From: "Mark Weiss" <[log in to unmask]>
> There are several good dictionaries of canting, most long out of print
and
> expensive but available at libraries. Farmer and Henley's encyclopedic
> _Slang and its Analogues_ , originally published in 1899
The SOED defines "cant" as:
BEGINQUOTE
cant /kant/ n.3
E16. [In branch I sporadic uses f. L CANTUS. In branch II f. CANT
v.3]<unknown>I
...
4 The special phraseology of a class, sect, profession, etc.; jargon,
slang. Usu. derog. L17.
ENDQUOTE
So generally, "cant" will be any nonorthodox restricted form of language.
To add to Mark's diachronic listing, may I draw attention (synchronically)
to:
THE CASSELL DICTIONARY OF SLANG (ed. Jonathan Green)
and
THE OXFORD DICTIONARY OF SLANG
Cassell beats [for once] Oxford, IMHO (sharper dates, better
documentation), but the street(wise)s are always ahead of the suits here.
Robin Hamilton
(Yet Another [inevitable] PS [[Mark?]])
I haven't checked this, but how is "mental" (Glasgow) documented?
I ask because Darling Only (if he had the words *** ) would have said,
"Geez, Dad, you want me to ask what ganja means in Jamaican in Leeds today?
They're all freakin' [euphemism] mental."
To quote Myself:
beginit
Where are they now, the mental boys
I vied with once in days gone by,
The sweet singers, the sharp talkers,
So quick to speak and act it too?
(from FOUR FOR MY FRIENDS -- Villon translation)
endit
RH
*** He put it better, but I can't remember just quite his form of words.
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