Robert L. Chapman (1920–2002)

Author of American Slang

About the Author

Robert L. Chapman has spent much of his professional career editing numerous reference texts, including thesauruses and dictionaries. An ardent collector of slang as well as other words, Chapman was the revising editor of the fourth edition of Roget's International Thesaurus and the supervising show more editor of the Funk & Wagnalls Standard College Dictionary. Chapman, a retired Professor of English from Drew University, has also edited Roget A to Z, The Dictionary of American Slang, Concise Roget's International Thesaurus, and the Thesaurus of American Slang. (Bowker Author Biography) show less

Includes the names: Robert L. Chapman, ed. Robert L. Chapman, Robert L. Ph.D. Chapman

Works by Robert L. Chapman

Popular Recent

American Slang (2010) 516 copies, 3 reviews

Roget A to Z (1994) 109 copies

Thesaurus of American slang (1989) 54 copies

The New International Webster's Dictionary of the English Language 5 copies

美国俚语大全 1 copy

ROGET'S POCKET THESAURUS 1 copy

Torneado En Madera (Spanish Edition) (2005) 1 copy

Work Explorer

Associated Works

Roget's International Thesaurus (1852) — Editor, some editions — 4,160 copies, 30 reviews

The Concise Roget's International Thesaurus (5th Edition) (1986) — some editions — 252 copies, 2 reviews

Tagged

Main Associated

American (8) American English (8) American English language (3) American Slang (7) American Studies (3) Americana (3) Americanisms (4) colloquialisms (5) dialects (3) dictionaries (29) dictionary (81) English (27) English language (22) etymology (4) Kindle (3) language (57) languages (3) linguistics (10) non-fiction (27) own (2) reference (123) slang (61) synonyms (3) thesauri (2) thesaurus (11) US (3) USA (12) words (4) writing (9) X (2)

Common Knowledge

Legal name: Chapman, Robert Lundquist
Birthdate: 1920-12-28
Date of death: 2002-01-27
Gender: male
Education: University of Michigan
Occupations: English professor
editor
lexicographer
Organizations: Cornell University
Oswego State Teachers College
Wilkes College
Drew University
United States Army
Funk and Wagnalls (show all 7)
Holt, Rinehart and Winston
Nationality: USA
Birthplace: Huntington, West Virginia, USA
Places of residence: Madison, New Jersey, USA
Place of death: Morristown, New Jersey, USA
Associated Place (for map): New Jersey, USA

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Reviews

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4 reviews

IreneF 96 reviews

American slang by Robert L. Chapman

Overall I find the book unsatisfying, even though it's fun to browse. For example, it doesn't have "coon's age", a term I've always wondered about--is the coon an animal or a person? Etymologies are incomplete or non-existent, some of the terms are more idiom than slang ("man-about-town"), and some are regular dictionary words (to marry, as to join or bring together).

All of these nit-picks may mean I should shell out for the unabridged edition, but I think a better job could have been done show more on the abridgment. show less

Nov 6, 20082 other reviews

mcewen 2 reviews

New Dictionary of American Slang by Robert L. Chapman

This was a present from my dear American pal to counteract my plague of questions.

I read it now, to look up 'kudos' but it's not there! It is however, in the OED!

Never look a gift horse in the mouth = neigh!

Aug 4, 20082 other reviews

Biblit 332 reviews

The Dictionary of American Slang by Robert L. Chapman