A Concise Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English

For over fifty years the name Eric Partridge has been synonymous with slang in the English language. His famous dictionary,upon which A Concise Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English is based, was first published in 1937 and is now in its eighth edition. In preparing this concise edition, Paul Beale has continued the traditions of the full volume while making it particularly relevant to our understanding of the language of the present day. Terms which are known to have arisen before this century have been omitted – they are fully documented both in A Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English and in the Routledge Dictionary of Historical Slang. In return, some 1,500 new terms have been added – coinages of the 1980s which had not yet come to light when the complete edition went to press in 1983. Our language moves on apace, and the Concise Dictionary of Slang presents a reflection of its state as we go further into the 1990s. Like its parent volume, it gives a fascinating account of the vivid, racy and informal elements of our language. It documents the living history of English and the social history of the twentieth century – and it will also provide hours of amusement for the less serious-minded browser.