# Roger's Profanisaurus > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Roger's_Profanisaurus > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Roger's_Profanisaurus.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger's_Profanisaurus > Source revision: 1352741573 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) ***Roger's Profanisaurus*** is a humorous book (and for a short period commencing 2011; [mobile app](/source/Mobile_app)), published in the [United Kingdom](/source/United_Kingdom) by [Dennis Publishing](/source/Dennis_Publishing) which is written in the style of a [lexicon](/source/Lexicon) of [profane words and expressions](/source/Profanity). The book is marketed as "the foulest-mouthed book ever to stalk the face of the earth". It is a [spin-off publication](/source/Brand_extension) from the popular British adult comic *[Viz](/source/Viz_(comic))*, and features one of the comic's characters, the foul-mouthed [Roger Mellie](/source/Roger_Mellie) "the Man on the Telly who says 'Bollocks!'". The title of the book is a [word play](/source/Word_play) on *[Roget's Thesaurus](/source/Roget's_Thesaurus)*, *Profanisaurus* being a [portmanteau](/source/Portmanteau) of *profanity* and *Thesaurus*. ## Publication history 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'. It was labelled "Sweary Mary's Dictionary", after a foul-mouthed character from Viz. The 2013 edition of the *Profanisaurus* is titled "Hail Sweary", a possible nod to her heritage. 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](/source/Magna_Carta)*) at the end of 2007. (Perhaps coincidentally, [Oliver Cromwell](/source/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](/source/Karl_Marx)'s *[Das Kapital](/source/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](/source/Ye_olde) above; an obvious and obscene reference to the Catholic '[Hail Mary](/source/Hail_Mary)'), *War and Piss* (2018, a play on Tolstoy's *[War and Peace](/source/War_and_Peace)*, with "over 20,000" definitions) and *Turtleshead Revisited* (2024, a play on Evelyn Waugh's *[Brideshead Revisited](/source/Brideshead_Revisited)*). ## Content 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](/source/Ambrose_Bierce)'s *[Devil's Dictionary](/source/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](/source/Barbara_Cartland) novel. ## Reception [David Stubbs](/source/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 - *[The Meaning of Liff](/source/The_Meaning_of_Liff)* ## References 1. Lepore, Jill (April 13, 2015). ["The Myth of Magna Carta"](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/04/20/the-rule-of-history). *The New Yorker*. – via www.newyorker.com. 1. David Stubbs (2002-09-28). ["Roger's Profanisaurus is a bloody good thing | Books"](https://www.theguardian.com/books/2002/sep/28/referenceandlanguages). *The Guardian*. Retrieved 2011-12-12. 1. Barrow, Becky (3 June 2003). ["Pub chain wants to call time on bad language"](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/3315869/Pub-chain-wants-to-call-time-on-bad-language.html). The Telegraph. Retrieved 5 May 2026. ## External links - [*Roger's Profanisaurus* online at *Viz'*s website](http://viz.co.uk/category/rogers-profanisaurus/) --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Roger's Profanisaurus](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger's_Profanisaurus) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger's_Profanisaurus?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.