Does anyone know old British slang or colloquialisms?

Question

I"m writing a script and one of the characters is a ghost from Britain 300 years ago. I want to make his dialogue believable. Does anyone know any words I could include or a web site that may be able to help me?

Btw, he's a nomadic miscreant type, so you have an idea of his personality and how he might speak.

Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

I wish I knew how to post a link....but if you search 'canting dictionary 1736' on the net you should come up with a site which has a dictionary of thieves' cant(cant is slang) from 1736, by Nathan Bailey. Scroll down a bit and there's an alphabet to choose from. This language won't be easy to use well unless you've done some reading about this period before. People spoke quite differently from what we do today, especially the uneducated ones. If you can get your hands on any of Georgette Heyer's novels, which were set in the Regency, they would be an excellent place to get a feel for English slang and speech which probably hadn't changed all that much between the early 1700s and the Regency though I'm no expert. Granted, the Regency was 100 years later than your period, but you have to start somewhere. You may find her books in a library if you have a large library around, otherwise your best bet is a good used bookstore.

Answer 2

If you can find a copy of  "A Dictionary of Historical Slang" Eric Partridge. 1972. Penguin Reference Books. it contains over 1000 pages of what you are looking for.