dodger

[cheery_j.]

I got the thing about Onan straight away (partly because I remembered a scene from The League of Gentlemen where Harvey Denton gives a lecture about 'onanism' to his nephew Benjamin).

"Spilling your seed" ( ) is called 'onanieren' in German. So no big surprise there... I still can't see why you would call a dog Onan - as far as I know he only spilled and didn't mate with chair legs... and people's legs ... and ... well, I guess we all know THAT kind of dog.

[Tonyblack]

Maybe he (Onan the dog) was pale and sickly . . . a real wan cur . . .

[chris.ph]

oh jeez

[Alanz]

I'm a bit behind everyone else i'm afraid, Desperately playing catchup, i'm only on my 15th "TP" book but hoping for "Dodger" for my birthday next month, might even get some others as well i've got three daughters

[chris.ph]

they could start their own coven alan

[meerkat]

I like Dodger. It is cleverley written, witty and so wonderful to describe Charles Dickens as a bit of a scribbler! A Super book. Loved it! Loved it! Loved it! Plus which I loved the description of Seven Dials. Ah, the Rookeries... and as for that scene with Queen Vic and Albert...excellent!

Yes, this one has the Meerkat Thumbs up!

[Who's Wee Dug]

Been in the pub just opposite it called the Crown.

[Catch-up]

Finished it last night and really enjoyed it too! There was a lot of slang in it that I was completely unfamiliar with, but thankfully the meanings were fairly obvious due to the context. Not all, but most. It was funny to discover that the word "crib" is an old slang, not a modern one. Although I think my favorite was "cove". Couldn't tell you why though.

[Tonyblack]

I suspect anyone who had read Dickens would have been familiar with the slang. But I've never read Dickens, so I don't know.

[=Tamar]

Mysteries published before 1950 tend to have older slang in them as well.
Reading a newsgroup inhabited by older people who grew up in the UK could also work as an introduction to older UK slang.

[Tonyblack]

Words go in and out of use and even get new meanings. I remember all the ejaculating going on in H.G. Wells.

It's something that QI brought up regarding Sherlock Holmes as well.

[meerkat]

Apparantly, my brother was given Dodger for his birthday. He rang me last week saying, and I quote "I've finished it. You'd think it was written for Children, wouldn't you?" (coughs in an embarrased fashion at having a 62 year old brother who thinks Sir T is a waste of ink). However, he has now read a Pratchett, so at least he is starting to act like a human being again!

As for the slang. Growing up in the fifties/ sixties in London E17, we were using Cove to mean anyone who was over 15. There were certainly some dodgy Coves where I grew up!

[Catch-up]

Geezer certainly had a different meaning than it does now.

[Bouncy Castle]

From Twitter:

Pat Harkin ‏@dwauctioneer

Today is the 200th anniversary of the birth of Henry Mayhew, Victorian social reformer and founder of Punch #Dodger @terryandrob

[=Tamar]

Apparantly, my brother was given Dodger for his birthday. He rang me last week saying, and I quote "I've finished it. You'd think it was written for Children, wouldn't you?" (coughs in an embarrassed fashion at having a 62 year old brother who thinks Sir T is a waste of ink). However, he has now read a Pratchett, so at least he is starting to act like a human being again!

Congratulate him on his amazing perspicacity?