Carl Sandburg
“Slang is a language that rolls up
its sleeves, spits on its hands and
gets down to work”
G K Chesterton
“All slang is metaphor and all
metaphor is poetry”
Slang –noun
1. very informal usage in vocabulary and idiom
that is characteristically more metaphorical,
playful, elliptical, vivid, and ephemeral than
ordinary language, as Hit the road.
2. (in English and some other languages) speech
and writing characterized by the use of vulgar
and socially taboo vocabulary and idiomatic
expressions.
3. the jargon of a particular class, profession, etc.
4. the special vocabulary of thieves, vagabonds,
etc.; argot.
Slang is...
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Slang changes through time
Slang varies from place to place
Slang is NOT dialect – although dialect words can
‘escape the dialect box’ and become part of general
language
Slang is NOT swearing – swearing is ALWAYS taboo –
slang is not restricted to taboo
Slang is creative
Slang is often short lived
Slang is the glue that ‘holds’ a group together or
alienates others – SOCIAL SOLIDARITY / DIVERGENCE
Slang can be anti- language
Slang is ancient – seen in Shakespeare’s plays
What is Slang?
Slang is actually ancient –
examples can be sited in
Chaucer and Shakespeare.
Each generation creates its
own slang.
The term slang is thought to
have evolved from the term
Thieve’s Language.
 THIEVE/SLANG/UAGE
Slang is creative short lived and the glue that
binds groups together - SOLIDARITY /
IDENTITY/ ACCOMMODATION THEORY
A Gas
Bag
Blast
Bread
Bummed out
Cat
Dig
A Drag
Far Out
Heat
Heavy
Pig
Split
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It’s a gas man
(A lot of fun)
What's your bag (where are you coming from
/ what do you mean?.)
We had a blast ( a great time)
You need lots of bread for that man (Money)
I’m completely bummed out ( Depressed)
I know this really cool cat ….. (A guy)
Do you dig it? (Do you understand?)
What a drag man (boring)
Far out man (strange/ unusual)
Watch out for the heat man (The police)
This is a heavy scene (philosophical,
intellectual)
The pigs are all over (police)
I need to split this scene (leave this place)
The Test of Time...
 None of these have really survived the test of
time
 That is the point of youth culture slang – it has
to change to keep DIVERGING from
mainstream in order to maintain COVERT
STATUS and in order to establish IDENTITY
AND SOLIDARITY
 What slang do you use? Will it stand the
test of time?
Changing The Lexis
70s Lexis
A Gas
Semantics
It’s a gas man
Bag
What's your bag (where are you coming from/
what do you mean?)
(A lot of fun)
Blast
We had a blast
Bread
You need lots of bread for that man (Money)
Bummed out
(a great time)
I’m completely bummed out (Depressed)
Cat
I know this really cool cat ….. (A guy)
Dig
Do you dig it? (Do you understand?)
A Drag
What a drag man (boring)
Far Out
Far out man (strange / unusual)
Heat
Watch out for the heat man (The police)
Heavy
This is a heavy scene (philosophical,
intellectual)
The pigs are all over (police)
Pig
Slang is a language that excludes others – shows
membership of a group (SOLIDARITY) – is a secret
language – reduces seriousness – is euphemistic
In the days when patients had no access to their
own medical records, some slang recorded
uncomplimentary or non-technical observations
about them.
In hospitals, morbid humour, irreverence and
euphemism is a way of coping with daily exposure
to injury, disease and death- BLACK HUMOUR
MEDICAL SLANG AND MEDICAL
ACRONYMS
AGMI
ALS
Angel lust
Bagged and Tagged
(B&T)
Bunny Boiler
Crispy critter
God's Waiting Room
GRAFOB
LOBNH
Road Pizza
TMB
VTMK
Ain't Gonna Make It (won't survive)
Absolute Loss of Sanity (nutcase)
a male corpse with an erection (not uncommon)
Body ready for dispatch to morgue
(Psych) dangerously obsessive or unbalance
woman (based on film "Fatal Attraction")
severe burns case
intensive care unit and/or geriatric unit
Grim Reaper At Foot Of Bed
Lights On But Nobody Home
Unrestrained driver/motorcyclist or passenger,
ejected and splattered
Too Many Birthdays: person dying of "old age"
Voice To Melt Knickers (the voice deliberately
cultivated by some doctors)
Slang is a secret language
 This site – The Office on National
Drug Control - actually had 647 street
terms for marijuana – I’ve isolated a
very small selection
 Drug slang changes all the time – the
point is to be secret – for example to
identify undercover police /
investigators.
The Drugs Don’t Work...
