As much as I like to joke about the devolving of language
being a sign of the coming apocalypse, I have to admit that I'm fascinated by
slang. Typing that sentence made me think I should look into the source of the
word itself. A quick search of a few online dictionaries revealed that the
origin is uncertain, but I did run across a great quote by Carl Sandburg: "Slang
is a language that rolls up its sleeves, spits on its hands and goes to work." I'm
inclined to agree; sometimes, the perfect word is an informal one.
OxfordDictionaries.com's recent quarterly update resulted in
about 1000 new terms, including abbreviations and acronyms. So where do these
new words come from? What makes a given term come into popular use over
another? Social media is obviously the chief instrument in the perpetuation of
new slang, but why do certain words become so popular? Do they show up in song
lyrics? Celebrity tweets?
Here's a partial list of some of my favorite new additions:
Al desko: Adjective and adverb. Food eaten at one's
desk in an office. I've done this way too much lately.
Crony Capitalism:
Noun. An economic system
characterized by close, mutually advantageous relationships between
business leaders and government officials. Did it really take this long to
be recognized?
Five-second rule: Noun. A notional rule
stating that food which has been dropped on the ground will still be uncontaminated and therefore safe to eat if
it is retrieved within five seconds. Again, I thought this one would
have been recognized years ago.
MAMIL: Noun. Middle-aged Man in Lycra. A very keen road cyclist,
typically one who rides an expensive bike and wears the type of clothing associated with professional
cyclists. Anyone who has been on the American River Bike Trail has seen
these creatures.
Here are a few I could do without:
Duck face: Noun. An exaggerated pouting expression in
which the lips are thrust outwards, typically made by a person posing for
a photograph. No. Comment.
Tomoz: Adverb. An abbreviation of 'tomorrow.' You're seriously too busy (or lazy) for that extra syllable?
Xlnt: Adjective.
An abbreviation of 'excellent.' Buy a vowel. PLEASE.
I don't necessarily want to see slang creeping into formal
communication, and I'm well aware of the fact that the reading level of the
average daily newspaper has fallen to about sixth grade, but slang is fun. Language is a
living, evolving thing, endlessly fascinating to the word nerds among us.
The evolutionary psychologist Robin Dunbar maintained that language developed as a replacement for physical contact among our ancient ancestors. Instead of sitting together and grooming each other to foster close interpersonal ties, our predecessors started making sounds at each other. Thus was born the marvelous instrument of verbal communication. We're all born with the innate capacity to develop speech. This indicates the enormous adaptive power of this behavior. It's encoded in our genes. This is why no one ever struggles to learn to speak but most of us have memories of having some difficulty with learning to read. In other words, reading and writing are recent enough innovations that most us do not possess in our genes these abilities. We have to learn to read and write. Speech comes effortlessly. Slang is an inevitable part of language development. It is interesting to note that when a group of young children who speak different languages get together, they quickly develop through interaction hybrid languages on their own. These "Creole" languages are beautifully rich (if you're ever in Louisiana or Hawaii you can find pockets of individuals speaking hybrid languages) and arise spontaneously out of play. Yes, language comes from play! Slang is truly a "play on language." (Check out Stephen Pinker's "The Language Instinct" for more on this topic…)
ReplyDeleteThanks, Marc, what a wonderful notion that language comes from play!
DeleteI'm so glad I decided to check out comments - really enjoyed Marc's post! (And I'm kinda embarrassed that I was simply going to comment that for some silly reason I absolutely adore the new slang word "bae." LOL)
ReplyDeleteThat's the fun of slang, Melinda, some words just feel right. :)
DeleteMarc is a wealth of knowledge. We worked together at a bookstore many moons ago. It's great to be in touch with him again.