Irreverent, colorful, sometimes offensive, and always evolving: slang reveals just how alive and vivid language can be, with new phrases coined every single day. This magnificently researched new survey brings together four centuries worth of informal speech, from its roots in the Elizabethan underworld of beggars and thieves to the rich and confounding varieties of jargons spoken today. All types are included from London to the Bronx, from Australia to South Africa: criminal lingo; terms for sex, drink, and drugs; insults and expletives; rhyming slang; and more -- in short, the vernaculars of a range of different lifestyles. Every expression comes equipped with a wealth of annotation and background detail, explaining where it originated, when it was first coined, and whether it is still in use. There are comparable words and terms, and a tracing of the sometimes twisted route by which slang either entered into common usage or faded into oblivion. With more than 65,000 snapshot views of the life and development of a language, this is bound to become the authority on the topic.