McGraw-Hill's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions: The Most Up-to-Date Reference for the Nonstandard Usage, Popular Jargon, and Vulgarisms of Contempos

by Richard A. Spears

More bling for the buck! The #1 guide to American slang is now bigger, more up-to-date, and easier to use This new edition of McGraw-Hill’s Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions offers complete definitions of more than 12,000 slang and informal expressions from various sources, ranging from golden oldies such as . . . golden oldie, to recent coinages like shizzle (gangsta), jonx (Wall Street), and ping (the Internet). Each entry is followed by examples illustrating how an expression is used in everyday conversation and, where necessary, International Phonetic Alphabet pronunciations are given, as well as cautionary notes for crude, inflammatory, or taboo expressions. This edition also features a fascinating introduction on “What is Slang?,” a Thematic Index that cross-references expressions by standard terms--such as Angry, Drunk, Food, Good-bye, Mess-up, Money, and Stupidity--and a Hidden Word Index that lets you identify and locate even partially remembered expressions and phrases.

Genres: Reference, Language

576 pages, Hardcover

First published September 23, 2005

Reviews

[Mark Woodland · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is a lot of fun, and includes scads of expressions that you've probably never heard of & may want to add to your arsenal. On the other hand, by avoiding a certain level of profanity, it goes right past a large number of expressions.

[Winnie Thornton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great collection. The sample sentences (and the caution alerts for vulgar slang) were especially helpful.