October 27, 2006
“Never enough terms to describe ‘an offensively unlikeable person’”
Billy Collins reviews The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English:
Occasions will not arise to use most of the 60,000 entries within, but just in case, I have learned that a fly cemetery is a currant pudding, a fun hog is an obsessed enthusiast of thrill sports, pig’s bum means “nonsense” in Australia, a lollipop to truckers is a mile marker on the side of the road, in craps mule teeth is a roll of twelve, and six tits in poker is three queens. Just in case. Even less useful but interesting are Green Onion for “a Montreal parking violation officer” and gin and Jaguar bird for “a wealthy, usually married, woman from the upper-class districts surrounding London, especially Surrey, regarded as a worthwhile target for sexual adventuring.” Well, you never know.
(Link) (Hat-tip: 3 Quarks Daily)