Dictionary of Modern Slang and Unconventional English by Susan Gratz

Dictionary of Modern Slang and Unconventional English by Susan GratzThe Dictionary of Modern Slang and Unconventional English, is a good little book on the types of words that are used in everyday conversation, and how the dictionary helps with word associations, to make it easy for readers to learn new words. I recommend this book for anyone who enjoys the practice of word association.The Dictionary of Modern Slang and Unconventional English by Susan Gratz, covers a lot of ground, including things that seem elementary to me, like the highway's hack that makes term papers required in order to earn a g for the teacher. We use the term 'term paper' to mean a paper which summarizes a recent study or research project which includes an essay.The dictionary says the term paper 'is usually quite comprehensive, in which case the phrase 'to write a term paper' is literally correct.' Gratz thinks this is one of those times when the dictionary is either too precise or too generalized. She sugge sts the phrase 'To Write a Term Paper' is more accurate.Perhaps she would have been better served if she had seen It, which tells us that the phrase originated in English grammar school. The phrase was taken from Latin via French and Italian. It originally meant 'to cover,' but in English the 'down' sense came to replace the 'to cover' sense.Other researchers think the phrase 'write' comes from the same source. Because 'write' often means 'to write or record, compose, or copy' the earliest recorded instance is from 1663. Yet the American Heritage Dictionary thinks the first instance is from modern Latin.Gratz's book is unusual for being a concise book that deals with the less common sense phrases and uses the dictionary for a few examples. There are a lot of books written on the everyday language of everyday people, not just the technical jargon of business jargon. I don't think anybody who writes is ever going to come up with the racy slang that gets its first wind in the dictionar y.But natural human language is rarely described in business English. Most of what we need to know about the language is simply naturalized English. There are some people who spend their entire lives learning this language, but they are few and far between.I recommend this book to anyone who like to come up with words that sound strange, and whose meaning may be ambiguous. This book should be bought for anyone who wants to have a good time while learning about the ordinary English phrases and their origins.