If you could have only three or four reasonably-priced and readily-available slang dictionaries--preferably but not necessarily leftpond-- what would they be--Thanks again all

1. Eric Partridge. 1985. Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English: Colloquialisms, and Catch-Phrases, Solecisms and Catachresis, Nicknames, and Vulgarisms.

2. Jonathon Green. 2006. Cassell's Dictionary of Slang: A Major New Edition of the Market-Leading Dictionary of Slang.

I enjoy just about every entry in the Hacker's Dictionary, a.k.a the Jargon File. One can purchase in book form, although the text is available for free.

http://catb.org/jargon/html/index.html

quote:

1. Eric Partridge. 1985. Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English: Colloquialisms, and Catch-Phrases, Solecisms and Catachresis, Nicknames, and Vulgarisms.

I bet I'm not the only one who doesn't know what a 'catachresis' is (or even whether it's singular or plural).

'catachresis'

"Use of the wrong word for the context" or "use of a forced and especially paradoxical figure of speech (as blind mouths)" From Merriam-Webster's.

zm, shu. I also have Partridge but couldn't understand why many common exprs seemed to be missing until just now when you made me realize that I had the 1961 ed

Either of you fellas want to sell your 1985 ed really cheap

Either of you fellas want to sell your 1985 ed really cheap

I have an earlier edition in two volumes. The Cassell's is rather modern.