What is it about?
The "New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English" (NPDSUE) is a two-volume comprehensive dictionary of English slang. It is a dictionary on historical principles, tracing each term from its earliest existence and presenting citations of actual usage. It has over 4000 entries for slang terms from Australian English. These entries were based on a collection of over 60,000 citations from Australian literary sources encompassing a wide range of genres: novel, short story, poetry, the print media, ephemera, etc.
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Why is it important?
For the bulk of these term, the entries in NPDSUE represent the most up-to-date and complete record currently available. Many of the entries are not recorded in other dictionaries, and the majority of them have never before been treated by historical lexicography.
Perspectives
Being the editor solely in charge of Australian English entries was a great experience as it allowed me to essentially write the first comprehensive historical dictionary of Australian slang (albeit embedded within the rest of the dictionary). The whole process was abundantly filled with new discoveries, not only of new words and new senses, but especially of early citations antedating the earliest attestations in other historical dictionaries (such as Ramson 1988, Wilkes 1996, and the OED).
Dr James Lambert
National Institute of Education
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, September 2012, Taylor & Francis,
DOI: 10.4324/9781136283055.
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