Loading images...
Vulgar Tongues: An Alternative History of English Slang, by Max Décharné
€9.00

Quay Books
This rollercoaster ride through the colourful history of slang - from highwaymen to hip-hop - is a fresh and exciting take on the subject: entertaining and authoritative without being patronizing, out-of-touch or voyeuristic.
Slang is the language of pop culture, low culture, street culture, underground movements and secret societies; depending on your point of view, it is a badge of honour, a sign of identity or a dangerous assault on the values of polite society.
Witty, energetic and informative Vulgar Tongues traces the many routes of slang, beginning with the thieves and prostitutes of Elizabethan London and ending with the present day, where the centuries-old terms rap and hip-hop still survive, though their meanings have changed.
On the way we will meet Dr. Johnson, World War II flying aces, pickpockets, schoolchildren, hardboiled private eyes, carnival geeks and the many eccentric characters who have tried to record slang throughout its chequered past.
If you’re curious about flapdragons and ale passion, the changing meanings of punk and geek, or how fly originated on the streets of eighteenth-century London and square in Masonic lodges, this is the book for you.
“A spectacular feat, collating information from a mind-boggling range of sources—from jazz lyrics to dime novels, from 18th-century brothel directories to 1960s criminal autobiographies.” - New Statesman
“A triumph of philological research and mordant social commentary.” - The Washington Post
More from Quay Books Browse Quay Books All
The Farmer's Son: Calving Season on a Family Farm, by John Connell
€5.00
€17.00
70% off
The World That We Knew: A Novel, by Alice Hoffman
€7.00
€25.00
72% off
How Do I Love Thee? with Jennifer Adams and Christopher Silas Neal (Illustrator)
€6.00
€16.00
62% off
I Think, Therefore I Am: All the Philosophy You Need to Know, by Lesley Levene
€4.00
€10.00
60% off
The King's Pearl: Henry VIII and His Daughter Mary, by Melita Thomas
€10.00
€25.00
60% off
Right Behind You, by Lisa Gardner
€4.00
€11.00
63% off
The Illustrated Encyclopedia Of Tractors, by John Carroll
€9.00
€25.00
64% off
Objective Saint-Lo: 7 June 1944 - 18 July 1944, by Georges Bernage
€10.00
€35.00
71% off