G.I. Jive

Reviews / Votes

Paul Dickinson has wonderfully and thoroughly captured a hidden side of World War II-the language of GIs. Slang was prevalent in all aspects of America's armed forces and is often not considered when looking back at the war. * Patrick K. O'Donnell, Military Historian & Author of The Brenner Assignment and The Unvanquished * Paul Dickson is the reigning crown prince of slang lexicography and G.I. Jive shows us why. Dickson loves words and his books show it. When he lashes on to a subject, he won't let go. When he latches on to a word, he won't let go. He shatters our expectations and conventional wisdom about the words that he writes about. He makes us smile as he makes us smarter. * Tom Dalzell, leading expert on American slang and author The Slang of Sin and other works. * The great Paul Dickson delivers the definitive guide to the language of World War II as only one of America's most masterful researchers and writers could. Comprehensive and meticulous yet always engaging and witty. * Jonathan Horn, author of The Fate of the Generals: MacArthur, Wainwright, and the Epic Battle for the Philippines * The author of the definitive guide to the language of baseball turns his insatiable curiosity and research prowess to America's other national pastime: war. G.I. Jive brims with detail, rigor, and surprises. Dickson has written another indispensable lexicon of the American experience. * Stefan Fatsis, author of Unabridged and Word Freak * Slang is the product of men crowding together in worlds of noise and activity.' No wonder war is one of slang's great producers and now the subject of Paul Dickson's latest book, GI Jive. If it were only for the magisterial summary of military slang coinage and collection that serves as his introduction it would certainly merit your attention. But the hundreds of individual entries a wealth of lexical, historical and technical detail, make this an excellent guide to words at war. * Jonathon Green, author of Green's Dictionary of Slang *