Oxford University Press
February 5, 2003

Coming this Spring from Oxford University Press:

SLAYER SLANG: A Buffy the Vampire Slayer Lexicon, by Michael Adams.
(019-516033-9, $19.95)

Using the slang of the television show Buffy The Vampire Slayer (a critically acclaimed cult hit noted for its innovative writing, with a large community of articulate fans), Professor Adams shows how slang is formed, transformed, and transmitted.

With examples of words not only from the show but also from novelizations, graphic novels, general entertainment media, web pages, and discussion boards, Adams argues for the importance of ephemeral English and the role of popular culture in forming it.

bitca  n  Bitch  1997 Sep 15 Whedon When She Was Bad "[Willow:] 'I mean, why else would she be acting like such a b-i-t-c-h?' [Giles:] 'Willow, I think we're all a little old to be spelling things out.' [Xander:] 'A bitca?'"

The main body of the work is a detailed glossary of slayer slang, tracing the development of word and including actual dialogue, in the style of the American Dialect Society. With an introduction by Jane Espenson (Co-Executive Producer of Buffy), this book is a must for the Buffy fan and the language scholar.