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How the Irish invented slang : the secret language of the crossroads / Daniel Cassidy ; introduction by Peter Quinn.
- Format:
- Book
- Author/Creator:
- Cassidy, Daniel.
- Language:
- English
- Subjects (All):
- English language--United States--Slang.
- English language.
- Irish language--Influence on English.
- Irish language.
- Slang.
- United States.
- Physical Description:
- xix, 303 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm
- Place of Publication:
- Petrolia, Calif. : Counter Punch ; Oakland, Calif. : AK, [2007]
- Summary:
- In a series of lively essays, this pioneering book proves that US slang has its strongest wellsprings in nineteenth-century Irish America. "Jazz" and "poker," "sucker" and "scam" all derive from Irish. While demonstrating this, Daniel Cassidy simultaneously traces the hidden history of how Ireland fashioned America, not just linguistically, but through the Irish gambling underworld, urban street gangs, and the powerful political machines that grew out of them. Cassidy uncovers a secret national heritage, long discounted by our WASP-dominated culture.
- Daniel Cassidy is the founder and co-director of the Irish Studies Program at New College in San Francisco.
- Contents:
- Chapter 1 Focloir Poca-a Pocket Dictionary 1
- Chapter 2 Boliver of Brooklyn 5
- Chapter 3 The Sanas (Etymology, Secret Knowledge) of Slum 11
- Chapter 4 The Gangs of New York Talk Back in Irish 17
- Chapter 5 Songs of the Crossroad 27
- Chapter 6 The Sanas of Faro and Poker 39
- Chapter 7 How the Irish Invented Dudes 55
- Chapter 8 The Sanas of Jazz 59.
- Notes:
- Includes bibliographical references and index.
- ISBN:
- 9781904859604
- 1904859607
- OCLC:
- 123114701
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