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. |
| 18th Apr 2012 |
|
Webster's New International Dictionary (pub. 1912) |
| | Perv quotient: 103 headings÷2373 pages = 0.043*
A rather demure work, perhaps reflecting the society in which it was published, but it does include several quaint anachronistic euphemisms and is notable for that at least. |
