enough, they may become so well known that they become standard
English unavoidably. Most such slangy expressions simply join an enor-
mous pool of similar expressions, and they are used until displaced by
newer terms. At some point the old ones are put on hold until they are
forgotten by everyone or revived by a new generation. Many expres-
sions that hang around for decades will pop up again and again in nov-
els and movies or in sporadic use in the speech of older generations.
For more than two hundred years, the jargon of criminals has been
a major source of everyday slang words. Alcohol, drugs, and crime have
been firmly fixed in the public consciousness since the time of prohi-
bition in the United States. The entertainment value of crime and law
enforcement has brought a constant stream of criminal slang into nov-
els, movies, and radio and television shows over the last half century.
This dictionary contains many of the expressions from these areas that
have made public appearances through the years. Even more remain
hidden behind closed doors. Matters of social taboo have also provided
many slang expressions. Although strictly speaking taboo words are not
slang, many taboo expressions have been included in this edition. Young
people are responsible for a high proportion of the fad expressions and
collegiate wordplay found here. Clever or insulting nicknames for types
of people are the major linguistic product of this subgroup.
Whereas many of the entries are humorous or clever, others sim-
ply represent the everyday turns of phrase common to informal speech
in the United States. Where possible, the examples are given in natural
slangy language, even if it is ungrammatical in formal writing. The
examples are to be taken as representative of slang usage, not of stan-
dard, formal English usage.
Most slang words that deal with personal type, race, sex, ethnic
origins, and so forth, are quite rude—often hateful—and considered
by some people taboo. No apology is made for those that are included.
They are rude or they wouldn’t be considered slang or colloquial. On
the other hand, no attempt is made to include all of them, and many
of the worst have been omitted. Slang is slang and anyone looking for
an issue will find many of them in nonstandard vocabulary. It is worth-
while to include rude words and identify them as such for the sake of
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