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How the Irish Invented Slang: The Secret Language of the Crossroads by Daniel Cassidy (2007)

$13.99

Overview

Paperback in Very Good condition. Please see our guide to book conditions for more details. Slight bend to bottom corner of cover. Minor edge wear. 

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.