Roger's Profanisaurus
Roger's Profanisaurus is a humorous book published in the United Kingdom by Dennis Publishing which is written in the style of a lexicon of profane words and expressions. 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 "the Man on the Telly". The title of the book is a word play on Roget's Thesaurus, Profanisaurus being a portmanteau of profanity and Thesaurus. The book is marketed as "the foulest-mouthed book ever to stalk the face of the earth".
 First edition | |
| Editor | "William H. Bollocks" |
|---|---|
| Author | "Roger Mellie" (Chris Donald and Simon Donald in 1st edition; Graham Dury, Davy Jones and Simon Thorp thereafter) |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Humour |
| Publisher | "Fulchester University Press" Dennis Publishing |
Publication date | 1997 (comic booklet) 1998 (original book) 2002 (2nd Edition) 2005 (Profanisaurus Rex) 2007 (Magna Farta) 2010 (Das Krapital) 2013 (Hail Sweary) 2018 (War and Piss) |
| Media type | Print (Hardback, Paperback) |
| ISBN | 978-1-907232-90-9 |
Publication
The Profanisaurus was originally published as a supplement stapled into the middle of the December 1997 edition of the Viz comic (Viz 87), with 'over 700 rude words and phrases'. Contributions from readers were originally published in the comic and then edited into later editions. The first actual book was released less than a year later, in 1998 (ISBN 1-902212-05-3), but the content had tripled with now 2,250 definitions; this was followed in the second edition in 2002 with the number of terms covered growing to 4,000 (ISBN 0-7522-1507-8). An updated version, the Profanisaurus Rex, containing over 8,000 words and phrases, was released in 2005, and a further-expanded version, the "Magna Farta" (a play on Magna Carta) at the end of 2007. (Perhaps coincidentally, Oliver Cromwell is said to have referred to Magna Carta as "Magna Farta".[1])
Subsequent versions have been Das Krapital (2010, a play on Karl Marx's Das Kapital), 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'), and War and Piss (2018, a play on Tolstoy's War and Peace, with "over 20,000" definitions).
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's Devil's Dictionary 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 novel.
Reception
David Stubbs wrote that Profanisaurus "represents what you might call the maximalist tendency in obscenity".[2] Becky Barrow wrote that Profanisaurus "became a bestseller. It contained more swear words than the most devoted practitioner would ever remember."[3]
See also
References
- Lepore, Jill (April 13, 2015). "The Myth of Magna Carta" – via www.newyorker.com.
- David Stubbs (2002-09-28). "Roger's Profanisaurus is a bloody good thing | Books". London: The Guardian. Retrieved 2011-12-12.
- Education (2003-06-03). "Pub chain wants to call time on bad language". London: Telegraph. Retrieved 2011-12-12.