About the Book

Based on Eric Partridge's Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, of which the Sunday Times wrote `Even a casual perusal of the pages is extraordinarily instructive and entertaining, presenting the reader with so much out-of-the-way information.'
For over fifty years the name Eric Partridge has been synonymous with slang in the English language, and his famous dictionary, upon which this book is based, was first published in 1937.
In preparing this concise edition, Paul Beale has continued the traditions of the full volume while making it particularly relevant to our understanding of the language of the present day. Terms which are known to have arisen before this century have been omitted. In return, some 1,500 new terms have been added - coinages of the eighties which had not yet come to light when the eighth edition of the complete work went to press in 1983.