“Five hundred years of the vulgar tongue”

October 13, 2016 1:42 PM

Today marks the launch of Green’s Dictionary of Slang Online, a digitized version of Green’s Dictionary of Slang, which originally appeared as a three-volume book in 2010. Everything that was in that book is available here, plus the fruits of over five more years of research… [T]he evolving database will be able to reflect the on-going additions and improvements that make it a unique resource. (Coverage at Language Log, Slate, and Quartz, and a June interview with Green in The Daily Beast.)
posted by Going To Maine (7 comments total)

(Alternate title: “Urban Dictionary, eat your heart out.”)
posted by Going To Maine at 1:46 PM on October 13, 2016 [2 favorites]

This is... relevant to my interests. Thank you. Also, I feel an overwhelming urge to shower this man with money.
posted by hat_eater at 1:50 PM on October 13, 2016

He is a treasure of our time, and I'm glad he managed to make this happen.
posted by languagehat at 2:19 PM on October 13, 2016

s'elp me greens!
posted by chavenet at 2:22 PM on October 13, 2016

oh, this is a gift.
posted by PinkMoose at 6:16 PM on October 13, 2016

Okay, did a few tests on it. They managed to avoid the "before anyone else" nonsense but their definition of "douchebag" is somewhat unusual to say the least. I don't think I've ever seen or heard a woman referred to as a douchebag. Is that usage a British thing?
posted by fuse theorem at 7:17 PM on October 13, 2016

I've never heard the word douchebag used at all in British english. Perhaps it's started to make the odd appearance here recently as a term learned from US television, but I think it would sound horribly artificial in any kind of British accent.

Some terms just don't travel. Americans visiting Britain always sound ridiculous when they try to use "quid" as slang for "pounds" - almost as ridiculous as I sound myself when trying to casually refer to a "bucks" instead of "dollars" when I'm in the States.
posted by Paul Slade at 3:54 AM on October 14, 2016