The Life of Slang - Softcover

[Coleman's] book is to use an epithet she might appreciate well sick. (Independent on Sunday)

Review from previous edition Enjoyable and succinct. Rarely, since Eric Partridge, has any scholar evinced such pleasure in the vulgar tongue... Coleman is a "top banana". (Robert McCrum, The Observer)

Completely fascinating ... immensely enjoyable ... Coleman's thinking lifts this book above the usual semi-disposable level of writing about rude words. (James McConnachie, The Sunday Times)

Coleman relishes slang in all its chewy, vigorous glory, and gives a sociological insight ... This book is the 'cat's whiskers' (The Independent on Sunday)

Bad-ass, bee's knees, and bomb-diffity - slang rules

Teachers, politicians, broadcasters, and parents complain of the slang-infested language of today's teenagers. But slang has been around for centuries, always troubling those who take a purist line on the English language. In this entertaining book, Julie Coleman traces the development of slang across the English-speaking world and explores why and how it flourishes. She makes use of a marvellous array of sources, including newly available online records of the Old Bailey, machine-searchable historical newspaper collections, slang users themselves, scholarly works, and the latest tweets. It is a book guaranteed to teach you some new words that you shold never use in polite company.