicographers were a colourful bunch. Those featured in this book include spiritualists, aristocrats, socialists, journalists, psychiatrists, school-boys, criminals, hoboes, police officers, and a serial bigamist. One provided the inspiration for Robert Lewis Stevenson's Long John Silver. Another was allegedly killed by a pork pie. Julie Coleman's account will interest historians of language, crime, poverty, sexuality, and the criminal underworld."--Provided by publisher. |
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| Physical Description: | 1 online resource (xxiv, 489 pages) : illustrations, facsimiles |
| Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references (pages 419-440) and indexes. |
| ISBN: | 9780191563584 0191563587 9780199549375 0199549370 9780191720772 0191720771 |