Slang

6 Pages 1599 Words

Slanguage
The English language is always adding new words for societal, technical or creative reasons. Slang spans the globe; college students, truckers, even politicians are using it. Each state, or country for that matter, seems to have its own slanguage. Slang is more than just a person, place, or thing; it is a progression, like communication in general. While the social accumulation of new words, more commonly known as slang, leads some to believe it corrupts the English language, most feel it is crucial to the enriching, simplifying, and continual change of the American English language.
Communication through phone, email, or in person has been enriched by the use of slang making conversation and writing much easier to understand (Hussaini). When getting down to the crux of the matter, slang is used all the time by college students in conversations between classes, on C.B.’s connecting truckers in 18-wheelers, in rap songs sung by the most well-known of rappers, and last but definitely not least, in e-mail writing. In an article by Arif Hussaini he mentions that men and women of great importance use slang openly and it becomes very difficult to make a distinction between literary or slang terms (Hussaini). “If you want to praise something,” he says, “you may use either of the words hot or cool. You may call a deep-freezer hot and a room heater cool – both words stand in slang for good and attractive. If you are really impressed, add the word way to either. You may say: ‘that is cool, way cool, man.’ Or, you may call it ‘groovy (Hussaini).’” Many times while enjoying the company of friends and family “even the most finicky about the use of slang would run the hardest to grab some one else’s loose buck (Hussaini).” He gives the example, “On a visit to America, an old British lady, wary of slang words, asked her American-born granddaughter: ‘Promise me that you will not use two words while...