Slang Research & the Slang & New Language Archive

http://www.kcl.ac.uk/schools/humanities/depts/elc/resources/slangresearch.html

Tony Thorne, former Head of the Language Centre at King's and now consultant, is engaged in ongoing research into contemporary slang, the language of subcultures, particularly of adolescents - schoolkids and students - and other varieties of new language including business jargon, media catchphrases and ‘lifestyle’ terms. He has written, broadcast and lectured on these topics extensively in the UK and worldwide, most recently commenting on swearing on BBC television and on racist language and the misuse of language by politicians and celebrities, on BBC radio. He previously wrote the Last Word column in the Sunday Express newspaper and currently contributes the Bizwords column to British Airway's Business Life magazine.

Tony is the compiler of the bestselling Dictionary of Contemporary Slang, and Fads, Fashions & Cults, the Dictionary of Popular Culture, both published in London by Bloomsbury Publishing. The Slang Dictionary is published in the USA by Pantheon Books, and local editions are on sale in Singapore, Japan, Russia, India and China. A completely new paperback edition of the Dictionary was published by A& C Black in January 2007. Tony Thorne’s Shoot the Puppy was published by Penguin UK in November 2007. The book is a scholarly yet entertaining compendium of the latest jargon, buzzwords and new usages recorded since 2000.

The English Language Centre at King's College is home to the Archive of Slang and New Language, a collection of printed materials (articles, academic studies, publications and authentic sources from the 17th century to the present) and a database of Contemporary English-language Slang from across the 'Anglosphere', as well as jargon, buzzwords and other examples of new English.