Overview

The language of crime has a long and venerable history - in fact, the first collection of words specifically used by criminals, Hye-Way to the Spittel House, dates from as early as 1531. Jonathon Green is our national expert on slang, and in Crooked Talk he looks at five hundred years of crooks and conmen - from the hedge-creepers and counterfeit cranks of the sixteenth century to the blaggers and burners of the twenty-first - as well as the swag, the hideouts, the getaway vehicles and the 'tools of the trade'. Not to mention a substantial detour into the world of prisons that faced those unlucky enough to be caught by the boys in blue. If you have ever wondered when the police were first referred to as pigs, why prison guards became known as redraws, or what precisely the subtle art of dipology involves, then this book has all the answers.

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9780099549994

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Pretty much anybody would like this book... Excellent on every aspect of crime. * Evening Standard * Wickedly entertaining * Daily Mail * Bursting with quiz-worthy revelations -- Robert McCrum * Observer * A comprehensive and entertaining guide to the language of law-breaking * History Today * As gripping as any novel ... I'd recommend it to anyone who uses language or is interested in his fellow human-beings -- Michael Bywater * New Humanist *

Excellent on every aspect of crime. Evening Standard Green's book is an enriching addition to the vocabulary of many an unsuspecting goose or gull (victim) Daily Mail Bursting with quiz-worthy revelations -- Robert McCrum Observer A comprehensive and entertaining guide to the language of law-breaking History Today As gripping as any novel ... I'd recommend it to anyone who uses language or is interested in his fellow human-beings -- Michael Bywater New Humanist

Bursting with quiz-worthy revelations -- Robert McCrum Observer A comprehensive and entertaining guide to the language of law-breaking History Today As gripping as any novel ... I'd recommend it to anyone who uses language or is interested in his fellow human-beings -- Michael Bywater New Humanist

Mr. Slang, aka Jonathon Green. --Martin Amis

Author Information

Jonathon Green is a writer and broadcaster and the nation's expert on slang. His Dictionary of Slang first appeared in 1998 to huge critical acclaim, and Green's Dictionary of Slang, his definitive three-volume work, was published in autumn 2010. He has written widely on slang and dictionary-making, notably Slang Down the Ages and Chasing the Sun, a history of lexicography. He has also chronicled the world of the 1960s in two oral histories: Days in the Life and All Dressed Up. He lives in London and Paris.

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