Green's Dictionary of Slang [3 Vol Set]: Amazon.co.uk: Jonathon Green: Books

Review

'No previous work of lexicography has ever stood as such a monument to mankind's baseness and wilful disinclination to self-improve'

'Multi-faceted and unflinching'

'Green's astonishing, peerless collage ... is the entire anglophone world unmediated'

'[Green] belongs to a rare pantheon'

(Jonathan Meades, The Evening Standard 20110816)

'the reference work of the vulgar tongue to which all others must now be referred [...] he has now exhibited English slang in more detail than any lexicographer before him'

(Jeremy Noel-Tod, The Telegraph 20110124)

'... It's not hyperbolic to suggest that it's the OED of slang'

(Michael Quinion, World Wide Words.com 20120308)

'After more than a decade's labour, Jonathon Green, lexicographer of the subversive, has produced as fine a three-volume dictionary of slang as you would desire to piss upon (1700: phrase meaning "excellent, first-rate").'

(Steven Poole, The Guardian 20120301)

' ... any language lover will find this as compelling a read as a thriller ... The dictionary is a stupendous achievement, in range, meticulous scholarship, and not least enterainment value'

(Christopher Hart, The Sunday Times )

'this is the sort of book that, even when examined for a specific purpose, invites sustained perusal'

(Henry Hitchings, Financial Times )

'A magnificent work of scholarship'

(Colin MacCabe, The New Statesman )

'The range of sources is breathtaking'

(James Sharpe, Times Literary Supplement )

'a wonderfully politically incorrect source of education and entertainment'

(Prof. Chris Williams, walesonline.co.uk )

'This is the most significant dictionary of slang that has ever been produced ... Get it.'

(Australian Book Review )

'With the historical context and sample sentences, Green's shows the depth and breadth of slang as we've never seen it. It is now the number one authority on slang--for etymology, appropriateness, and social context. If words are your trade, you just don't have a full toolbox without Green's'

(www.copyediting.com )

**** WINNER OF THE 2012 DARTMOUTH MEDAL, RECOGNISING THE MOST OUTSTANDING REFERENCE WORK OF THE YEAR ****

(American Library Association )

"Jonathan Green's is a dictionary for the ages, as special a catalogue of word-biographies as James Murray himself might have created, and likely to endure as long as the OED...To praise another way: Green's dictionary is, in short, the dog's bollocks."

(New York Review of Books )

'Quite simply the best historical dictionary of English slang there is, ever has been ... or is ever likely to be'

(Julie Coleman, Journal of English Language and Linguistics )

Product Description

The three volumes of Green's Dictionary of Slang demonstrate the sheer scope of a lifetime of research by Jonathon Green, the leading slang lexicographer of our time. A remarkable collection of this often reviled but endlessly fascinating area of the English language, it covers slang from the past five centuries right up to the present day, from all the different English-speaking countries and regions. Every word and phrase is authenticated by genuine and fully-referenced citations of its use, giving the work a level of authority and scholarship unmatched by any other publication in this field.

Green's Dictionary of Slang is a groundbreaking work. Quite simply, it is the most authoritative and comprehensive record of slang ever to be made available. (20101127)

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Amazon.com: 3 reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful

What a beauty! 21 Mar 2011

By eightcats - Published on Amazon.com

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

I bought this Dictionary because I love words, their origins, their correct use, their misuse, their ambiguity (at times) and the fact that there is always one to describe what you're seeing or thinking or doing or thinking of doing, or have done, or will do. Jonathan Green, with the input of many others, has documented thousands of wonderful slang words used by all manner of people all over the world, and done a fantastic job of it. I'm sure he'll be the first to admit that there are many, many others (I looked for several words and phrases that weren't there) but he should be very proud of this Sisyphean achievement. These tomes are a scholarly, interesting and educational, and frankly just plain fun read. Just pick one up and open it at random. Hard to put down, many entries will bring a smile. As a Kiwi, I was thrilled to find the word 'wopcacker' had been included, but disappointed to find it initially attributed as Australian. I forgive Mr Green this transgression given the tiring late nights he must've beavered to put together such a work of art.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful

everything I loved in a good dictionary 8 Mar 2011

By Zhou Qiao - Published on Amazon.com

Just about everything. The citations, dates, layout, fonts, paper size and quality, binding.... Such great fun to browse.

The set I got is published by Chambers (2010), not Oxford (2011) as advertised here. Maybe Oxford is issuing it too. But I just love the Chambers style.

7 of 15 people found the following review helpful

Vast but sometimes uncritical compilation 7 Feb 2011

By RobConway - Published on Amazon.com

Format:Hardcover

Clocking in at 6000 pages (and in small type at that) this is surely the biggest slang dictionary ever compiled. Yet there are some reasons to fear that quantity has triumphed over quality. For example, the entry on "gay" suggests that the meaning "homosexual" may have stemmed from 16th-century French "gaie." This claim is preposterous, for no such meaning for the French adjective has been documented prior to the introduction of the term from the anglophone sphere in the 20th century. The attribution stems from the "Lavender Lexicon" by an enthusiastic California scholar, the late Bruce Rodgers. His book abounds in nonce coinages--that is, words and definitions of words made up by particular individuals of Rodger's acquaintance. To be sure, the popularity of the book may have put some of these gems into circulation afterwards. If so, however, there acceptance should have been documented by another citation. Such is often lacking in the Green work, so that a misleading impression is conveyed. One cannot help wondering also whether some ephemeral words collected on particular US college campuses enjoy any real circulation. Prison usage presents similar problems.

Perusing this set provides real pleasures, but it is not authoritative in the way that, say, Lighter's work on American slang actually is.

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Green's Dictionary of Slang [3 Vol Set] [Hardcover]

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