Tom Dalzell: 5 books

"Spectacular vernacular—delivered with fresh flavor."—Playboy "Hang with this slang and reep these righteous words!" This entertaining, highly readable book pulses with the vernacular of young Americans, tracing slang terms and expressions from the end of the nineteenth century...

In 2014, the US marks the 50th anniversary of the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, the basis for the Johnson administration’s escalation of American military involvement in Southeast Asia and war against North Vietnam. Vietnam War Slang outlines the context behind the slang used by members of the United...

An equal-opportunity pastime, poker is played everywhere from country clubs to penitentiaries and has even developed into a spectator sport. In this entertaining gift book for poker fanatics and students of American vernacular, a cultural historian and slang authority offers a compendium of traditional...

Are you a beaver cleaver or the office bike? Would you rather pack fudge or munch carpet? Do you content yourself with paddling the pickle as you’re still a cherry boy? Sex Slang will not only give you 3,000 words to talk about your favourite pastimes, but also open your eyes to practices...

Are you a bit of a chairwarmer? Do you use the wins from a country straight to get scudded on snakebite in a blind tiger? Do you ride the waves on puddle or death drop? Vice Slang gently eases you into the language of gambling, drugs and alcohol, providing you with 3,000 words to establish...