The Disappearing Dictionary: A Treasury of Lost English Dialect Words

Wherever you go in the English-speaking world, there are linguistic riches from times past awaiting rediscovery. All you have to do is choose a location, find some old documents, and dig a little.

In The Disappearing Dictionary, linguistics expert Professor David Crystal collects together delightful dialect words that either provide an insight into an older way of life, or simply have an irresistible phonetic appeal. Like a mirror image of The Meaning of Liff that just happens to be true, The Disappearing Dictionary unearths some lovely old gems of the English language, dusts them down and makes them live again for a new generation.

Words include:

dabberlick [noun, Scotland]  A mildly insulting way of talking about someone who is tall and skinny. ‘Where’s that dabberlick of a child?’

fubsy [adjective, Lancashire]  Plump, in a nice sort of way.

squinch [noun, Devon]  A narrow crack in a wall or a space between floorboards. ‘I lost sixpence through a squinch in the floor’.