vAbout This Dictionary
The third edition of this dictionary contains more than 800 new expres-
sions. 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 con-
tains expressions that are familiar to many Americans and other expres-
sions that are used primarily within small groups of people. The entries
represent the language of the underworld, the nursery, the college cam-
pus, 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 collo-
quial and what is not. Expressions that are identified as slang are often
some type of entertaining wordplay, and they are almost always an alter-
native way of saying something. Colloquial expressions are usually spo-
ken and are often thought of as being direct, earthy, or quaint. Slang
and colloquial expressions come in different forms: single words, com-
pound words, simple phrases, idioms, and complete sentences. Slang is
rarely the first choice of careful writers or speakers or anyone attempt-
ing to use language for formal, persuasive, or business purposes. None-
theless, 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.
Localized fad words are usually thought to have a short life, but
other kinds of slang expressions may spread and last for a long time.
The farther they spread, the longer they will last. If they last long