The dictionary bundled with my word-processing program clearly wants me to speak like a redneck. I despise its limited vocabulary and insistence on American spelling.
Online stalwart Dictionary.com offers more scope but the same cultural bias and not much entertainment. But the Web is brimming with alternative dictionaries that do more than define words. Instead, conserving and celebrating the richness of the English tongue, they dish up the 'with-it' word, the regional word, the dirty word and, as I found while exploring the roaring 20s, the antiquated word.
Dip into Potpourri (local.aaca.org/bntc/slang/slang.htm), which brings out the monocled cad or cloche-wearing flapper in everyone. Opening with 'absolutely' and 'attaboy', the jazz-age lexicon gives the impression that, back then, everyone was 'spifflicated'. That is, 'canned', 'corked', 'tanked', 'primed', 'scrooched', 'jazzed' or 'zozzled' among other snappy expressions implying intoxication.
