Dictionary of American Slang

When first published in 1960, the Dictionary of American Slang set the standard in the field of the study of informal American speech. Dr. Robert Chapman's pioneering work on slang has since been continuously in print, and now with the new fourth edition, revised by Dr. Barbara Ann Kipfer, it once again sets the standard against which all other works on slang will be judged.
As ever, the constantly changing landscape of American language is one of the richest aspects of our nation, as it reflects deep social and technological changes that are affecting our country and, indeed, the world. Historically, slang has been the voice of the marginalized, those at the fringes of society. As some of those groups have become more mainstream, their language increasingly has made its way into the formal speech patterns of society at large.
This process has been changing over recent decades, as technological advances have driven a more rapid evolution of American English, and this new edition reflects those changes. Words have been added from rich and new sources: from the world of the Internet and the media; from various immigrant groups; and from the fashion and celebrity milieux, just to name a few.
When compiling a work of this nature, one of the most difficult tasks is the basic selection of what words should be included, a daunting undertaking in a high-speed world where it seems new words arrive (and depart) almost daily. Dr. Kipfer has studied various sources of slang and has determined what words are likely to have long lives in the lexicon. Her lengthy experience in the field has enabled her to create a work that is timely and authoritative, a true guide to the informal language of the early twenty-first century.

Robert L. Chapman, the founding editor of the Dictionary ofAmerican Slang, was a professor of English at Drew University.