homeblack pixel
Click to visit the 'Build Your Own F1 Driver' page
[where you've been: home...,diversions...,all dictionary editors are pervs...,
menu bar
  menu bar menu bar menu bar  



all dictionary editors are pervs

An ancient and extremely pervy dictionary
Picture the scene: you're tackling a crossword, reading an improving book or maybe just listening to a classic play on the radio. You come across a word you don't recognise, so naturally you reach for your dictionary but as you flip through the pages, you're confronted with a barrage of filth, smut and lewdness. It's no accident that those helpful headings at the top of the page are so frequently suggestive, prurient or scatological. Check your own dictionary: an inordinate number of page headers will be words like "buttock", "cleft" and "crevice". Well, we at dotdotdotcomma see it as our civic duty to make public the actions of these people and we are starting our own naming and shaming campaign right here. Witness the case for the prosecution:

Click on the dictionary title to view all its entries or tick the checkboxes next to the dictionaries you'd like to view and then click the "View entries" button. Alternatively, you can use the "Advanced search" below.

2nd Dec 2002  Chambers Twentieth Century Dictionary (pub. 1977)
 Perv quotient: 176 headings÷1594 pages = 0.11*
Always more cerebral than your average dick'n'harry, this edition is scant on modern slang, but its editor, while avoiding the obvious, has meticulously promoted some gloriously obscure examples in support of the case for his coprolalia (qv).
2nd Dec 2002  Collins Gem french-English-french Dictionary (pub. 1981)
 Perv quotient: 52 headings÷339 pages = 0.153*
Highlights a tendency towards S&M and bondage. Has interesting mix of clinical terms and highly suggestive expressions.
3rd Dec 2002  Collins Gem Herman-English-Herman Dictionary (pub. 1980)
 Perv quotient: 55 headings÷382 pages = 0.144*
Lots of healthy, outdoor, invigorating words, sprinkled with a predictable obsession with scatology and a hint of bondage.
2nd Dec 2002  Concise Oxford Dictionary Tenth Edition (pub. 2001)
 Perv quotient: 95 headings÷1666 pages = 0.057*
Reasonably chaste on the whole but a stunning performance in the "C" section elevates this tome to the highest level. Contains many terms describing various grades of sexual technique.
2nd Dec 2002  Heinemann English Dictionary (pub. 1979)
 Perv quotient: 60 headings÷1278 pages = 0.047*
Not an outrageously filthy volume but the classics are well represented and the odd rarity makes it worthy of inclusion.
15th Jan 2003  New Shorter Oxford English Dictionary (pub. 1993)
 Perv quotient: 372 headings÷3767 pages = 0.099*
Not the definitive reference work for which one might have hoped but quite possibly seminal (sic) nonetheless. Contains, as one would expect, an interesting assortment of esoteric terms.



Advanced search
Search for   on
in 

*Perv quotient
This is a useful way of comparing the perviness of each dictionary's editor(s). By dividing the number of suggestive headings in the dictionary by the total number of pages, we find the average number of headings per page, with higher scores indicating a higher perviness rating.

For example, if two dictionaries each have 100 pages and Mathias Olaf Uncertain's Rhinoceros-English-Rhinoceros Dictionary contains 50 suggestive headings, while Virgil Ellipse's Lexicon Of Vertical Sleep-Talking contains 25 such headings, Mathias' perv quotient is 0.5 (50÷100), while Virgil's is 0.25 (25÷100). On average, therefore, a reader browsing through Mathias' work would have to turn two pages before being shocked by a heading, while someone flicking through Virgil's tome would have to turn four pages. It's quite simple, really.

Fancy more of the same?
If, like us, you're amused by this sort of thing, you might like to visit Roger's Profanisaurus, a truly seminal reference work.

Feel like joining in?
If you've noticed this phenomenon too and would like to send us the questionable headings from a dictionary or edition that we don't currently list, please send them to subeditor@dotdotdotcomma.com and we'll add them to our collection.


Valid XHTML 1.0 Strict
Valid CSS
home | motorsport | formula 1 | road to f1 | diversions | delete site 
what's new? | associates | search | contact | preferences | rss/atom feeds | site map | help
en français  auf Deutsch  in italiano  no português  на русском языке  en español
© 2010 dotdotdotcomma.com
click to visit virgilellipse.com