Squinky pigsquiffle! How Roald Dahl teaches children creative swearing

A new book by lexicographer Susan Rennie collects the author’s nonsensical insults and expletives, celebrating ‘words that push the boundaries a little bit’

If a small child were to walk up to the lexicographer Susan Rennie in the street and call her a slopgroggled grobsquiffler, she would know exactly how to reply. “You squinky squiddler!” she would shout. “You piffling little swishfiggler! You troggy little twit! Don’t you dare talk pigsquiffle to me, you prunty old pogswizzler!”

Either that, or she would thank the child profusely for taking the time to read her latest book, Roald Dahl’s Rotsome and Repulsant Words. Ostensibly a children’s dictionary of Dahl’s insults and expletives, the book also offers a chance to explore and analyse Dahl’s creative use of language, encouraging Dahl lovers of any age to have fun playing with his naughty-sounding words.

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from The Guardian https://ift.tt/2TiROyB