Slang

Slang

•What is slang?•Where does slang come from?•Why do people use slang?

A formal definition

•Highly colloquial; for speaking•Rude; not polite•Not educated•Words used in some special sense•Special words of a profession

Two less formal definitions

•Slang is the poetry of everyday life (S. I. Hayakawa)

•Slang is language which takes off its coat, spits on its hands and goes to work (Carl Sandburg)

Characteristics of slang

•Colloquial•Not standard•Restricted•Imaginative•Variable

Colloquial

•Slang is almost always spokenoWhen it is written, it is used to convey the

flavor of spoken languageoFor example, dialogues in novels

Not standard

•Informal•Often not acceptable in formal situations

Restricted

•Small groups of people, e.g., college students

•Subcultures, e.g., drug culture•People in one profession, e.g., police

Imaginative

•Language that is alive!oColorfuloCreative

Variable in 3 ways: By region

•American vs. Australian slangoBreeder in San FranciscooBouncing beef in Sydney

Variable: Gender

• In Australia • Males use mate, dude or bro to describe

other male friends• Females use babe or bud to describe other

female friends• Swearing• For males using the F word is acceptable in

more situations than for females

Variable: Time

•Most slang disappears quicklyoGroovy (1960s)oMain squeeze (1950s)

Variable: Time

•One generation’s slang becomes the next generation’s standard languageoBus from omnibusoZoo from zoological gardenoPiano from pianoforteo Jazz

Variable: Time

•Some exceptions to slang that quickly disappearsoPig (policeman) is from 1885 and is still

slangoBeat it was used by Shakespeare and is still

considered slang

Where does slang come from?

•Originates from subcultures in societiesoFor example, occupational groups,

teenagers, racial minorities, drug addicts, criminals

Slang from subcultures

•Pre-stiff = a patient who is close to dying ▫(from U.S. hospital slang)

•Homey = friend or buddy ▫(American black slang)

•Pot = marijuana ▫(1960s drug culture)

•C-note = $100 ▫(criminal slang)

Where does slang come from?

•Mass media▫Movies▫TV▫Fashion▫music

Slang from the media•A bomb = a really bad movie•Bucket list = things you want to do before

you die▫(from The Bucket List with Jack Nicholson)

•5 – 0 = police ▫(American TV show Hawaii 5-0 in the 1970s)

•Top = the ultimate or best ▫(French slang from the term top models, e.g.,

Claudia Schiffer, Cindy Crawford, etc.•Cabbage = money

▫(San Francisco hip-hop slang)

Slang is created by playing with words •RhymingoTrouble and strife = wife o (Cockney rhyming slang)

•Making words shorteroBrill = brilliant o (Glasgow, Scotland and parts of the U.S.)oFab = fabulouso (American 60’s slang; the Fab 4 = the

Beatles)

Slang is created by playing with words

•Borrowing words from other languagesoCushy = comfortable o (From the Hindi Khush; no longer slang)

oYadda yadda = and so on o (from Yiddish and made popular by the sitcom

Seinfeld)•Giving words the opposite meaningoBad = good o (U.S. college slang in the 1990s)

oSick = goodo (skateboarding slang)

Slang is created by playing with words (3)•Changing the spelling of wordsoPhat = cool, very good o (U.S. college slang in the 1990s)

•Being imaginative with wordsoTaxed = mugged or robbed o (Honolulu slang)

oGimme some skin = let’s shakeo (American 60’s slang)

Why do people use slang •To play with languageoFor the fun of itoTo be differentoTo be creativeoTo be shocking

• Especially musicians, poets, writers, screenwriters, etc.

Why do people use slang (2)

•To identify with a groupoTo exclude othersoTo be secretive

• Especially lower classes, groups that are outside the main society, subcultures, etc.

Resource for Slang

•Urban Dictionaryohttp://www.urbandictionary.com/