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British Slang
While some slang words and phrases are used throughout Britain (e.g. ''knackered'', meaning "exhausted"), others are restricted to smaller regions, even to small geographical areas. The nations of the United Kingdom, which are England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, all have their own slang words, as does London. London slang has many varieties, the best known of which is rhyming slang. English-speaking nations of the former British Empire may also use this slang, but also incorporate their own slang words to reflect their different cultures. Not only is the slang used by British expats, but some of these terms are incorporated into other countries' everyday slang, such as in Australia, Canada and Ireland. British slang has been the subject of many books, including a seven volume dictionary published in 1889. Lexicographer Eric Partridge published several works about British slang, most notably ''A Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English'', revised and edited by Paul ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Knackered
A knacker (), knackerman or knacker man is a person who removes and clears animal carcasses (dead, dying, injured) from private farms or public highways and Rendering (animal products), renders the collected carcasses into by-products such as fats, tallow (yellow grease (tallow), yellow grease), animal glue, glue, gelatin, bone meal, bone char, sal ammoniac, soap, bleach and Meat and bone meal, animal feed. A knacker's yard or a knackery is different from a slaughterhouse or abattoir, where animals are slaughtered for human consumption. Since the Middle Ages, the occupation of "knacker man" was frequently considered a disreputable occupation. Knackers were often also commissioned by the courts as public executioners. Etymology The oldest recorded use of the word "knacker" dates to 1812, meaning "one who slaughters old or sick horses" and in 1855 "to kill, castrate", and is believed to be the same word as the earlier knacker/nacker "harness-maker" from the 1570s, surviving in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of River Avon, Warwickshire, Avon" or simply "the Bard". His extant works, including William Shakespeare's collaborations, collaborations, consist of some Shakespeare's plays, 39 plays, Shakespeare's sonnets, 154 sonnets, three long narrative poems and a few other verses, some of uncertain authorship. His plays List of translations of works by William Shakespeare, have been translated into every major modern language, living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright. Shakespeare remains arguably the most influential writer in the English language, and his works continue to be studied and reinterpreted. Shakespeare was born and raised in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire. At the age of 18 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Angloromani Language
Angloromani or Anglo-Romani (literally "English Romani"; also known as Angloromany, Rummaness, or ) is a Para-Romani dialect spoken by the Romanichal, a subgroup of the Romani people in the United Kingdom and other parts of the English-speaking world. It is characterised by the presence of Romani vocabulary and syntax in the English used by Romanichal. Romanichal used the Romani language from their arrival in the 16th century up until the late 19th century, when it was replaced, for the most part, by English as their everyday and family language. This resulted in the formation of Angloromani. This differs from the presence of loanwords (such as that used locally in Edinburgh and Northumberland) from the Romani language, such as (originally a toffee apple), (originally Romani 'brother'), and (originally 'boy'). Documentation A document from about the seventeenth century titled the ''Winchester Confessions'' indicates that the English Romani language was itself a dialect ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
English-speaking
The English-speaking world comprises the 88 countries and territories in which English is an official, administrative, or cultural language. In the early 2000s, between one and two billion people spoke English, making it the largest language by number of speakers, the third largest language by number of native speakers and the most widespread language geographically. The countries in which English is the native language of most people are sometimes termed the Anglosphere. Speakers of English are called Anglophones. Early Medieval England was the birthplace of the English language; the modern form of the language has been spread around the world since the 17th century, first by the worldwide influence of England and later the United Kingdom, and then by that of the United States. Through all types of printed and electronic media of these countries, English has become the leading language of international discourse and the lingua franca in many regions and professional fiel ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cant (language)
A cant is the jargon or language of a group, often employed to exclude or mislead people outside the group.McArthur, T. (ed.) ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (1992) Oxford University Press It may also be called a cryptolect, argot, pseudo-language, anti-language or secret language. Each term differs slightly in meaning; their uses are inconsistent. Etymology There are two main schools of thought on the origin of the word ''cant'': * In linguistics, the derivation is normally seen to be from the Irish word (older spelling ), "speech, talk", or Scottish Gaelic . It is seen to have derived amongst the itinerant groups of people in Ireland and Scotland, who hailed from both Irish/Scottish Gaelic and English-speaking backgrounds, ultimately developing as various creole languages. However, the various types of cant (Scottish/Irish) are mutually unintelligible. The Irish creole variant is termed " the cant". Its speakers from the Irish Traveller community know it as ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thieves' Cant
