Basic Slang
within the US
youth culture
History of the English Language
Professor: Jose Ramon Belda Medina
Student: Carmen Georgeta Alexe
01/05/2011
Although the first use of slang was regarded in Oxford English Dictionary (1818)
as “language of a highly colloquial type, considered as below the neutral level of
standard educated speech, and consisting either of new words or of current words
employed in some special sense”, Lighter defined it as “an informal, nonstandard,
nontechnical vocabulary composed chiefly of novel-sounding synonyms (and near
synonyms) for standard words and phrases; it is often associated with youthful, raffish,
or undignified persons and groups; and it conveys often striking connotations of
impertinence or irreverence, especially for established attitudes and values within the
prevailing culture.” (The Cambridge History of the English Language)
Of all restrained social groups, the young people are the most prone to the
creation and use of slang and, as a difference between the British and American youth,
the Americans are thought to be much fonder of using informal and, therefore,
unconventional language. A young generation adopts slang expressions in its current
speech as an identity sign in order to express new values as opposed to those of the
previous generations and to be able to distinguish itself from the elders but, on the other
hand, youth may also use basic slang terms as counter-cultural tools against established
social conventions and authority figures.
Essentially oral and ephemeral, expressive and funny, creative and innovative,
slang expressions, either dialectal or from mainstream usage, are part of the English
language and the basic slang‟s defining factor is the affective impact which can be
expressed in different forms, such as: “aggressive informality”, “raw vitality”, “ribald
sense of humour” or “flip self confidence” (Lighter`s description of slang, 1994).
In spite of the fact that slang expressions are usually considered to be ephemeral,
the basic slang terms are not and this essay is going to prove from a social and historical
point of view the long lasting existence of two basic slang terms such as “swell” and
“cool” which illustrate a kind of semantic extension, “a structural linguistic
phenomenon” as Kronenfeld also argued in his study “Plastic Glasses and Church
Fathers” (1996). “Swell” and “cool” imply in many contexts a “good” general sense but
with different shades of meaning and, since used by different young generations, they
gained new values and changed their semantic structure in time. Flexner (1975)
classified this kind of basic slang terms as “counterwords, expressions whose meaning
have expanded to a broader and more general applicability than that of the terms’
original referent”.
A further analysis and exemplification of the terms “swell” and “cool” will
emphasize their semantic change, dichotomy and long surviving basic slang words
during time which seems to contradict slang‟s main characteristic: ephemerality.
Thus, the use of “swell” was very common from about 1920 till 1965 whereas the
word “cool”, which appeared during the 1950s-1960s, had the power to absorb and
change, little by little, the meaning of “swell” term whose usage didn´t seem to serve
anymore to the youth identification.
The general shift of “swell” to “cool” in slang usage represented for the 1950-60s
youth culture a continuation of generational values and attitudes towards language and
evidence was found in the secondary school books:
“It certainly has been swell having you in my English class “(1964)
“Best of wishes to a real cool guy” (1964)
In the next following yearbook signatures (about 1967-71) an inverted pattern takes
place and “swell” declines in usage as “cool” expands. Only one counterword was likely
to survive in the widely usage as there was one basic slang term for any given youth
generation and “cool” became to be used by adolescents in the same type of contexts as
“swell” had been before in such phrases as:
1) keep (it) cool
2) a cool person/kid
3) cool times: “This year has really been cool”
The fact that the 1925„s “a swell time” expression could be substituted in 1965 by
“a cool time” phrase implies the synonymy relationship between the two counterwords
with some difference in meaning however:
“Cool” has the qualities of knowingness (a kind of inside knowledge, access to
information which makes the speaker a privileged person), detachment, emotional calm
and control to which rebelliousness against some “unfair” social rules is added
“Swell”, instead, is used to refer to people, things and situations that are directly
pleasing without having any moralistic qualities approved by some authority figures; it
only expresses a form of bohemian rebelliousness.
One example which emphasizes the succession of the two terms is found in the
1972‟s adolescent novel “Freaky Friday” written by Mary Rodgers:
“My parents told him he was welcome to come back anytime, and he said how
about tomorrow. We said that would be swell. (Actually, my father said swell, mother
said lovely, and I said cool....) (144p.)
