‘A labour so ungrateful’: Report of a project to update Eric Partridge’s Dictionary of slang and unconventional English

By November 17, 2016,
Page 331-340
Author Tom Dalzell, Terry Victor, John Williams
Title ‘A labour so ungrateful’: Report of a project to update Eric Partridge’s Dictionary of slang and unconventional English
Abstract This paper offers a brief account of the current project to update Eric Partridge's Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, the last edition ofwhich appeared in 1984. Much of Partridge's original effort was concerned with the slang of the years 1890 to 1945; the present editors aim to bring it up to the present day, concentrating on terms mat have been current at any time since 1945. For the first time in a Partridge DSUE, American slang is being given equal coverage, and there will be significant inclusions from World English. At the level ofindividual entries, the spirit and tone of Partridge's original is conveyed mainly through the 'gloss', a discursive note covering anything from etymology, to synonyms, to examples ofusage. The dictionary text is being held as a database of XML files, and an account of compiling procedures is given. A wide range of fictional, non-fictional, and audiovisual texts are being used as primary sources of new material. Entries from previous editions ofthe dictionary are being retained where appropriate.
Session Reports on Lexicographical and Lexicological Projects
Keywords
BibTex 
@InProceedings{ELX02-034,
	   author = {Tom Dalzell, Terry Victor, John Williams},
	   title = {'A labour so ungrateful': Report of a project to update Eric Partridge's Dictionary of slang and unconventional English },
	   pages = {331-340},
	   booktitle = {Proceedings of the 10th EURALEX International Congress},
	   year = {2002},
	   month = {aug},
	   date = {13-17},
	   address = {København, Denmark},
	   editor = {Anna Braasch and Claus Povlsen},
	   publisher = {Center for Sprogteknologi},
	   isbn = {87-90708-09-1},
	}
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