Jonathon Green begins a new series looking at how English slang has treated those funny foreigners. First up, a crack at the Italians... Unlike the Spanish, the Dutch and the French, the Italians have never rejoiced in that ever-popular role; Britain’s National Enemy. There are doubtless reasons – no pre-20th century wars, perhaps – ... Read More...
Language
Mr Slang searches for love, and finds only sex and drugs... I tried to write a musical once. No, you shouldn’t laugh, really. I had lunched well, couldn’t face the database and it served to counterfeit work. It was called – goodness, how did you guess – Slang! I forget the plot ... Read More...
This week Jonathon goes walking in a winter wonderland, as he considers how slang deals with the cold... Le soleil brille and le ciel est bleu but like so many things this is both snare and delusion and a glance at the thermometer says -9° Celsius which is not good news ... Read More...
This week Mr Slang has teamed up with quiz-master Brit Snr (the editor's Dad, no less) to give you the chance to win a copy of his splendid big fat red Chambers Slang Dictionary... I have been dabbling for twelve months now. There or thereabouts. Many posts, many words, many slang ... Read More...
This week Mr Slang tries to penetrate the world of 'edgy'... Edge. Perfectly respectable word. From Old English ęcg. Means edge, point or corner. There it is in Beowulf. The corner sense has vanished (still exists in German ecke) but the rest march on. On edge: tetchy, nervous. Thence edgy. Kipling ... Read More...
This week Jonathon faces the lexicographer's greatest fear: popular etymology... Humankind cannot bear too much reality. T.S. Eliot Four Quartets The word coiner, in the sense of counterfeiter, is first recorded in 1578. No doubt the result of an oversight (perhaps mine, I may have missed it) the current OED, source of this ... Read More...
This week Jonathon Green goes hunting with a Victorian writer who attacks head-on "a reality of contemporary life that Dickens almost wholly sidesteps"... Slang is urban and so am I and horses have never entered the picture. Maybe it's some residual memory of Cossacks. At the Lincolnshire Handicap of 1953, I ... Read More...
How many of your Christmas gifts were made in China? Ongoing upgrades in transport and technology will no doubt make the world an even smaller place in 2012. Translation innovation think tank, TAUS, believes that translation will become a ubiquitous service, “like the internet, electricity, and water, translation is one of ... Read More...
For your yuletide delight, Jonathon Green presents a seasonal selection box of slang... angel n. 1. (also fallen angel) a prostitute. 2. a young woman, esp. a pretty one; also in direct address. 3. an older gay man, usu. one who supports a younger lover. 4 .a sandwichboard-man. 5. a passive homosexual; a tramp’s young homosexual ... Read More...
Jonathon Green introduces a hero of New York slang, once a bestselling author churning out smash hit after smash hit, now all but forgotten... To the five hundred and seventy-five thousands friends who have made this series of John Henry books a success beyond all dreaming, my deepest gratitude. To the Good ... Read More...