Thieves' cant (also known as thieves' argot, rogues' cant, or peddler's French) is a cant (language), cant, cryptolect, or argot which was formerly used by thieves, beggars, and hustlers of various kinds in Great Britain and to a lesser extent in other English-speaking countries. It is now mostly obsolete and used in literature and fantasy role-playing, although individual terms continue to be used in the criminal subcultures of Britain and the United States. History Cant (language), Cant is a common feature of rogue literature of the Elizabethan era in England, in both pamphlets and theatre. It was claimed by Samuel Rid to have been devised around 1530 by two vagabond leaders – Giles Hather, of the gypsies, "Egyptians", and Cock Lorell, of the "Quartern of Knaves" – at Peak Cavern, The Devil's Arse, a cave in Derbyshire, "to the end that their wiktionary:cozening, cozenings, wiktionary:knavery, knaveries and wiktionary:villainy, villainies might not so easily be perceived an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cockney Speech
Cockney is a dialect of the English language, mainly spoken in London and its environs, particularly by Londoners with working-class and lower middle class roots. The term ''Cockney'' is also used as a demonym for a person from the East End, or, traditionally, born within earshot of Bow Bells. Estuary English is an intermediate accent between Cockney and Received Pronunciation, also widely spoken in and around London, as well as in wider South Eastern England. In multicultural areas of London, the Cockney dialect is, to an extent, being replaced by Multicultural London English—a new form of speech with significant Cockney influence. Words and phrases Etymology of ''Cockney'' The earliest recorded use of the term is 1362 in passus VI of William Langland's ''Piers Plowman'', where it is used to mean "a small, misshapen egg", from Middle English ''coken'' + ''ey'' ("a cock's egg"). Concurrently, the mythical land of luxury Cockaigne ( attested from 1305) appeared under a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
A Dictionary Of Modern Slang, Cant, And Vulgar Words
''A Dictionary of Modern Slang, Cant and Vulgar Words'' is a dictionary of slang originally compiled by publisher and lexicographer John Camden Hotten in 1859. The first edition was published in 1859, with the full title and subtitle: ''A dictionary of modern slang, cant, and vulgar words: used at the present day in the streets of London, the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, the houses of Parliament, the dens of St. Giles, and the palaces of St. James : preceded by a history of cant and vulgar language : with glossaries of two secret languages, spoken by the wandering tribes of London, the costermongers, and the patterers''. It has also been published as ''The Slang Dictionary: Etymological, Historical, and Anecdotal''. The dictionary included criminal slang, back slang, rhyming slang, and other types of slang.Jonathon Green, in Toby Ash"Slang: The Universal Language"(Interview by Toby Ash with lexicographer Jonathon Green), ''Salon.com'', Oct. 15, 2012. Its author, Hotten, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Camden Hotten
John Camden Hotten (12 September 1832, Clerkenwell – 14 June 1873, Hampstead) was an English bibliophile and publisher. He is best known for his clandestine publishing of numerous erotic and pornographic titles. Life Hotten was born John William Hotten in Clerkenwell, London to a family of Cornish origins. His father was William Hotten of Probus, Cornwall, a master carpenter and undertaker; his mother was Maria Cowling of Roche, Cornwall. At the age of fourteen Hotten was apprenticed to the London bookseller John Petheram, where he acquired a taste for rare and unusual books. He spent the period from 1848 to about 1853 in America but by mid-1855 had opened a small bookshop in London at 151a Piccadilly and went on to found the publishing business under his own name which after his death became Chatto & Windus. Hotten was a member of the Ethnological Society of London, which he joined in 1867. His literary knowledge and intelligence brought him a large circle of acquaintances ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Francis Grose
Francis Grose (before 11June 173112May 1791) was an England, English antiquary, drawing, draughtsman, and lexicographer. He produced ''A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue'' (1785) and ''A Provincial Glossary, with a Collection of Local Proverbs, and Popular Superstitions'' (1787). Early life Grose was born at his father's house in Broad Street, St Peter le Poer, St-Peter-le-Poer, London. His parents were Switzerland, Swiss immigrant and jeweller Francis Jacob Grose (d. 1769), and his wife, Anne (d. 1773), daughter of Thomas Bennett of Greenford in Middlesex. Grose was baptised on 11 June 1731 in the parish of St Peter-le-Poer. The eldest of seven children, Grose probably received a classical education but first aimed at a career in the British Army, Army. In 1747, he was in Flanders, apparently as a volunteer in Green Howards, Howard's (later 19th) regiment of foot: later he received a commission as cornet in 10th Royal Hussars, Cobham's (later 10th) regiment of drago ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Taxonomy (general)
280px, Generalized scheme of taxonomy Taxonomy is a practice and science concerned with classification or categorization. Typically, there are two parts to it: the development of an underlying scheme of classes (a taxonomy) and the allocation of things to the classes (classification). Originally, taxonomy referred only to the classification of organisms on the basis of shared characteristics. Today it also has a more general sense. It may refer to the classification of things or concepts, as well as to the principles underlying such work. Thus a taxonomy can be used to organize species, documents, videos or anything else. A taxonomy organizes taxonomic units known as "taxa" (singular "taxon"). Many are hierarchies. One function of a taxonomy is to help users more easily find what they are searching for. This may be effected in ways that include a library classification system and a search engine taxonomy. Etymology The word was coined in 1813 by the Swiss botanist A ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
