Slang
All over the
world, thousands of English slang words and expressions are used and
dictionaries of all kinds of slang are published. The first slang dictionary was published in
1698 and consisted largely of criminal slang.
Slang is very
inventive and is often funny and colorful. Slang can have several meanings: the
expressions and words used by a group of people to show that they belong to a
particular group; language that is not used in official situations because it
can be too impolite or too new; any new words or new meanings of old words that
are used in everyday conversations.
Here are a few examples of slang
words with their meanings.
American
Slang
Awesome very good
Check it out! look at it to find out if it’s ok
Get real! accept reality
No way! absolutely not
Australian
Slang
Daggy untidy
Rack off! go away
Ripper very good
Sunnies sunglasses
Irish
Slang
Banjxed broken
Cat no
good, awful
Flah an
attractive person
Langers drunk
South
African Slang
Howzit hello, nice to see you
Jol party,
a good time
Lekker nice, good
Oke man,
guy
People using
slang get bored with it and create new words to keep puzzling outsiders, so
slang can change quite quickly. Yet some slang lasts longer. For example, bum has been used as an impolite word
for bottom [part of the body] since
the fourteenth century. Some slang belonging to a group can become part of
general slang. For example, in the twentieth century the word wimp meaning weak person moved from American teenage slang into general
slang. Slang can eventually become part
of Standard English. For example, while row,
meaning disturbance in the
eighteenth century was used as slang, it
now is an acceptable word. Other slang words change meaning over time. For
example, in American English previous
meant arriving too soon in the 1900s,
in the 1920s it meant tight referring
to clothes, and now it can mean a bit
rude. In Australian slang, swag
first meant things stolen by a thief
and later came to mean things carried by
a traveling person.
Rhyming slang
used by the Cockneys of East London is very colorful and inventive. Here, part
of the slang expression rhymes with a Standard English word. For example, bread and honey means money, plates of meat means feet.
One may hear, I need some bread which
means I need some money. Rhyming
slang can also rhyme with names of places and people. For example, Britney Spears means beers. Rhyming slang is common in Australia and America
Slang’s
inventive role in language means that new words are always appearing and
disappearing. Only the small groups that created them use some slang words,
others have become part of national or international slang, and others may cross over into everyday spoken
language. Thus, slang is an important source of new words in Standard English.
Rosemary
McShan was an EXCEL supervisor for two years and continues to be involved with
the EXCEL program. She is currently
living in California but is planning on moving
to her native Australia