71. Slang with Jonathon Green

This week, Kyle and Emily leave their manners a little on the left hand as they’re joined by the author of Green’s Dictionary of Slang and foremost slang lexicographer Jonathon Green.

Our hosts get at the heart of what it takes to compile such an impressive collection of slang words. They delight in Green’s exaltation of the Captain of slang himself, Francis Grose, author of the 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, while taking jabs at that stickler Samuel Johnson, and the phony John Bee.

Just what is slang? Where does slang stop and a dictionary begin? What separates the work Green does from that of the ever popular resource for inane internet jargon Urban Dictionary? All these questions and more are answered in this jaunt through some truly wayside–if not offside–words.