As I recently commented to a friend via email, I’m realizing that I enjoy, indeed revel in, a broad interpretation of ‘folkloric’ which takes in “the parlance of our time” (Lebowski reference) in all its guises.
Among the tools at my fingertips:
- Roger’s Profanisaurus Rex (“the King of swearing dictionaries”) (see 5. Book Review if you dare: “…an indispensable work of reference for students of contemporary linguistics, socio-cultural commentators and dockers who have just hit their thumb with a hammer.”)
- Green’s Dictionary of Slang in its digital edition (“Five hundred years of the vulgar tongue. ‘Quite simply the best historical dictionary of English slang there is, ever has been […] or is ever likely to be’.”)
- Expletive Deleted: A Good Look at Bad Language
- The F Word
- Barrelhouse Words: A Blues Dialect Dictionary
- Dent’s Modern Tribes: The Secret Languages of Britain
- Speaking American: How Y’all, Youse, and You Guys Talk: A Visual Guide
…and others re: various dialects of English.
(for more on parlance, see In the parlance of our time and Repetition in The Big Lebowski)