Slang

Slang is a vocabulary (words, phrases, and linguistic usage) of an informal register, common in everyday conversation but avoided in formal writing and speech. It also often refers to the language exclusively used by the members of particular in-groups in order to establish group identity, exclude outsiders, or both. The word itself came about in the 18th century and has been defined in multiple ways since its conception, with no single technical usage in linguistics.

Slang is a vocabulary (words, phrases, and linguistic usage) of an informal register, common in everyday conversation but avoided in formal writing and speech. It also often refers to the language exclusively used by the members of particular in-groups in order to establish group identity, exclude outsiders, or both. The word itself came about in the 18th century and has been defined in multiple ways since its conception, with no single technical usage in linguistics.

Etymology of the word slang

In its earliest attested use (1756), the word slang referred to the vocabulary of "low" or "disreputable" people. By the early nineteenth century, it was no longer exclusively associated with disreputable people, but continued to be applied to usages below the level of standard educated speech. In Scots dialect it meant "talk, chat, gossip", as used by Aberdeen poet William Scott in 1832: "The slang gaed on aboot their war'ly care." In northern English dialect it meant "impertinence, abusive language". The origin of the word "slang" is unclear. It was first used in print around 1800 to refer to the language of the disreputable and criminal classes in London, though its usage likely dates back further. A Scandinavian origin has been proposed (compare, for example, Norwegian , which means "nickname"), but based on "date and early associations" is discounted by the Oxford English Dictionary. Jonathon Green, however, agrees with the possibility of a Scandinavian origin, suggesting the same root as that of sling, which means "to throw", and noting that slang is thrown language – a quick and honest way to make your point.

Examples of slang (cross-linguistic)

1337 speak American slang (disambiguation page) Indonesian slang Argot British slang Bargoens Caló Cant Cantonese internet slang Cockney rhyming slang Fala dos arxinas Fenya Gayle language Generation Z and Alpha slang Jive talk IsiNgqumo Language game LGBTQ slang Lunfardo Internet meme Nadsat Polari Thieves' cant Verlan

Early history

One early slang-like code, thieves' cant, was first used in England in around the year 1600 as a way of law-breakers to communicate without the authorities knowing of what they were saying.

In popular culture

The 1941 film Ball of Fire portrays a professor played by Gary Cooper who is researching and writing an encyclopedia article about slang. The 2006 film Idiocracy portrays a less intelligent society in the year 2505 that has people who use all various sorts of aggressive slang. These slang phrases sound very foreign and alienating to the protagonist of the movie, a US Army librarian. In the 2013 song "Fire", Big Sean says "Was in Japan so long, I almost learn to speak. Had to leave back to the hood, where they don't understand unless you speak in Trapanese." Not only was Sean trying to rhyme with the word “Japanese”, but he's jokingly combining it with the word "trap", slang for a house used to sell drugs or the hood in general. This humorous bar coins the term "trapanese" as another way to say "slang."

Further reading

Barrett, Grant, ed. The Oxford Dictionary of American political slang (Oxford University Press, 2004¹) online;; Also published under the title Hatchet Jobs and Hardball the Oxford Dictionary of American political slang (2004) Cridland, Elly. Aussie slang dictionary : the A-Z true blue guide (2016) for Australia online Dickson, Paul. Slang: The Topical Dictionary of Americanisms (Bloomsbury, 2010). Green, Jonathon. Green's dictionary of slang (2010) online Mathews, Mitford M. A Dictionary of Americanisms on historical principles (1951) online Partridge, Eric. A dictionary of slang and unconventional English ; colloquialisms and catch-phrases, solecisms and catachreses, nicknames, vulgarisms, and such Americanisms as have been naturalized (1970 edition) online Peckha, Aaron. Urban Dictionary New Edition: Freshest Street Slang Defined (2015) online Ware, J. Redding Ware's Victorian dictionary of slang and phrase (1909, reprint 2013) online

Text derived from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1374587929 under CC BY-SA 4.0; modifications have been made.