The Vulgar Tongue

A Pocket Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue is a profane guide to the slang from the backstreets and taverns of 18th-century London. This slang dictionary gathers the most amusing and useful terms from English history and helpfully presents them to be used in the conversations of our modern day. Originally published in 1785, the Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue was one of the first lexicons of English slang, compiled by a militia captain who collected the terms he overheard on his late-night excursions to London's slums, dockyards, and taverns. Now the legacy lives on in this colorful pocket dictionary. • Learn the origin of phrases like "birthday suit" and discover slang lost to time. • Handy pocket-sized edition allows you to whip out vintage curse words whenever needed. • An unexpected marriage of lowbrow humor and highbrow wit Discover long lost antique slang and curse words and learn how to incorporate them into modern conversation. A Pocket Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue is perfect for enlivening contemporary conversation with historical phrases; it includes a topical list of words for money, drunkenness, the amorous congress, male and female naughty bits, and so on. • A funny gift for wordplay, language, swearing, and insult fans, as well as fans of British humor and culture • Perfect for those who loved How to Speak Brit: The Quintessential Guide to the King's English, Cockney Slang, and Other Flummoxing British Phrases by Christopher J. Moore; Knickers in a Twist: A Dictionary of British Slang by Jonathan Bernstein; and The Official Dictionary of Sarcasm by James Napoli

This is a fascinating and hilarious collection of all the words that raised eyebrows in the 18th century. The original 1796 alternative dictionary of 'The Vulgar Tongue' educated readers in the correct usage of colloquialisms, slang and old English idioms.

These essays offer new vistas on the idea of the vernacular in contexts as diverse as Ramon Llull's prefiguration of universal grammar, the orthography of Early Middle English, the struggle for linguistic purity in Early Modern Dutch, and the construction of standard Serbian and Romanian in the waning decades of the Austro-Hungarian empire.

The 1931 edition of the classic that presents the fashionable words and favorite expressions of olden times.