BOOKS: Substandard-Bearer

(2 of 2)

Some modern terms are not as new as one might think. Teenagers who grope (fondle) may be surprised to learn that lovers were groping in the 14th century. Blacks who believe that bad (for good) is freshly minted will find its coinage dates to 1897. In early-18th century England, a female prostitute was gay; not until the 1930s did gay begin to become associated with male homosexuality.

Other slang words are truly contemporary. Robert Bork, the hapless federal judge who got clobbered by political opponents when he was nominated to the U.S. Supreme Court, may take some grudging satisfaction in finding himself memorialized as a verb: to bork is to "attack systematically, especially in the media." Granny dumping, "the abandonment of an elderly person," is another term of recent vintage (1991).

Inevitably, the bulk of Lighter's entries is concerned with scatology, illicit behavior, drunkenness, sex and genitalia. About 12 pages are given over to what is undoubtedly the most frequently used obscenity in the English tongue, the ever versatile F word. No other slang expression approaches it in its variety of permutation, application, hyphenation and intensification (e.g., unf -- -- -- ingbelievable). In its earliest recorded use (late 15th century), this word was possibly already taboo, says Lighter, who found it in a rhyming couplet written in cipher. The dictionary is rife with other synonyms for copulation; some are splendidly ingenious (for example, to have one's greens); most, however, are unprintable.

The human backside also gets a dozen pages. It is instructive to realize that a man can be so stupid that he doesn't know his a -- -- from a musket (earliest citation, 1862), his elbow, a hole in the ground, a stalk of bananas, a hot rock, Mammoth Cave, a hole in the wall, third base, his left foot, pork sausage, the back side of a checkerboard, ice cream or a pitchfork.

Phrases like these -- or worse -- will probably never enter the realm of polite discourse, and perhaps that is just as well. Still, some instances of slang can gain such acceptance that they become useful as colloquialisms and even enter Standard English over time -- for example, blizzard, disk jockey and gadget.

This lexicon is a remarkable demonstration of the resilience and resourcefulness of English as it constantly enriches and renews itself. Volume I is galluptious testimony to this. The completed work promises to be one gollywhopper of a dictionary.