Flash Jim

Flash Jim
Author :
Publisher : HarperCollins
Total Pages : 233
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9781460713259
ISBN-13 : 1460713257
Rating : 4/5 (257 Downloads)

Book Synopsis Flash Jim by : Kel Richards

Download or read book Flash Jim written by Kel Richards and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2021-05-01 with total page 233 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The astonishing story of James Hardy Vaux, writer of Australia's first dictionary and first true-crime memoir If you wear 'togs', tell a 'yarn', call someone 'sly', or refuse to 'snitch' on a friend then you are talking like a convict. These words, and hundreds of others, once left colonial magistrates baffled and police confused. So comprehensible to us today, the flash language of criminals and convicts had marine officer Watkin Tench complaining about the need for an interpreter in the colonial court. Luckily, by 1811, that man was at hand. James Hardy Vaux - conman, pickpocket, absconder and thief, born into comfortable circumstances in England - was so drawn to a life of crime he was transported to Australia ... not once, but three times! Vaux's talents, glibness and audacity were extraordinary, and perceiving an opportunity to ingratiate himself with authorities during his second sentence, he set about writing a dictionary of the criminal slang of the colony, which was recognised for its uniqueness and taken back to England to be published. Kel Richards tells Vaux's story brilliantly, with the help of Vaux's own extraordinarily candid memoir of misdeeds - one of the first true-crime memoirs ever published. Kel's book combines two of his favourite subjects: the inventiveness, humour and origins of Australian English, and our history of fabulous, disreputable characters. With echoes of The Surgeon of Crowthorne as well as Oliver Twist, Flash Jim is a ripping read - especially for those who appreciate the power of words and the convict contribution to our idiom. PRAISE 'James Hardy Vaux was a con-man with a talent for words who wrote the first dictionary of Australian English. Kel Richards is a word-man with a talent for telling a stirring story about the con-man. In Flash Jim Kel Richards brings James Hardy Vaux to life as we haven't seen him before' - Emeritus Professor Roland Sussex, School of Languages and Comparative Cultural Studies, University of Queensland 'An engaging tale from a great student of our language about one of the conmen who gave Australia its character - and its distinctive slang' - Andrew Bolt, broadcaster and columnist 'One of the strongest bonds binding the people of Australia together is the Australian language. We speak a dialect of English richer and more colourful than most. When we call someone a "hoon" or invite a friend to a "barbie" we know immediately what we're talking about - but we have to translate for overseas visitors. This powerful cultural bond was, as Kel explains, built on four foundations. And the most colourful of those four was convict slang. The role that it played, and still plays, in the Australian language, and the story of the man who first recorded it is - as we used to say - a "ripping yarn". It makes a page-turning story' - Alan Jones, broadcaster and columnist 'There's never been a more important time to truly understand our Australian history and this book is a great introduction to the richness of our language and a wonderful window onto the real life of colonial Australia from my favourite wordsmith, Kel Richards' - Peta Credlin, broadcaster and columnist


Flash Jim Related Books

Flash Jim
Language: en
Pages: 233
Authors: Kel Richards
Categories: True Crime
Type: BOOK - Published: 2021-05-01 - Publisher: HarperCollins

GET EBOOK

The astonishing story of James Hardy Vaux, writer of Australia's first dictionary and first true-crime memoir If you wear 'togs', tell a 'yarn', call someone 's
Flash
Language: en
Pages: 202
Authors: Jim Miller
Categories: Fiction
Type: BOOK - Published: 2010 - Publisher: AK Press

GET EBOOK

Outlaw? Revolutionary? Family man? Who "is" Bobby Flash?
Learn Programming with Flash MX
Language: en
Pages: 478
Authors: Ben Renow-Clarke
Categories: Computers
Type: BOOK - Published: 2003-10-01 - Publisher: Apress

GET EBOOK

* First Flash book to use the unique "virtual classroom" approach to teaching ActionScript programming to absolute beginners, so it meets a need head-on that no
The Emu's Head
Language: en
Pages: 92
Authors: Carlton Dawe
Categories: Fiction
Type: BOOK - Published: 2021-11-09 - Publisher: Good Press

GET EBOOK

"The Emu's Head" by Carlton Dawe. Published by Good Press. Good Press publishes a wide range of titles that encompasses every genre. From well-known classics &
Flash 3D
Language: en
Pages: 416
Authors: Jim Ver Hague
Categories: Computers
Type: BOOK - Published: 2012-08-21 - Publisher: CRC Press

GET EBOOK

Push your creative ideas to the next level in content delivery. Use real and simulated 3D space in your Flash games and interactive systems. 3D possibilities of