Thanks for a fascinating post, Dan. The difficult relationship between slang and dictionaries is well illustrated by your last point: ‘the originators on the margins move on to generate new slang, reflecting their need to keep a sublanguage that is all their own’. By the time slang is recorded in a dictionary, it is – almost by definition =- no longer slang. So a historical slang dictionary is a worthwhile enterprise, but a ‘dictionary of current slang’ is a contradiction in terms.
Thanks, Michael. I know what you mean. Slang often seems quite an ephemeral thing, but it’s also interesting to see how many of the terms have been around for a long time and sunk into our mainstream, standard usage (cool, OK, wicked etc.). I also love the inventiveness of the creators of slang and their wordplay.
Great article, Dan. Wicked, even — though that strikes me as school/college slang rather than street slang.
On Michael’s point about a dictionary of current slang being a contradiction in terms: true of periodical print dictionaries, less so of frequently updated online ones, though the most infamous of these (Urban Dictionary) is low on reliability.
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Thanks for a fascinating post, Dan. The difficult relationship between slang and dictionaries is well illustrated by your last point: ‘the originators on the margins move on to generate new slang, reflecting their need to keep a sublanguage that is all their own’. By the time slang is recorded in a dictionary, it is – almost by definition =- no longer slang. So a historical slang dictionary is a worthwhile enterprise, but a ‘dictionary of current slang’ is a contradiction in terms.
Thanks, Michael. I know what you mean. Slang often seems quite an ephemeral thing, but it’s also interesting to see how many of the terms have been around for a long time and sunk into our mainstream, standard usage (cool, OK, wicked etc.). I also love the inventiveness of the creators of slang and their wordplay.
Great article, Dan. Wicked, even — though that strikes me as school/college slang rather than street slang.
On Michael’s point about a dictionary of current slang being a contradiction in terms: true of periodical print dictionaries, less so of frequently updated online ones, though the most infamous of these (Urban Dictionary) is low on reliability.
The BBC News magazine has done a feature on street slang http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-13445487
Worth a look!
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