SlangвЂ™s definition is itself perhaps elusive, but to Green it is вЂcounter-languageвЂ™, by analogy with вЂcounter-cultureвЂ™, and possesses the same vivid qualities: it is irreverent, subversive and fun. During this time he has accumulated a database of over half a million citations for more than 100,000 words and phrases, and these are the basis for the vast, authoritative and widely acclaimed GreenвЂ™s Dictionary of Slang (Hodder Education, 2010), winner of the Dartmouth Medal as the American Library AssociationвЂ™s вЂoutstanding reference work of the yearвЂ™. I have already added 1500 citations and new definitions and headwords to those in the book.вЂќ He looks forward to online publication: вЂњUnlike an e-book it will be вЂliveвЂ™, with continuous revision, correction, expansion and improvement, offered in quarterly or six-monthly increments, until, as I hope, my lifeless body crashes forward on to the keyboard at some ripe old age.Over the last thirty years, Jonathon Green has established himself as a major figure in lexicography, specialising in English slang. He told me, вЂњOne does not finish a dictionary. While working on various word histories, IвЂ™ve accidentally antedated several GDoS terms in the month since my copy arrived.ДЄlthough he has now researched English slang in more detail than any lexicographer before him, Green has no plans to retire. Green is rightly wary of online sources for their unreliability as dating evidence, but some are usable with care and I wonder if he has yet to fully exploit their potential. However, Green and his helpers, his wife in particular, have focussed their attention on printed material and have spent 12 years scouring libraries for citations. Not only has publication of reference works moved online, so has much of the research work. Even here, online publication is in prospect: Oxford University Press, which distributes the book in North America, plans to make it available as an e-book via the Oxford Reference Bookshelf. GDoS may have the melancholy attribute of being the last substantial reference work to appear as a physical object. Online publication has since become the norm. When in 1997 he was commissioned to prepare it, print was still a natural medium for reference works. It is also remarkable for coming out as a printed book at all. Though Green is more than ready to acknowledge the assistance of many individuals, his editor-in-chief Sarah Chatwin especially, GDoS is unusual in todayвЂ™s publishing world in that it has been conceived and produced by one person. GDoS is striking not only in its comprehensiveness. His single-volume dictionary, already regarded as the best available and which forms the skeleton of this work, is the Chambers Slang Dictionary of 2008, itself building on The Cassell Dictionary of Slang of 1998.

His first foray was Newspeak: A Dictionary of Jargon, published in 1983.

Mr Slang, as Martin Amis called Jonathon Green (a cognomen that he has adopted as his Nom de Twitter) has an enviable reputation as the premier slang lexicographer of his generation. In its historical approach, GDoS matches the Oxford English Dictionary and itвЂ™s not hyperbolic to suggest that itвЂ™s the OED of slang. The only works I know of that are comparable in their approach, if not size, are Jonathan LighterвЂ™s Historical Dictionary of American slang, which sadly has stalled at the letter O, and its spin-off, Jesse SheidlowerвЂ™s The F-Word. Few slang dictionaries attempt this - though many include examples - because the written record of slang is poor (it is, after all, primarily a spoken medium) and a huge research effort is needed to acquire early citations.

Every entry includes a range of dated citations, going back to the first firmly attested example, to show the way the word or phrase has been used through its life.

ItвЂ™s so big because itвЂ™s that rare thing, a dictionary that records the historical development of slang. GDoS (as it is already commonly abbreviated) is an important publication in the history of slang lexicography. It is only right that Jonathon GreenвЂ™s magnum opus should carry his name in the title. Leaving aside the superlatives, it is principally a testimony to the industry of its editor. Unfortunately, the price is likewise massive, which is hardly going to make it a household purchase, even at the deep discounts being offered by some online retailers. It is physically huge: 6000+ pages in three hefty volumes with ten million words, 110,000-plus definitions and 413,000 citations. This work is monumental in several senses.

Jonathan green dictionary of slang