Vulgar Tongues: An Alternative History of English Slang

Lovers of language will be engrossed by Décharné’s (Hardboiled Hollywood) excavation of the history of English-language slang. Based on his work, humans should be grateful for slang, or we wouldn’t have been able to discuss sex over the ages (without being persecuted). We’d have no limericks, certainly, and this book would be much shorter. (Aside for trivia fiends: if your English friends say they’re “discussing Uganda,” they’re almost assuredly not.) Décharné notes that the first English-language gay slang dictionary was published in the late 20th century, but he traces English slang terms for homosexuality as far back as the 18th century. Slang was, not surprisingly, ubiquitous in the criminal underworld, and there’s a vast array of terms for drunkenness and drug-taking. One wrinkle in the book: since the author is English, U.S. readers may stumble over a few obscure references. But there are also interesting peeks into Cockney rhyming slang, a “much quoted, and much misunderstood” form. Slang used to “come from the street,” but Décharné laments that it is now fighting against the “fake language” concocted by the PR industry, diluting slang’s gritty charm. If his dark predictions are true, this well-stocked and exhaustively researched compendium has arrived just in time to preserve the flavor of undiluted slang. [em]Agent: George Lucas, InkWell Management. (June) [/em]