Join two wayward radio hosts on A Way With Words, the call-in radio show about writing, speaking, slang, old sayings, and more.

Login   •   Register  

Tuesday, May 01, 2007

The Con’s English

Bryan Curtis reviews for Slate Randy Kearse's Street Talk, a slang dictionary he wrote in prison. My colleague Jesse Sheidlower is quoted as giving the book generally good marks, commenting that it's a bit better than folk dictionaries usually are:
"One of the typical things about self-edited books of this sort is that they'll include everything that is not standard English—slang terms, unusual pronunciations, a colloquial phrase that's not slang. But these"—he gestured at Street Talk—"are mostly real lexical phrases. The terms in here have a particular meaning, and they're used that way."

Filed under Dictionaries and Lexicography • (0) Comments • Permalink

Name:

Email:

Location:

URL:

Remember my personal information

Notify me of follow-up comments?

This is the personal weblog of Grant Barrett, editor of the Double-Tongued Dictionary, a collection of words from the fringes of English. More about this site...

Recent Entries

Recent Catchwords

Archives

May 2008
April 2008
March 2008
February 2008
January 2008
December 2007
November 2007
October 2007
September 2007
August 2007
July 2007
June 2007
May 2007
April 2007
March 2007
February 2007
January 2007
December 2006
November 2006
October 2006
September 2006
August 2006
July 2006
June 2006
May 2006
April 2006
March 2006
February 2006
January 2006
September 2005
August 2003
July 2003
June 2003
May 2003
April 2003
March 2003
February 2003
January 2003
December 2002
December 2001
November 2001
October 2001
September 2001
August 2001
July 2001
June 2001
May 2001
April 2001
March 2001
February 2001
January 2001
June 2000
May 2000
April 2000
March 2000
February 2000
January 2000
December 1999
November 1999
June 1999

Categories