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Famous Last Words book cover
Famous Last Words
1979
First Published
3.78
Average Rating
160
Number of Pages
Over 2,000 notable parting sentiments, from Socrates and the Marquis de Sade to James Dean and Elvis Presley. This sometimes funny, frequently moving compilation offers a glimpse at the deathbed departures of kings, courtiers, poets, painters, saints, villains, murderers, and martyrs through the ages. Among the famous last words are Bing Crosby's breezy That was a great game of golf, fellers''; Lawrence Oates' farewell to Captain Scott on his ill-fated expedition to the South I'm just going out. I may be some time...'' and Civil War commander General Sedgewick's final ``They couldn't hit an elephant at this dist—'' A fascinating record of our final thoughts at the brink of the unimaginable. Jonathon Green is a noted lexicographer and the author of many books, including Slang Down the Ages. 160 pp 6 1/2 x 9 1/2 200 b/w photos & illustrations
Avg Rating
3.78
Number of Ratings
58
5 STARS
17%
4 STARS
52%
3 STARS
22%
2 STARS
9%
1 STARS
0%
goodreads

Author

Jonathon Green
Author · 17 books

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information. I am a lexicographer, that is a dictionary maker, specialising in slang, about which I have been compiling dictionaries, writing and broadcasting since 1984. I have also written a history of lexicography. After working on my university newspaper I joined the London ‘underground press’ in 1969, working for most of the then available titles, such as Friends, IT and Oz. I have been publishing books since the mid-1970s, spending the next decade putting together a number of dictionaries of quotations, before I moved into what remains my primary interest, slang. I have also published three oral histories: one on the hippie Sixties, one on first generation immigrants to the UK and one on the sexual revolution and its development. Among other non-slang titles have been three dictionaries of occupational jargon, a narrative history of the Sixties, a book on cannabis, and an encyclopedia of censorship. As a freelancer I have broadcast regularly on the radio, made appearances on TV, including a 30-minute study of slang in 1996, and and written columns both for academic journals and for the Erotic Review. My slang work has reached its climax, but I trust not its end, with the publication in 2010 of Green’s Dictionary of Slang, a three volume, 6,200-page dictionary ‘on historical principles’ offering some 110,000 words and phrases, backed up by around 410,000 citations or usage examples. The book covers all anglophone countries and its timeline stretches from around 1500 up to the present day. For those who prefer something less academic, I published the Chambers Slang Dictionary, a single volume book, in 2008. Given that I am in no doubt that the future of reference publishing lies in digital form, it is my intention to place both these books on line in the near future.

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Famous Last Words