Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions

About This Dictionary

The third edition of this dictionary contains more than 800 new expressions. These comprise the expressions that have appeared in the last few years—including many new expressions used in everyday talk on the streets and the college campus. The “Phrase-Finder Index” has been completely revised to make finding the location of new phrasal entries in the dictionary easier. What do we expect of slang in the year 2000 and beyond? Much of the same: sex, scatology, rudeness, and clever wordplay.

This dictionary is a collection of slang and colloquial expressions in frequent use in the United States in the twentieth century. It contains expressions that are familiar to many Americans and other expressions that are used primarily within small groups of people. The entries represent the language of the underworld, the nursery, the college campus, California beaches, urban back streets, and Wall Street. We hear from prisoners, surfers, junkies, Valley Girls, blacks, weight lifters, and just plain folks. Fad words, metaphors, wordplay, and various figures of speech make up the body of the dictionary.

There is no standard test that will decide what is slang or colloquial and what is not. Expressions that are identified as slang are often some type of entertaining wordplay, and they are almost always an alternative way of saying something. Colloquial expressions are usually spoken and are often thought of as being direct, earthy, or quaint. Slang and colloquial expressions come in different forms: single words, compound words, simple phrases, idioms, and complete sentences. Slang is rarely the first choice of careful writers or speakers or anyone attempting to use language for formal, persuasive, or business purposes. Nonetheless, expressions that can be called slang or colloquial make up a major part of American communication in movies, television, radio, newspapers, magazines, and informal conversation