num_pages: 303
description: 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.
language: English
title: How the Irish Invented Slang: The Secret Language of the Crossroads
titlecomplete: How the Irish Invented Slang: The Secret Language of the Crossroads
genres: Language, Ireland, History, Irish Literature, Linguistics, Nonfiction
ratings_count: 109
awards: awardedAt: 1167638400000
name: American Book Award
publisher: AK Press