New celebration of 1700's slang dictionary

A newly published paperback, Lobcocks and Fartleberries: 18th Century Insults to Confound Your Foes reprints extracts from a celebrated dictionary of slang published in 1785 by Captain Francis Grose and entitled; A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue.

It has been observed that many of the words and phrases uncovered by Grose and his assistant (a Mr Tom Cocking) are actually still very popular today. Words such as; 'nincompop, bettle-browed, old biddy, whipper-snapper, pettifogging, thingamabob, a drubbing, hatchet-faced, bambozzle and balderdash.'

Ronald White, writer at The Times Newspaper, wrote on the subject that; 'Slang is pretty much universal. There are small tribes that regulate language so strictly that innovation is impossible, but no country is too conservative to use slang, even if - like Japan and Slovenia - it has to borrow it. Japan uses English slang, while Slovenia imports words from Serbia and Germany.'