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<< Are you saying that you brought Wentworth with you to the US as asort of guidebook, or to translate the rabble's rumblings? >> Nah Mark, I bought Wentworth when I was in the States last year. (I didn't and still don't have much on American slang. Except of course like everyone has, Captain George Matsell's +Vocabulum+, though a lot of that is lifted, from James Hardy "thrice transported" Vaux for instance. About the only first-hand vocabulary, comparable to the list David Haggart has at the end of his Life that he wrote just before he was hanged in Edinburgh in 1821, is The Napolean of Burglars as transcribed by the Rev. Tefft in a Virginia penitentiary in 1850.) Anyway, I decided Wentworth would be more useful in the States than here, so I left it there. But earlier tonight "passing" came up. The OED and Beale/Partridge were damn all help, and all even Jonathan Greene's Cassell/Slang had was a short entry, light on dates and cites. So I thought, sod it, and looked to see what was available in the UK from amazon.co.uk. There was (is) a copy of the 1960 edition at £2.95, but I splurged on the 1975 augmented edition for £15 including postage. Should have it in a day or so, and I just hope there's a decent entry on pass(ing). (Hey, any idea when he's liable to finish the three-volume biggy? Think that *is going to be out of my price-league.) Robin >Back to chasing down "pass(ing)". Teach me to leave my >Wentworth/Dictionary >of American Slang on the wrong side of the Pond. So now I'm going to be >£15 >out of pocket, courtesy of abebooks. > > :-( > >Robin