| Roger's Profanisaurus | |
|---|---|
| Author(s) | "Roger Mellie" (Chris Donald and Simon Donald in 1st edition; Graham Dury, Davy Jones and Simon Thorp thereafter) |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Humour |
| Publication date | 1998 (original) 2002 (2nd Edition) 2005 (Profanisaurus Rex) 2007 (Magna Farta) 2010 (Das Krapital) |
| Media type | Print (Hardback, Paperback) |
Roger's Profanisaurus is a compendium of profanity, featuring the foulmouthed Viz character Roger Mellie, the man on the telly. The title is a word play on Roget's Thesaurus. The book is published in the United Kingdom by Viz, and described as "the foulest-mouthed book ever to stalk the face of the earth". Whilst humorous in intent, the book is a formidable reference work.
Contents |
The references for various slang terms for vagina reference each other in a loop, without ever defining the term.
The Profanisaurus was originally published as a supplement stapled into the middle of the comic. Contributions from readers have been published in the comic and then edited into later editions. The first book was released in 1998 (ISBN 1-902212-05-3) with 2,250 definitions and 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 and allusion to the seemingly limitless synonymous phrases for farts contained therein) at the end of 2007.
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.
David Stubbs wrote that Profanisaurus "represents what you might call the maximalist tendency in obscenity".[1] Becky Barrow wrote that Profanisaurus "became a bestseller. It contained more swear words than the most devoted practitioner would ever remember."[2]