Slang

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Slang is the use of highly informal words and expressions that are not considered standard in the speaker's dialect or language.

Slang is sometimes regional in that it is used only in a particular territory, but slang terms are frequently particular to a certain subculture, such as musicians, and members of minority groups. Nevertheless, usage of slang expressions can spread outside their original arenas to become commonly used, such as "cool" and "jive". While some words eventually lose their status as slang, others continue to be considered as such by most speakers. When slang spreads beyond the group or subculture that originally uses it, its original users often replace it with other, less-recognized terms to maintain group identity.

Contents 1 Origins of slang 2 See also 3 References 4 External links

[edit] Origins of slang

One use of slang is to circumvent social taboos, as mainstream language tends to shy away from evoking certain realities. For this reason, slang vocabularies are particularly rich in certain domains, such as violence, crime and drugs and sex. Alternatively, slang can grow out of mere familiarity with the things described. Among wine connoisseurs, Cabernet Sauvignon might be known as "Cab Sav", Chardonnay as "Chard" and so on;^[1] this means that naming the different wines expends less superfluous effort. It also serves as a shared code among connoisseurs.

Even within a single language community, slang tends to vary widely across social, ethnic, economic, and geographic strata. Slang sometimes grows more and more common until it becomes the dominant way of saying something, at which time it is regarded as mainstream, acceptable language (e.g. the Spanish word caballo), while at other times it may fall into disuse. Numerous slang terms pass into informal mainstream speech, and sometimes into formal speech, though this may involve a change in meaning or usage.

Slang very often involves the creation of novel meanings for existing words. It is very common for such novel meanings to diverge significantly from the standard meaning. Thus, "cool" and "hot" can both mean "very good", "impressive" or "good looking".

Slang terms are often known only within a clique or ingroup. For example, Leet ("Leetspeak" or "1337"), was originally popular only among certain Internet sub-cultures, such as crackers (malicious "hackers") and online video gamers. During the 1990s and 2000s, however, Leet became increasingly more commonplace on the Internet, and has even spread outside of Internet-based communication and into spoken languages.^[2] Another type of slang, with roots in Internet culture, is texting language (txt or chatspeak), which is widely used in instant messaging on the Internet (AOL speak) and mobile phones (SMS language).

Certain dialects may be viewed by some people as slang, such as Hawaiian Creole English and African American Vernacular English.

[edit] See also

• Colloquialism

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Urban Dictionary - A dictionary of contemporary slang with user-contributed definitions. Largely unreliable and amateurish, but often the only reference to include very recent slang.
• Double-Tongued Dictionary - A collection of citations of slang captured from actual usage. Far from comprehensive, but trustworthy where it does have coverage.
• Historical Dictionary of American Slang - A dictionary by Dr. Robert Beard providing approximate dates slang words entered the language.
• Irish Slang - A list of words and expressions used in Ireland.
• Slang Dictionary: Etymological, Historical, and Anecdotal By John Camden Hotten. Now largely out of date and superseded by subsequent works. 1874 ed. at Google books
• The Alternative Dictionaries - Slang, profanities, insults and vulgarisms from all the world. Poorly documented. Includes many terms that cannot be substantiated.
• Slang.ie - A dictionary of Irish slang by county.
• English Slang Dictionary - Slangs and other informal expressions used by native speakers.
• The London Slang Dictionary Project - A dictionary written by east and west London teenagers. Includes many terms that cannot be substantiated.