W.H. Downing's

Digger Dialects 

by (editors)

J. M. Arthur & W.S. Ramson 

USED BOOK

CONDITION

Good (G): Describes the average used worn book that has all pages or leaves present. Any defects will be noted on the listing.

Bowed - A condition of the covers or boards of a hardcover book. Bowed covers may turn inward toward the leaves or outward away from the leaves. The condition generally results from a rapid change in the level of moisture in the air and is caused by different rates of expansion or contraction of the paste-down and the outer material covering the board.

Foxed / Foxing - Brown spotting of the paper caused by a chemical reaction, generally found in 19th century books, particularly in steel engravings of the period.

DESCRIPTION

Digger Dialects is a unique record of one of Australian English's most creative and crowded hours.

The words and phrases used by Australian Service personnel in World War I were recorded 'live' in 1919 by W.H.Downing and are presented here with editorial comments and additions by J.M. Arthur and W.S. Ramson. 

Words which have new meanings or wider applications are frozen as they were in 1919; words which meant something then mean little now and need to be explained.

Who would know without help that "to go into cold storage" meant "to be killed in the winter of 1916" or that "kangaroo feathers" was a jocular name for the emu plumes worn by a member of the Australian Light Horse?

This edition preserves the character and integrity of the original. 

It is enhanced by almost 100 illustrations, drawn from field or troopship magazines, providing something of the spirit and flavour of the times.

PROD CODE : 9780195532333-C1