Review
If you'd rather be schmooping or gurgitating, then slangmeister Grant Barrett has the dictionary for you. "The Official Dictionary of Unofficial English" (McGraw-Hill, $14.95) collects hundreds of "undocumented and underdocumented" words like the ones in his subtitle: "A Crunk Omnibus for Thrillionaires and Bampots for the Ecozoic Age." Barrett's entries are not mere barroom fancies, but terms you can find in print and on the Internet, scrabbling for a foothold in the mainstream lexicon. Will Trashcanistan, "any poor Middle Eastern country or Central Asian republic," hang around in the slang lexicon? Will ridonkulous follow humongous into general usage? Barrett, who also tracks such usage on his website, Double-Tongued Word Wrester, (www.doubletongued.org), will be among the first to know. Boston Globe 20060709
Review
If you'd rather be schmooping or gurgitating, then slangmeister Grant Barrett has the dictionary for you. ``The Official Dictionary of Unofficial English" (McGraw-Hill, $14.95) collects hundreds of ``undocumented and underdocumented" words like the ones in his subtitle: ``A Crunk Omnibus for Thrillionaires and Bampots for the Ecozoic Age." Barrett's entries are not mere barroom fancies, but terms you can find in print and on the Internet, scrabbling for a foothold in the mainstream lexicon. Will Trashcanistan, ``any poor Middle Eastern country or Central Asian republic," hang around in the slang lexicon? Will ridonkulous follow humongous into general usage? Barrett, who also tracks such usage on his website, Double-Tongued Word Wrester, (www.doubletongued.org), will be among the first to know. (
Boston Globe )
