Do You Use Slang?
So, when it comes to slang are you down with it, or not with it at all?
Do you use it more in your writing or in your speech?
Let's take a look at what slang is. And what it isn't.
Slang is a (usually)fun (often) derogatory way to get your personal viewpoint across. It's also a (mostly) harmless way to rebel, or to have your characters rebel in dialog. Teenagers -- the drama king and queens of slang have been rebelling against authority and proper English use since, well since the beginning of time, I imagine. But I can only think of slang that goes back as far as the 1960s and the use of terms such as chick and hip and cat and cool and groovy and way far out, man!
These words were reinvented a bit before my time, but look at the lasting power of most of them. I mean, can you dig it, baby? Who doesn't use the word cool and chick at least once in a while?
Let's take a look at one particular word. Why? I don't know, maybe because it's fun, a little on the nasty side, and it happenes to be the word that popped into my head this morning. The word I'm thinking of has three letters. It starts with an "a" and ends with a double "s". If it isn't gray, have long ears or eat grass, it's an ass slang. Or is that ass in a sling? Maybe it's a crazy ass, a wild ass, a scary ass, or a big ass -- a redneck term for such things as tire size: "That there lifted four by four's got some big ass tires."
See? Slang is dad gum fun. More fun than a barrel of monkeys.
What slang isn't.
Well that's a a no-brainer. Slang is the words likely to get ya lots of red-marks all over that there English paper of yours. Kind of like that last sentence. But composing that English paper takes some creativity and a sense of fun that slang tends to push in front of the bus and onto our plates.
Besides slang there's euphemisms. Which are sort of the same thing. But I looked it up in my dictionary to be sure.
You-fuh-miz-ums: A mild or agreeable expression substituted for a realistic description of something disagreeable.
Immediately poop, pee, tinkle, sprinkle, doo-doo and number two come to mind. But maybe that's just me. What about all those entertaining euphemisms for vomit? Barf puke Ralph up-Chuck (poor guys named Ralph and Charles) and my personal fave -- praying to the porcelain God.
If you get intoxicated you could be blottoed, stoned, wasted, snockered, plastered, tipsy, or stinkin' drunk. In which case see the above paragraph for colorful words to describe what you went home and did after you partied till the cows came home.
So, if you think this was a silly thing to blog about. You're right as rain. And you're wrong as teats on a bore too. Slang may not win you the Pulitzer prize. Which I will never win anyway becaause I'm not even sure how to spell it...but peppering your character's dialog or thoughts with slang can shape them and bring them alive for your readers. And really, as writers, what more can we hope for?
The question of the day is: Slang -- do you love it, or hate it? Are you a slang teetotaler or a roaring slang drunk?
19 comments:
HA!
I wrote "teats on a bore", which of course was supposed to be teats on a boar. I started to go into edit and change the mistake, but it struck me as funny, which was sort of the whole thrust of this post anyway, so I left it.
So, in that case, instead of changing the spelling of bore to boar, I should change the spelling of teats to tits. Ha!Ha!
Every time I write Ha! I miss Alice. She always gets a kick out of that. Hope she's having fun. It's just not the same around blogland without her perky self. Don't you all agree?
Great post but that's "useless as tits on a boar!" LOL
I like slang. It is a great way to make your characters different and come alive for the reader. Since I write westerns, I have a book on Cowboy slang. Dang, but there's some great lingo in that book!
But it can be overdone too. I've read a couple of submissions that I think they went through the Cowboy lingo book and used them all!
I think you should give one expression to a character, then make sure the rest of his dialog stays true to that thought process. Other wise "he's shootin' with an empty gun".
Now some people "don't know dung from wild honey", but Danita, You're "wise as a tree full of owls".
HA! I was writing my post while you were writing yours!
My sin is overusing cliches. As for slang, I've been told I don't use enough. I don't like a lot of slang unless it truly suits the character and even then, I want to see it sprinkled, not smeared.
The problem with slang is that it changes and nothing irks more than an otherwise good book with lots of outdated slang.
Paty==
I thought teats on a steer were useless...at least my dad thought so...
But if I'm wise as an owl,,,I don't care whose tits are useless. Ha!
Wavy --
Yes, slang can definitely date a book, although as in cool, chick etc...some words don't change for decades. Maybe ever.
I think in YA some slang is necessary because it's such a big part of who teenagers are and how they determine themselves.
I love slang, Danita. It's so fun! And who cares if it dates a book. The book dates itself without much help from trendy stuff like slang and designer clothes. If we're writing contemporary, what's contemporary today will be outdated tomorrow no matter what. So why not have fun with it now? 8^)
I love surfer slang, though I'll never use it. It's just a kick in the butt to listen to. Like a whole nuther language. The word "swamp donkey" is fabulous! It means ugly girl.
