A dictionary of modern slang, cant, and vulgar words
Book • 1859
John Camden Hotten's 'Dictionary of Modern Slang, Cant, and Vulgar Words' (1859) is a substantial Victorian-era lexicon cataloguing informal and criminal vocabulary in use across London.
Hotten collected terms from a wide range of sources, documenting practices like backslang and rhyming slang and providing numerous illustrative examples.
The dictionary was influential in preserving ephemeral slang and served as a resource for later slang lexicographers.
Hotten's interest in popular and controversial literature also led him to publish other sensational materials, and his work remains a key reference for historians of English colloquial speech.
The book reflects both the richness and the moralizing attitudes of its time.
Hotten collected terms from a wide range of sources, documenting practices like backslang and rhyming slang and providing numerous illustrative examples.
The dictionary was influential in preserving ephemeral slang and served as a resource for later slang lexicographers.
Hotten's interest in popular and controversial literature also led him to publish other sensational materials, and his work remains a key reference for historians of English colloquial speech.
The book reflects both the richness and the moralizing attitudes of its time.
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Jess Zafarris
Vulgar language and criminal slang
