Diccionario del Insulto = Dictionary of Insults

This dictionary, an outgrowth of the authors' earlier lexicographic study, El arte del insulto (The Art of the Insult, Ediciones Pen nsula, 1997), contains more than 5,000 entries taken from written texts and spoken language. The compilers (linguistics, Univ. of Granada) have used a standard format. Each entry contains the headword, a brief definition, the word's origin, and a sample sentence that illustrates its usage. The work primarily focuses on peninsular Spanish terms but does include some coverage of Latin American regionalisms (primarily from Cuba, Argentina, and Peru). While it is an interesting contribution to a little-studied field, several flaws limit its usefulness. For example, it does not adequately differentiate among insults, expletives, taboo words, and slang. Additionally, the reader might be surprised to find questionable entries such as ""jorobado"" (hunchback), ""alop cico"" (bald person), or ""secesionista"" (secessionist), and there are no labels of style or idiomatic register to guide the nonnative speaker. In addition, the alphabetization is erratic: approximately 100 derogatory comparisons are entered under the adverb ""m s"" rather than under more significant words, and 11 expressions such as ""Que te jodan"" (May they screw you) are alphabetized under ""que te..."" instead of the appropriate infinitive. An alternative work worthy of consideration is Pancracio Celdr n's Inventario general del insulto (General Inventory of Insults, Ediciones del Prado, 1996). Recommended only for libraries with specialized collections in Spanish language and linguistics. David Pardue, Univ. of Kansas Libs., Lawrence