I remember when I was younger, if I read a book and came across I didn’t know, I would just look it up in the dictionary and find its definition. Easy. Not so much so, however, when I started reading authors who used slang. Of course, nowadays unfamiliar words are not that much of a problem, as the internet means we can just google it and have an answer in seconds. But I still can’t help but think how useful it would have been to have a slang dictionary in the house.

There have been a few published, but (as far as I am aware) none as comprehensive as Green’s Dictionary of Slang. The three-volume, 6000-page monster of a dictionary is the motherlode. Each entry explains the historical origins of the word or phrase, as well as its meaning, and there are around 415,000 references given(!).

However interesting this book may seem, is it ill-advised to publish a work based on something which is in a constant state of flux? Slang is ever-changing and it may prove impossible to keep up with it. Anything written is likely to be outdated by the time of publication. Many slang resources, such as Urban Dictionary, are mainly online (although Urban Dictionary has also published a book), and it seems that Jonathon Green considered this option too – he plans to make his dictionary available online, so that it can be constantly updated and revised.

What do you think? Is it worth publishing works like this, or do you think it is better to keep them on-line? Personally, I quite like the idea of owning a slang dictionary, but would it ever be as current as an online resource?

Possibly the biggest surprise about the book is just how old some slang is, but many of their meanings have changed over the years. I think it is easy to dismiss slang as something which is never used for long, but in reality some of the slang we use today has been around since the middle ages!