[Ads-l] GDoS Online
Robin Hamilton
robin.hamilton3 at VIRGINMEDIA.COM
Fri Oct 7 10:46:08 UTC 2016
Bottom line: I'll be signing up the second it appears. The free headword /
paid full subscription is a decent model (parallel to something similar that
LEME uses) and at £49 / year, it's really quite fairly priced for what you get.
It's also reassuring that they actually *have* an individual user licence. Try
accessing ECCO if you're a private scholar.
For most purposes, I'd guess the free option will be sufficient, and anyway, I
presume most of the list will have institutional access to it. But nice that
Independent Scholars can get to it, even if we have to pay.
If it's fully searchable, you probably won't see me for a week -- I'm using the
physical 3 volume edition at the moment, and small print aside, it's a pig to
have to use. Jon's HDAS, as an aesthetic object and in several other ways, is
much nicer, and I much prefer Jon's treatment of his entries -- I'm never sure,
when I look something up in GDoS, it's not hiding somewhere counter-intuitive,
which I hope will be resolved in the searchable electronic version. Maybe this
will shove OUP into finally letting us have the remaining two volumes of HDAS.
I hope the above doesn't too much constitute a "statement of the obvious".
On the other hand (no more mister nice guy), the first thing I'm going to do
when I see the latest incarnation is to find out whether or not the "Dekker
(1648)" entries have been corrected (yet). For those (do such people exist?)
who don't already know this, more than several entries labelled thus are
actually from a manuscript annotation in a copy of Dekker dated 1648, and should
probably be dated c. 1660. Sounds like a small point, but boy, can that screw
things up.
Then I'll flip through the currently coming on for a hundred postit notes I have
interleaved in my ricepaper hardcopy to see whether the systemic problem of
citing from later editions when an earlier text prints a specific citation in
question has been addressed. This goes beyond simple antedating ...
But carping aside, I've been waiting for this since the moment the hardcopy
appeared. Actually, longer than that.
More, perhaps, when I've had a chance to see and work with the Electronic Object
In Question.
Roll on October 12th!!!
Robin Hamilton
>
> On 07 October 2016 at 07:41 Jonathon Green <jgslang at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
>
>
> [The following has been distributed as a press release. ADS members are
> requested to forgive statements of the obvious]
>
> *Green’**s Dictionary of Slang** Online* will be launched on October 12
> 2016 at https://greensdictofslang.com/
>
> *GDoS* Online represents a digital development of the original print
> edition of *Green’**s Dictionary of Slang* (*GDoS*) which appeared in 2010
> (2011 in the US). Its three volumes offered c.53,000 headwords, in which
> were nested 110,000 slang terms. These were supported by some 410,000
> examples of usage. The book won America’s Dartmouth Prize for the
> outstanding non-fiction work of 2011 and was cited, among many positive
> reviews, as ‘Quite simply the best historical dictionary of English slang
> there is, ever has been ... or is ever likely to be’ (Julie Coleman,
> *Journal
> of English Language and Linguistics*).
>
> What was good can always become better. Print publication did not mean the
> end of research. The internet provides the best possible platform for
> reference and a slang dictionary is no exception. It also opens up a great
> deal of once hard-to-access material: *GDoS *Online has benefited and the
> information it offers has been vastly augmented by the appearance on line
> of a growing number of newspaper databases. Both John Bartlett (of
> *Americanisms*) and Sir James Murray (of the *OED*) noted that the press
> offered the best place to find new language. The much-expanded presence of
> newspaper citations, often the earliest on record, is a major feature of
> *GDoS* Online.
>
> Meanwhile the slang lexis continues to evolve and expand. The Internet, of
> course, provides so many potential sources, whether historical or
> contemporary. If the lexicographer’s problem was once where to look, it is
> now in assessing at which point one dare stop looking.
>
> Current figures show that the launch database stands at 54,500 main
> headwords, comprising some 132,000 nested terms. The citation count is c.
> 650,000. The dictionary has increased in size since 2010 by some 59,000
> new
> citations found in 15,500 entries. Geographical depth has been expanded by
> the reinstatement or addition of many more examples. In all, nearly 30% of
> the print book has been revised, augmented and generally improved.
>
> The dictionary will remain ‘live’ and research will continue. Rather than
> being bound by the restrictions of print, it will offer a far wider range
> of citations. The search for ‘first recorded uses’ will continue. Around
> 10,000 such antedatings have emerged since 2010. The expansion of
> geographical spread will be pursued. Where once it was necessary for
> reasons of space to offer only a single cite per decade, thus excluding
> much material, the aim is now to show as wide as possible number of
> examples from across the Anglophone world. The original printed entries
> will also be expanded, both historically — through the search for
> earlier ‘first
> uses’ but also through the addition of hitherto un-recorded words and
> phrases — and in the adding of new, contemporary material.
>
> As opposed to a print dictionary, *GDoS* Online will be fully searchable,
> whether for definitions, etymologies, authors, titles, first uses, a
> variety of usage labels and more. Those who wish to know how many words
> James Joyce used for sexual intercourse or Charles Dickens for drunk will
> find their answers. And whether any came from Yiddish. There is a detailed
> bibliography and further tools are due to be added.
>
> While these are rough estimates only, the dictionary breaks down into the
> following major themes and categories; the order is based on frequency of
> definition:
>
> Crime and Criminals 5012; Drink, Drinking and Drunks 4589; Drugs 3976;
> Money 3342; Women (almost invariably considered negatively or at best
> sexually) 2968; Fools and Foolish 2403; Men (of various descriptions, not
> invariably, but often self-aggrandizing) 2183; Sexual Intercourse 1740;
> Penis: 1351; Homosexuals/-ity 1238; Prostitute/-ion 1185; Vagina 1180;
> Policeman / Policing 1034; Terms of Racial or National Abuse: 1000;
> Masturbate/-ion 945; Die, Death, Dead 831; Beat or Hit 728; Mad 776; Anus
> or Buttocks 634; Defecate/-ion & Urinate/-ion 540; Kill or Murder 521;
> Promiscuous / Promiscuity 347; Unattractive 279; Fat 247; Oral Sex 240;
> Vomiting 219; Anal Sex 180; STDs 65.
>
> All of this will be represented in the launch version of *GDoS*Online, and
> augmented by regular updates, initially on a quarterly basis.
>
> Pricing:
>
> *GDoS* Online will be available on two levels: those who wish only for a
> headword, an etymology and a definition can access that information for
> free (the material being the equivalent of the author’s non-cited
> single-volume dictionaries). For those who wish to access the
> ever-expanding range of citations (which include a timeline of their
> development) and enjoy the full extent of search functions, we are
> charging
> an annual subscription. This is currently set at £49.00 ($60.00) for
> single
> users, £10.00 ($12.50) for students. Prices are available on enquiry for
> institutional subscriptions.
>
> Jonathon Green [lexicographer]
>
> jg at greensdictofslang.com
>
> David Kendal [programmer]
>
> dpk at greensdictofslang.com
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
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