Tony Thorne (born 1950 in

Cairo, Egypt Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metro ...

) is a British author,

linguist Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...

and

lexicographer Lexicography is the study of lexicons, and is divided into two separate academic disciplines. It is the art of compiling dictionaries. * Practical lexicography is the art or craft of compiling, writing and editing dictionaries. * Theoreti ...

specialising in

slang Slang is vocabulary (words, phrases, and linguistic usages) of an informal register, common in spoken conversation but avoided in formal writing. It also sometimes refers to the language generally exclusive to the members of particular in-gro ...

, jargon and cultural history. He is a leading authority on language change and language usage in the UK and across the

English-speaking world Speakers of English are also known as Anglophones, and the countries where English is natively spoken by the majority of the population are termed the '' Anglosphere''. Over two billion people speak English , making English the largest languag ...

Career

Thorne attended

Hampton School Hampton School (formerly Hampton Grammar School) is an independent boys' day school in Hampton, London, Hampton, Greater London, England. It is regarded as one of the top independent schools in the country. Hampton School’s A-Level and GCSE ...

and the

University of Kent , motto_lang = , mottoeng = Literal translation: 'Whom to serve is to reign'(Book of Common Prayer translation: 'whose service is perfect freedom')Graham Martin, ''From Vision to Reality: the Making of the University of Kent at Canterbury'' ...

at Canterbury. Thorne's ''Dictionary of Contemporary Slang'', published by Bloomsbury in February 2014, remains one of the only treatments of the subject to be based on examples of authentic speech rather than purely upon written or broadcast sources, while ''Shoot the Puppy'', a survey of the latest buzzwords and jargon, drew upon his inside experience of corporate life while working as a communications consultant for multinationals, NGOs and business schools. His ''100 Words That Make the English'', published by Abacus in April 2011, consists of essays on one hundred key words that are most emblematic of English identity in the 20th and 21st centuries. After explorations in Central and

Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the Europe, European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic connotations. The vast majority of the region is covered by Russ ...

following the fall of

communism Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

and the opening of lost archives, Tony Thorne published the definitive English-language biography of the 16th century Hungarian Countess Erzsebet Bathory, reputed to be a mass murderer who bathed in the blood of her victims. His ''Children of the Night'' is a comprehensive account of the historical origins of the

vampire A vampire is a mythical creature that subsists by feeding on the Vitalism, vital essence (generally in the form of blood) of the living. In European folklore, vampires are undead, undead creatures that often visited loved ones and caused mi ...

myth as well as its subsequent representations in literature and popular culture. The book additionally examines contemporary vampire culture through interviews with self-styled ‘living vampires'. Thorne has also written a life of the 18th century French waxworker,

Madame Tussaud Anna Maria "Marie" Tussaud (; née Grosholtz; 1 December 1761 – 16 April 1850) was a French artist known for her wax sculptures and Madame Tussauds, the wax museum she founded in London. Biography Marie Tussaud was born 1 December 1761 in St ...

, for children, and writes on

outsider Outsider(s) may refer to: Film * ''Outsider'' (1997 film), a 1997 Slovene-language film * ''Outsider'' (2012 film), a Malayalam-language Indian film * ''Outsiders'' (1980 film), a South Korean film featuring Won Mi-kyung Literature * Outsider ...

and

visionary art Visionary art is art that purports to transcend the physical world and portray a wider vision of awareness including spiritual or mystical themes, or is based in such experiences. History The Vienna School of Fantastic Realism, first establis ...

. From 1991 to 2007 he was Director of the Language Centre at

King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public research university located in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of King George IV and the Duke of Wellington. In 1836, King's ...

where he is now Visiting Consultant. He founded and oversees the Slang and New Language Archive at King's, a library and database resource recording language change and tracking linguistic controversies. He has written and presented programmes on language and popular culture for

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...

and the

BBC World Service The BBC World Service is an international broadcasting, international broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC, with funding from the Government of the United Kingdom, British Government through the Foreign Secretary, Foreign Secretary's o ...

, and is a regular contributor to media discussions of language controversies, communication technologies and lifestyle innovations. He contributed the ‘Yoofspeak' column to the

Times Educational Supplement ''Tes'', formerly known as the ''Times Educational Supplement'', is a weekly UK publication aimed at education professionals. It was first published in 1910 as a pull-out supplement in ''The Times'' newspaper. Such was its popularity that in 19 ...

and wrote the 'Bizword' column in British Airway's Business Life magazine. Thorne also acts as independent consultant and expert witness in legal proceedings involving copyright and branding disputes, and criminal proceedings involving the interpretation of slang and criminal language. Most recently he has compiled lexicons of language relating to Brexit and populism and records and comments on new language associated with the Coronavirus pandemic.

Works

*''Dictionary of Contemporary Slang'', Bloomsbury, first published 1990; latest (4th) edition published 2014 *''Jolly Wicked, Actually: The 100 Words That Make Us English'', Little, Brown Book Group, 2009 , published in a revised paperback edition entitled ''The 100 Words That Make the English'', Abacus, 2011 *''Shoot the Puppy'', Penguin, London 2007 *''Madame Tussaud'', Short Books, London, 2004 *''Children of the Night'', Victor Gollancz, London, 1999 *''Countess Dracula'', Bloomsbury, London, 1997 *''Fads, Fashions & Cults'', Bloomsbury, London 1993

Contributor

*Ed J Coleman, ''Global English Slang'', Routledge, London, 2014 *Ed M Jazbec, ''European Perspectives'' Volume 3, Number 1, 2011 *''The Extraordinary Art of Laurie Lipton'', beinArt Publishing, Brunswick, Victoria, 2010 *Ed K Malmkjaer, ''Routledge Linguistics Encyclopedia'', Routledge, London, 2009 *(with Neil Murray) (eds) ''Multicultural Perspectives on English Language and Literature'', Tallinn Pedagogical University/King's College London, Tallinn, London, 2004 *Malcolm McKesson, ''Matriarchy: Freedom in Bondage'', Heck Editions, New York, 1996

References

External links

* https://www.kcl.ac.uk/research/slang-and-new-language * https://language-and-innovation.com/ * http://www.lawagency.co.uk/writer/tony-thorne * http://issuu.com/shepherdneame/docs/spitfire_dictionary_203x127_hi?e=3265750/8488148 {{DEFAULTSORT:Thorne, Tony 1950 births Living people Linguists from the United Kingdom British lexicographers British biographers Egyptian emigrants to the United Kingdom Academics of King's College London