STREET TERM
DEFINITION
A-bomb
Marijuana cigarette with heroin or opium
Bammies
A poor quality of marijuana
Bar
Marijuana
Bomber
Marijuana cigarette
Bong
Pipe used to smoke marijuana
Broccoli
Marijuana
Caviar
Combination of cocaine and marijuana; Crack Cocaine
Chocolate
Marijuana; opium; amphetamine
Christmas tree
Marijuana; amphetamine; methamphetamine; depressant
Ditch weed
Inferior quality marijuana
Elephant
Marijuana; PCP
Ganja
Marijuana; term from
Gash
Marijuana
Probably the most prolific type of slang is sexual
slang – REMEMBER sex is a taboo in our culture the slang can either be euphemistic or dysphemistic
backseat roll; ball; to ball; bang the box; bang your brains out; banging your beaver;
banging bones; bang the hell out of it; being in the saddle;bingo; birds and bees; bird
doggin’; blowin' a load; boff; boffin; boing; boink; boom-boom; bone dancing; boogie;
bouncing bellies; bring the log to the beaver; bucking; bump and grind; bumping; bumpin'
fuzzies; bumping pretties; bumpin’ rugs; bumpin’ uglies; bury the bologna; bury the hatchet
where it won't rust; bush diving; busting guts; catch the weasel; dip the (your) wick; dirty
deed; doink; doing it doggie style; doggin; do the Big Bony Morone; doing the dirty deed;
doing the funky monkey; doing the wild thing; doink; doinking; do work; drill; drilling for
oil; exploratory surgery; filling the box; flesh injection; fooling around; fourth base; fuzz
bump; get down and dirty; get freaky; get into someone's pants; getting it on ; getting
horizontal; getting laid; getting lucky; hot beef injection; hump; humpin' and bumpin'; jump
on someone's bones ; pork; ramming home; riding; score; screw; slapping tummies;
slipping between the lily whites; spreading thefolds; stable-my- naggie; stoop; "taking it";
take a turn on Mount Pleasant; take Nebuchadnezzar out to grass; take a turn in Bushy Park;
take the old one-eye to the optometrist; take the skin boat to tuna town; taking a ride; the
in and out; thwacking; throwing chalk; throwing the pork; two moon junction; tube steak
boogie; turning a trick (prostitute's term); wet the worm; wham, bam, thank you ma'am;
wheel; whopping; wild thing; work it; working it.
Why is slang different to
swearing?
There is always confusion about what is slang and what is
swearing. In general swear words are defined by the
following:
 Refers to something that is taboo / stigmatised in a
culture
 Should not be interpreted literally
 Can be used to express strong emotions / attitudes.
The 8 Swear Words
Cunt
Sex / female body part
Fuck
Sex act
Shit
Excrement
Bugger
Sex / homosexuality – describes male sex act
Sod
Sex / homosexuality – describes male rape
Bloody
Blasphemy – relating to God’s blood
Bastard
Illegitimacy
Bollocks
Sex / male body parts
What is Swearing?
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What about blasphemy? ( God, Jesus, Christ) - Perhaps it’s
best to class these as PROFANITY?
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Incest and cannibalism are taboo in our culture but there are
no words classed as swear words – WHY don’t we have any
swear words for these?
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Generally we class the following as swear words – NOTE
DIFFERENT CULTURES MAY REACT TO THE WORDS
DIFFERENTLY – for example BUGGER is not classed as a swear
word in New Zealand.
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AND actually few people realise that BUGGER and SOD are far
worse semantically speaking than the F word.
Profanities
The relative severity of British profanities, as perceived by
the public, was studied on behalf of the British Broadcasting
Standards Commission, Independent Television Commission,
BBC and Advertising Standards Authority; the results of this
jointly commissioned research were published in December
2000 in a paper called "Delete Expletives". It listed the
profanities in order of severity, the top ten being: c***,
motherfucker, fuck, wanker, nigger, bastard, prick, bollocks,
arsehole, and paki, in that order.
83% of respondents regarded c*** as "very severe" THIS
MAY BE SIGNIFICANT IN TERMS OF CULTURAL ATTITUDES
Slang is...
 Slang changes through time
 Slang varies from place to place – MLE
 Slang is NOT dialect – although dialect words can
‘escape the dialect box’ and become part of general
language
 Slang is NOT swearing – swearing is ALWAYS taboo –
slang is not restricted to this.
 Slang is creative
 Slang is often short lived
 Slang is the glue that ‘holds’ a group together or
alienates others – SOCIAL SOLIDARITY / DIVERGENCE
 Slang can be anti- language
 Slang is ancient – seen in Shakespeare’s plays