Groovy! Dive into the world’s largest online slang dictionary
The tongue cannot stay still for long. It is constantly evolving based on the cultures that use them, and slang often showcases this complex relationship at its most creative, playful, and strange. Although some terms or expressions may persist for centuries, most of today’s slang terminology is more current. It is therefore often difficult to keep up with the times, let alone understand the informal communications of the past.
This is where Jonathon Green came to the rescue. In 1993, Green began compiling 500 years of English slang by sifting through mountains of primary sources. The climax was Green’s Slang Dictionarya three-volume reference set containing 10.3 million words across 53,000 distinct entries. It was first published in 2010, but the printed reference works are outdated. And sold out only 16 years later. Today, an original copy of Green’s Dictionary can easily cost you over $1,300.
Like slang itself, green is for the people. After a few years of work, the lexicographer – student or compiler of dictionaries – put his entire project online available to everyone. As Open Culture recently pointed out, Green’s Slang Dictionary is now available for free on its own, regularly updated website. Additionally, it includes over 60,000 additional citations as well as 2,500 new entries and subentries. The site also contains search tools as well as a predictably gigantic source bibliography. For an additional subscription fee, users can also access additional citations and advanced search options.
“Language has no end, and neither does research,” Green wrote in his original introduction to the website in 2016.Online GDoS is therefore a project in continuous development. In addition to the natural expansion of the material offered, our intention is to improve the way in which information is displayed, both in terms of quality and quantity.
With a little perseverance, regular reading Green’s Dictionary can help revive long-forgotten gems: it’s well worth your next stoppoif nothing else.
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