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Art & Books Books

Straight From The Fridge, Dad: A Dictionary Of Hipster Slang

Straight From The Fridge, Dad: A Dictionary Of Hipster Slang by Max Décharné (Broadway), 193 pages, $19.95 paper. Rating: NN


Compiled by Mojo magazine contributor and ex-Gallon Drunk drummer Max Décharné, Straight From The Fridge, Dad is an attempt to assemble a compendium of the slanguage used by low-life hoods and musicians from the dawn of the jazz era. It also serves as a companion to the hard-boiled crime novels re-released by London’s excellent No Exit press. Because Déchar-né relies on peri-od pulp fiction, film noir and exploitation cinema as well as blues, jazz and rock ‘n’ roll recordings as primary source material, what he has collected here is often the lingo invented by Hollywood hacks and songwriters to create what they imagined to be a hipster feel. The authenticity issue or absence of derivation information probably isn’t a big deal to a teenager reading a Jim Thompson novel and wondering what “flimflam” means. But most people who grew up watching late-night movies on television will already know that “lame” refers to “disappointing.”

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