''Roger's Profanisaurus'' is a humorous book published in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

Dennis Publishing Dennis Publishing Ltd. was a British publisher. It was founded in 1973 by Felix Dennis. Its first publication was a kung-fu magazine. Most of its titles now belong to Future plc. In the 1980s, it became a leading publisher of computer enthusia ...

which is written in the style of a

lexicon A lexicon is the vocabulary of a language or branch of knowledge (such as nautical or medical). In linguistics, a lexicon is a language's inventory of lexemes. The word ''lexicon'' derives from Koine Greek language, Greek word (), neuter of () ...

of profane words and expressions. The book is marketed as "the foulest-mouthed book ever to stalk the face of the earth". It is a spin-off publication from the popular British adult comic '' Viz'', and features one of the comic's characters, the foul-mouthed

Roger Mellie Roger Mellie ("The Man on the Telly - who says 'Bollocks!'") is a fictional character featured in '' Viz'' magazine. His catchphrase was originally the same as David Frost's catchphrase "Hello, good evening, and welcome", but very soon degenerat ...

"the Man on the Telly who says 'Bollocks!". The title of the book is a

word play Word play or wordplay (also: play-on-words) is a literary technique and a form of wit in which words used become the main subject of the work, primarily for the purpose of intended effect or amusement. Examples of word play include puns, phonet ...

on ''

Roget's Thesaurus ''Roget's Thesaurus'' is a widely used English-language thesaurus, created in 1805 by Peter Mark Roget (1779–1869), British physician, natural theologian and lexicographer. History It was released to the public on 29 April 1852. Roget was i ...

'', ''Profanisaurus'' being a

portmanteau A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of wordsMagna Carta (Medieval Latin for "Great Charter of Freedoms"), commonly called (also ''Magna Charta''; "Great Charter"), is a royal charter of rights agreed to by King John of England at Runnymede, near Windsor, on 15 June 1215. First drafted by the ...

'') at the end of 2007. (Perhaps coincidentally,

Oliver Cromwell Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English politician and military officer who is widely regarded as one of the most important statesmen in English history. He came to prominence during the 1639 to 1651 Wars of the Three Ki ...

is said to have referred to Magna Carta as "Magna Farta".) Subsequent versions have been ''Das Krapital'' (2010, a play on

Karl Marx Karl Heinrich Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, political theorist, journalist, critic of political economy, and socialist revolutionary. His best-known titles are the 1848 ...

's ''

Das Kapital ''Das Kapital'', also known as ''Capital: A Critique of Political Economy'' or sometimes simply ''Capital'' (german: Das Kapital. Kritik der politischen Ökonomie, link=no, ; 1867–1883), is a foundational theoretical text in Historical mater ...

''), ''Hail Sweary'' (2013, featuring on the cover Roger in a monk's outfit kneeling as if in prayer, and the title in Olde Englishe above; an obvious and obscene reference to the Catholic '

Hail Mary The Hail Mary ( la, Ave Maria) is a traditional Christian prayer addressing Mary, the mother of Jesus. The prayer is based on two biblical passages featured in the Gospel of Luke: the Angel Gabriel's visit to Mary (the Annunciation) and Mary's ...

'), and ''War and Piss'' (2018, a play on Tolstoy's ''

War and Peace ''War and Peace'' (russian: Война и мир, translit=Voyna i mir; pre-reform Russian: ; ) is a literary work by the Russian author Leo Tolstoy that mixes fictional narrative with chapters on history and philosophy. It was first published ...

'', with "over 20,000" definitions).

Content

Unlike a traditional dictionary or thesaurus, the content is enlivened by often pungent or politically incorrect observations and asides, intended to provide further comic effect. Those familiar with

Ambrose Bierce Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce (June 24, 1842 – ) was an American short story writer, journalist, poet, and American Civil War veteran. His book ''The Devil's Dictionary'' was named as one of "The 100 Greatest Masterpieces of American Literature" by t ...

's ''

Devil's Dictionary ''The Devil's Dictionary'' is a satirical dictionary written by American journalist Ambrose Bierce, consisting of common words followed by humorous and satirical definitions. The lexicon was written over three decades as a series of installments ...

'' might recognise some parallels with Bierce's style, though his lacked the overt obscenity. The authors often take delight in lampooning political or media figures of the day, or illustrating terms with fictional dialogue between notionally respectable historical figures. A much-used technique for sexual phrases is to include them in a quoted passage from a non-existent

Barbara Cartland Dame Mary Barbara Hamilton Cartland, (9 July 1901 – 21 May 2000) published as Barbara Cartland was an English writer, known as the Queen of Romance, who published both contemporary romance, contemporary and historical romance novels, the lat ...

novel.

Reception

David Stubbs David Stubbs (born 13 September 1962 in London) is a British music journalist. He grew up in Leeds and in the early Eighties was a student at the University of Oxford where he was a close friend of Simon Reynolds. The two were part of the Oxfor ...

wrote that ''Profanisaurus'' "represents what you might call the maximalist tendency in obscenity". Becky Barrow wrote that ''Profanisaurus'' "became a bestseller. It contained more swear words than the most devoted practitioner would ever remember."

References

External links

''Roger's Profanisaurus'' online at ''Vizs website
{{Viz (comics) Comedy books Linguistics books English dictionaries Works about profanity

Content

Reception

See also

References

External links