What is slang???

Slang



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For other uses, see Slang (disambiguation).

Slang is the use of highly informal words and expressions that are not considered standard in the speaker's dialect or language. Slang is often highly regional, specific to a particular territory.
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 understood, such as "cool"
and "jive". While some words eventually lose their status as slang,
others continue to be considered as such by most speakers. In spite of
this, the process tends to lead the original users to replace the words
with other, less-recognized terms to maintain group identity.



Contents


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• 1 Slang and jargon
  
• 2 Origins of slang
  
• 3 See also
  
• 4 External links
  
• 5 References
  

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Slang and jargon


Being informal speech, slang should be distinguished from jargon,
which is the technical vocabulary of a particular profession. Moreover,
jargon may not be intended to exclude nongroup members from the
conversation, but rather deals with technical peculiarities of a given
field requiring a specialized vocabulary.
According to Bethany K. Dumas and Jonathan Lighter,[1] an expression should be considered "true slang" if it meets at least two of the following criteria:

• It lowers, if temporarily, "the dignity of formal or serious speech
  or writing"; in other words, it is likely to be seen in such contexts
  as a "glaring misuse of register."
  
• Its use implies that the user is familiar with whatever is referred to, or with a group of people that are familiar with it and use the term.
  
• "It is a taboo term in ordinary discourse with people of a higher social status or greater responsibility."
  
• It replaces "a well known conventional synonym." This is done
  primarily to avoid "the discomfort caused by the conventional item [or
  by] further elaboration."
  

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 sexuality, violence, crime and drugs.
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;[2] 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 only known within an ingroup. For example, Leet Speak (Leet or "1337") is popular among online video gamers (although it is slowly being picked up by gaming in general). Text language is also a different form of slang used among people to shorten words when typing.

See also

• Cockney rhyming slang
  
• A language of Murree Hills and Circle Bakote
  
• Internet slang
  
• John Camden Hotten
  
• Leet
  
• Eric Partridge
  
• Polari
  

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.
  
• 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.
  

References

1. ^ Dumas, Bethany K. and Lighter, Jonathan (1978) "Is Slang a Word for Linguists?" American Speech 53 (5): 14-15.
   
2. ^ Croft, William (2000) Explaining Language Change: An Evolutionary Approach. Harlow: Longman: 75-6.
   

silly..,w know that already, dude....