A friend wrote down a bunch of teenager slang that she picked up from her teenage daughter a couple of years ago. Here's just a tiny bit of what she sent me:
Ape - crazy
Bitter - mean
Bounce - leave
Chop chop - hurry up
Dog - a friend
Hirsute - hairy
Hottie - cute guy
IM - instant message
Kicks - shoes
Knicked out - flipped out
Knickers - underwear
Off the hook - fun
Out of order - not very nice
Player hater - someone who doesn't like others' achievements
Po po - police
Pro - you're really good at something
Talking smack - talking bad about someone
Tight - close to one another like a best friend
True dat - so true
Karen
What a fun list, Karen. Thanks for sharing!
I just thought of something. Someone needs to write a YA book using texting lingo. It would be like code for kids. No adult would read it because it would make no sense to them, but the kids? They'd devour it. So Wavy, here'your guaranteed in with a YA publisher, IMO. 8^) I bet you'd be a best seller! (and you'd have every middle school teacher pissed at you for screwing up the English language for their students, lol!)
Karen
Here are some texting dictionaries to get you started.
http://esl.about.com/b/a/035020.htm
http://www.lingo2word.com/lists/txtmsg_listA.html
http://www.texting.com/shortcuts.php
Hee, hee. 8^)
Karen
Actually tits are worthless on any male species unless they have a hormonal problem and produce milk! LOL
Oh My Heck! Are men's tits all you perverts can talk about?!! I'm so offended! How typical to talk about men in this derogatory way! They'd never have conversations like this about women's breasts! I mean really! (sheeyeah, right.)
Anyway...
Yeah, I love slang. I use it all the time. In fact, my kid's friends talk to me because they say I "get them". Don't know if their parents would be too happy about it, but they tell me stuff they'd never tell their parents and have said, "(Piper's kid's names inserted here) I wish my mom was as cool as your mom." ROFL This is a clear signal that I need to grow up. :)
Do any of you remember Valley Girl slang? That was like so bitchen! Totally! Like, oh my gawd, I used to be so into it! Fer sher!
Later days and better lays dudes!
A book entirely in text messaging. Oh....
And what a nightmare to edit. :P
Wavy, no kidding about the editing nightmare! Yikes! But still... it has money-maker all over it. Snort.
Karen
Dudette--Way cool. Slang, yeah, tubular. I mean it? It's crazy fun. And I like tits on a bore. Put my vote in for that one.
Oh, oh, I can just see Eli with a big L on her forehead looking at me. Eli, put your hand down and play nice.
I'm writing from a library computer in San Clemente! Beautiful city. I had to check in with my gal pals! Danita, how neat to say you miss me, and yeah, I like slang, but it has to be appropriate etc.
Piper, you go girl, live your own life without trying to live up to other people's expectations. I'm not going to apologize, either, now that I know you don't need it. Ha! (TO quote Danita.)
I've enjoyed all the blogs this computer has allowed me to read, I'm hopinmg it lets me send this. I may try the anonymous button! Meanwhile, I'll be back in the land of blogging in a week and will be so happy to have the means to satisfy my "habit." It's been cruel, being off the juice, man. I'm buggin'.
Love you all,
Alice
Yes, I miss Alice, but it looks like she couldn't go cold turkey! She blogged from a library! LOL Gotta love that dedication!
That's like when I visited my son in Georgia. They didn't have a computer so I had to walk to the library on base and use the computer to stay "connected" to those I e-mail all the time! That was before blogging.
Glad you could slap us some slang, Alice!
I love slang, too. As long as the right character is using it. The heroine in my last book used slang, the heroine in my current book doesn't. If it fits, I'm all for it.
For the life of me, I can't think of any slang to add here though (aside from the giant L on my forehead just for Alice).
Great blog, Danita!
hWow, I leave to go sleep off the flu, come back the next day and even Alice has commented and added some slang.
Slap my fanny and call me Betty!
And there's Piper piping up too!
I'm as tickled as a pickle in a vat of peanut butter!
(those don't make any sense because I just made them up)
Hope your kids are feeling better, Eli
Oh, and I don't mean to burst any bubbles, but the YA done in all text messaging? Already been done. Don't remember what the book is called, but it was written by one of the women in my chick lit chapter awhile back. I don't belong to that chapter anymore, but I hear they're all bouncing back from the downswing in the market...
Hahaha! Great post, I loved the slang you used. I need to borrow some of those, hehe ;) I love love love love love slang when I read. A lot of the time, if there's an obscure slang word I use and I see it in a book, I'm more drawn to the story. Deepens the connection I guess, however silly that may sound. And I also feel it gets into the writers voice more.
I'm actually picking up a lot of British slang now that I talk to more people from across the pond. It's been fun to catch it slipping into my everyday vocabulary, until someone gives me the "poser"
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