Overview
Every era of the twentieth century from the ""Roaring Twenties"" to the ""Me Decade"" brought its own fads and trends and the language to go with them: fresh youth slang, up-to-the-minute buzzwords, and colorful catch phrases. Most of this new vocabulary exploded into the vernacular, only to fizzle a few years later as newer trends and more current events demanded their own terminology.Giving yesterday's words another chance to sparkle before they retire for good, Dewdroppers, Waldos, and Slackers focuses on language that still resonates with the mood of its times. A nostalgic word trip through the highs and lows of American English from the last century, this book pays special attention to words that enjoyed a brief vogue only to end up abandoned and nearly forgotten: jet jockeys, keypunch operators, the bugged-out and the slackers. All these words have a place here in engaging essays, arranged by decade, that put them in their historical and sociological context. While the twentieth century is over, this book will help us appreciate the words that were left behind.
Full Product Details
Author: Rosemarie Ostler
Publisher: Oxford University Press Inc
Imprint: Oxford University Press Inc
Dimensions:
Width: 15.80cm
, Height: 1.90cm
, Length: 22.80cm
Weight: 0.395kg
ISBN: 9780195182545
ISBN 10: 0195182545
Pages: 256
Publication Date: 29 September 2005
Audience:
General/trade
,
General
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: To order
Stock availability from the supplier is unknown. We will order it for you and ship this item to you once it is received by us.
Reviews
<br> Worthwhile.... Engaging. A nice light accurate skimming of the vocabulary of particular eras of the twentieth century. --Allan Metcalf, secretary of the American Dialect Society and author of America in So Many Words<p><br> Well documented and entertaining, this book...will appeal to all aficionados of language. --Choice<p><br>
Worthwhile.... Engaging. A nice light accurate skimming of the vocabulary of particular eras of the twentieth century. --Allan Metcalf, secretary of the American Dialect Society and author of America in So Many Words<br> Well documented and entertaining, this book...will appeal to all aficionados of language. --Choice<br>
Worthwhile.... Engaging. A nice light accurate skimming of the vocabulary of particular eras of the twentieth century. --Allan Metcalf, secretary of the American Dialect Society and author of America in So Many Words Well documented and entertaining, this book...will appeal to all aficionados of language. --Choice
According to linguist and librarian Ostler, thousands of [slang] words and expressions entered American English between 1900 and 1999. Among these, some expressions * like groovy, straight skinny and Okie * Well documented and entertaining, this book...will appeal to all aficionados of language. * Choice *
Author Information
Rosemarie Ostler, a linguist and librarian, has written on this topic for The Saturday Evening Post, and her work has also appeared in The Futurist, Oregon Quarterly, Whole Earth, and Writers' Journal.
