In 1755, Dr. Samuel Johnson’s A Dictionary of the English Language was published. This wasn’t the very first English dictionary, but it went on to become one of the most famous. However, it’s not the most infamous. 

Just thirty years after the release of Johnson’s dictionary, Francis Grose published A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue: A Dictionary of Buckish Slang, University Wit, and Pickpocket Eloquence. This was a compendium of bawdy slang that Samuel Johnson had deemed to be too vulgar for his learned tome. In fact, the first edition of Grose’s book included some 9,000 words that Johnson omitted, perhaps because he considered these to be “low bad words.” (He may not have known about them either.) 

Captain Francis Grose was an intriguing character who lived an eventful life. Undecided as to what profession to follow, he was in turn a militia captain, antiquary, draughtsman, herald, artist, and a lexicographer, among other things. His friend, the Scottish poet Robert Burns, penned a poem about Grose in which he described the man in verse as, “a fine, fat, fodgel wight. O’ stature short, but genius bright.” Grose wasn’t offended when people commented on his corpulence, and he loved it when people punned on his name. 

In compiling his book, Grose was a committed field researcher, along with his sidekick Tom Cocking. The pair roamed the countryside hunting for slang. They also made regular “nocturnal sallies” into the slums, docks, and shady drinking dens on the streets of London. There they talked to ship crews, rogues, vagabonds, criminals, and ne’er-do-wells to collect examples of the living language.

Vulgar Tongue was one of the founding texts of obscene lexicography. The book was intended to amuse, though it also provides us with a glimpse of the everyday speech of the time that did not normally find inclusion in standard dictionaries. Some of these words and phrases have long fallen into disuse. Gross defined to box the Jesuit as, “to masturbate; a crime, it is said, much practised by the reverend fathers of that society.” An eternity box was a coffin, a rabbit catcher was a midwife, and a nicknackatory was a toy shop. A church yard cough was one that was likely to end in death. The volume also contains many insults, such as dog booby for an awkward lout, twiddle poop for an effeminate looking fellow, and a frig pig, who was described as “a trifling, fiddle-faddle fellow.” These colorful expressions would be completely lost to us if they had not been faithfully recorded by Grose all those centuries ago. 

Other words are familiar to us today, including nincompoop, thingamabob, bamboozle, to screw (as in “to copulate”), and to kick the bucket. A number of insults for women have remained, including harridan, old biddy, and bitch. Grose defined this latter word both literally and figuratively, as, “A she dog, or doggess; the most offensive appellation that can be given to an English woman, even more provoking than that of whore.” However, the c-word was apparently too vulgar, even for a dictionary of vulgar words, where it is censored with asterisks and defined as, “a nasty word for a nasty thing.”

Grose published prolifically to make a living. His works included satirical essays, books about antiques, and a collection of proverbs and superstitions. Vulgar Tongue was his magnum opus, which remains as an important linguistic snapshot of a bygone era. The book also shows us that when it comes to the popularity of slang, insults, and “vulgar” language, some things never change. 

Dr. Karen Stollznow is the author of On the Offensive: Prejudice in Language Past and Present and her latest book is Bitch: The Journey of a Word.