Long before Orwell mourned the corruption of the English language, his mother tongue was fast becoming a motley one, absorbing new colloquialisms by the minute. The "Shorter Slang Dictionary," the latest compilation of English slang from freelance lexicographer Rosalind Fergusson, is proof that even colloquial English has achieved a certain degree of lexicographical legitimacy in the undiscriminating 20th century. Incorporating idioms, linguistic informalities, and indecipherable curse words from the UK, the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, the "Shorter Slang Dictionary" throws linguistic propriety to the wind in its fervent pursuit of off-color terms. Defining everything from "ash-cash" to "pillock" to the ever-popular "zit," the "Shorter Slang Dictionary" will be of interest to lexicographers, linguists, and general readers.
