Product Description

For the 411 on American slang, this guidebook is the top banana

From "head trip" to "foot in mouth," American Slang Dictionary gives you the complete definitions of thousands of uniquely American words and phrases, ranging from golden oldies such as "catch some rays" and "take the fifth" to more up-to-the-minute coinages like Wall Street's "jonx," the Internet's "ping," and the gangsta's favorite, "shizzle."

Inside you'll find more than 12,000 words and expressions from a wide variety of sources, including gangsta rap, the blogosphere, and the U.S. prison system. In a New York minute, you'll be down with the colloquialisms, vulgarities, and substandard English that make everyday interactions in contemporary American life so colorful.

BSOD or blue screen of death the blue computer screen that appears after a programming or operational error
crunk wild; crazy; out of control
kvetch to complain
left-handed monkey wrench a nonexistent tool
word of mouse a message spread by e-mail

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #141552 in Books
• Published on: 2006-06-29
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 546 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780071461085
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

From the Back Cover

For the 411 on American slang, this guidebook is the top banana

From "head trip" to "foot in mouth," American Slang Dictionary gives you the complete definitions of thousands of uniquely American words and phrases, ranging from golden oldies such as "catch some rays" and "take the fifth" to more up-to-the-minute coinages like Wall Street's "jonx," the Internet's "ping," and the gangsta's favorite, "shizzle."

Inside you'll find more than 12,000 words and expressions from a wide variety of sources, including gangsta rap, the blogosphere, and the U.S. prison system. In a New York minute, you'll be down with the colloquialisms, vulgarities, and substandard English that make everyday interactions in contemporary American life so colorful.

BSOD or blue screen of death the blue computer screen that appears after a programming or operational error
crunk wild; crazy; out of control
kvetch to complain
left-handed monkey wrench a nonexistent tool
word of mouse a message spread by e-mail

About the Author

Richard A. Spears, Ph.D., is a former reference editor and linguistics professor at Northwestern University. He has written more than 150 dictionaries.

Customer Reviews

This is what and all you need
It took me forever researching books for american slang. Some books have 3 different editions each covering about a 100 or so words each and selling for over $20.
Not this. It has everything those books have and more. I ordered the hard cover at first which is just about $3 more than this one but i decided to get this because amazon's listing says it's 1098 pages. Sorry folks, i think they listed the wrong info, probably the one for the american idioms dictionary for this book.
This book is only 546 pages. It doesn't say in the listing but it is the paperback edition to "McGraw-Hill's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions 4e" also sold here at amazon. Which means they both contain the same info but different titles. Amazing how titles can be changed to sell books. Anyway, this is also the 4th edition and contains the same a little over 12,000 expressions as the hardcover. I looked in the copyrights page of this book and it states "previously published as McGraw-Hill's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions hc." I felt better knowing i saved money and got the same book as the hardcover. Plus, if you look inside both books online, you'll see they contain the same thing, amazon doesn't list 'em together probably cuz they contain different titles but they are one and the same. This was published in 2006 compared to the hardcover which was published in 2005.
If you want a hardcover, i guess you can get that but i'm just letting those who'd like to save money know that this is the paperback edition for the "McGraw-Hill's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions" and it says in the subtitle ultimate guide to colloquialisms....

So, instead of buying all those other expensive books, get this. It contains every slang word you can and can't think of - the good, the dirty, and the not soo good ones. It shows you how each word is used in a sentence and it shows how different slang words mean the same thing. For some expressions it can show how that one expression can mean different things in different contexts and explains each little nuance between the contexts. So you'll see one or more exemplary sentences for each expression. For some words, it shows the origin, it also indicates if an entry is a noun, exlamation, whether it's ony used in a sentence or whatever.

If an entry can mean more than one thing, it indicates it. Of course, it has it's short falls. An example is the slang " Eighty - six or 86." It only gives the meaning as to 'nix someone or something'. And it gives that meaning cuz it states it originated from tv where it meant to nix something. However, 86 in the restaurant setting can either mean to "refuse service" or it can mean the the restaurant is out of something in the kitchen such as the chicken is 86'd. I heard this meaning might have originated from a bar in new york so it might not be too common. It also doesn't have expressions like jaywalk or queer street among a few others. This book has slang expressions spoken in various parts of this country. I just got this book and still loking through it. i think it's muy bueno.

Why spend $20 or $30 on a single book which has less expressions when you can get this for 10 bucks and get more bang for buck?
Happy reading.

Slang Dictionary Review
Good price and very good delivery. Recommend the book and would order again from the same source. No problems encountered at all.

Excellent acquisition!
The book arrived on time and in excellent conditions. It is a great help for me specially for my graduate studies.