Dictionary of Americanisms: A Glossary of Words and Phrases, Usually Regarded as Peculiar To The United States

by John Russell Bartlett, Richard Lederer (Foreword)

A rediscovered classic of American slang-now with a Foreword by bestselling language maven Richard Lederer, author of Anguished English and The Miracle of Language From abisselfa to yourn, John Russell Bartlett's groundbreaking Dictionary of Americanisms celebrated the language of a budding nation, whose rebellious declaration of independence was most evident in its own evolving colloquialisms. Originally published in 1848, the Dictionary of Americanisms was the first lexicon to portray the entire tapestry of uniquely American expressions in one volume, from the New England coast to the Far West and everything in between. The result is a window into everyday life and culture in a rapidly growing United States, with entries representing every region, linguistic heritage, and field of interest:

New England: funkify, plaguy sight, kedge The South: marooning, catawamptiously chawed up New York: clockmutch, rullichies, soap-lock The West: scrouger, prairie bitters, I dad! Spanish: sangaree, chaparral, vamos Native American languages: netop, sagamore, supawn Politics: slang-whanging, Dough-Faces, to row up Salt river Business: wild cat bank, corner, Peter Funk Filled with amusing anecdotes, editorial asides, and some surprisingly modern slang, this facsimile of the book's first edition is a great rediscovery for a new generation of readers and a fascinating snapshot of life in the early decades of the United States of America.

Genres: Reference, Nonfiction

412 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1848

About the author

For his son, the American naval officer, see John Russell Bartlett

John Russell Bartlett (October 23, 1805 – May 28, 1886) was an American historian and linguist.

Reviews

[Edward Gwynne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic tool, full of amazing and quirky phrases specific to 19th c Americas.

[Winnie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This dictionary was first published in 1848 and while it is a valuable resource, it does not do exactly what it purports to. Many of these words were known to be used in England, either at the time of it being written, or as obsolete provincialisms. Words like that are not exactly what I would call "Americanisms". I definitely felt I had to double-check the etymologies against other resources to determine if they were truly American inventions or not.

That aside, it was interesting to see just how big of an impact America had on the language, donating some absolute bangers such as: cahoots, bender, rowdy, scrumptious, snoop, spooky, skedaddle, hunky-dory, and bee-line, to name just a few.