After “cool” term entered the mainstream slang of youth culture, the “cool-swell”
dichotomy has been established; the first term was regarded as positive while the second
one had negative connotations.
“Swell” came to be re-interpreted as being the opposite of “cool” meaning “corny,
square”; in the late of the 1960‟s it was used for mocking the unhip.
Example: “Dear, isn`t our son swell?”
“Yes, Dear. Isn’t life swell?” (“The Breakfast Club‟ movie, 1985)
Other features acquired by the counterword “swell” were: being out of the loop,
earnest, naive and foolishly, excitable.
“Swell” is presented as an indicator of naïveté in: “Big package of fun from DeMille
complete with hockey performances, clichés, big-top excitement, and a swell train
wreck” (Leonard Martin‟s Mini-review of the 1952 movie “The Greatest Show on
Earth”, 1998, 541p.)
Although influenced by the original “cool” detached attitude of the African
American people developed as a defence mechanism against racism and exploitative
capitalism, the 1950‟s “cool” adolescent was mainly just a rebel against parental control
seeking to distance from the adult authority figures. As a comparison to the rebel
adolescent, for the university students and other urban youth of the 1960‟s, the term
“cool” have brought consciousness about the American society, ideals and realities of
life concerning racism problems, political corruption and materialism. An example is
Thomas Frank‟s book “The conquest of Cool: Business Culture, Counterculture, and
the Rise of Hip Consumerism” (1997)
The usage of “cool” slang expression is also found in technological contexts. For
Fred Moody in his report “year with Microsoft on the multimedia frontier” (1995, xl),
the counterword “cool” could have any of the following meanings: “perfect,
phenomenal, awesome, ingenious, eye-popping, bliss inducing, pretty, clever,
enchanting, fine, adequate, acceptable, okay”.
Widely used as a basic slang term, “cool” can be applicable to almost anything,
but it is also true that is has a tendency for a specific kind of people and things, those
ones which are valuable for the young generation although they are not approved by the
authority figures: Pountain and Robins define “cool” as “an oppositional attitude
adopted by individuals to express defiance to authority...(which) conceals its rebellion
behind a mask of ironic impassivity” (2000, 19p.) The rebel characteristic of “cool” is
also emphasized in the teenagers‟ comments from the documentary “The Lost Children
of Rockdale Country” (1999) in reference to group sex “She thought it was the coolest
thing” and in reference to drinking alcohol “When you’re that young you do it to be
cool”
The humorous quality of “cool” goes out in the Seinfeld episode “The Little
Jerry” (1997) when, talking with an attractive prison librarian, George Constanza blurts
out “You’re in prison? That is so cool!”
Tom Dalzell defines best the modern qualities of “cool” as “amorphous and
ubiquitous, detached, cerebral and stylish” which “quickly began its surge towards a
mainstream term of approval”
Such basic slang terms as “swell” and “cool” were used within the youth culture
to emphasize different generational values and they survived in the usage as long as the
same values have been maintained. The linguistic shifts are often due mostly to the
emotional attitudes of the youth who can so easily rise or fall the popularity of a word.
All terms of approval, “swell” and “cool” may be compared with some other
synonyms like “okay” and “hip” with the substantial difference that the rebellious
feature of the first terms is lacking to “okay” which is used in colloquial or informal
contexts while “hip”, although another slang term, doesn‟t have the wide applicability
of the basic slang words.
The connexion between the speaker‟s identity and the expressive nature of “cool”
term still positively valued nowadays made possible its longevity and there is no sign
that such a basic slang word is about to disappear soon.
Bibliography
Cowie, A.P., 1st edition, The Oxford History of English Lexicography, Volume II
“Specialized Dictionaries”, Part I: Ch. 10, 11; New York: Oxford University Press Inc.,
2009
Moore, Robert L. “Basic Slang and Generational Shifts in Values” American Speech
(American Dialect Society) Vol. 79, No.1 (2004)
Rodríguez González, Félix “Youth and Student Slang in British and American English:
An Annotated Bibliography”, Revista Alicantina de Estudios Ingleses 7 (1994): 201-12