Recent research at the University of Lancaster highlighting the emergence of so-called "student slang" has produced some entertaining and, in some cases, provocative results. Would you regard "kettled", "mashed", "klangered" or "wombled" as positive qualities, for example? Hopefully not, as all are slang terms for being drunk, as are, apparently, "steaming", "lashed", "hammered" and "trollied". The word "drunk" is reputedly the English word with the most synonyms with some researchers claiming that there are more than 1,000. Apart from the fairly mainstream British student activity of drinking alcohol, other areas of student slang covered in the report are food and drink, sex, and, surprisingly perhaps, studying.
What use is slang to the student (or teacher) of English? Not much at first sight as much of the language above, at any rate, appears to be a kind of in-house jargon characteristic of a particular social group. In general however, slang can provide fascinating insights into social attitudes in the target culture. The preponderance of English slang terms for women, for example, and the comparative dearth of slang expressions for men, can be argued to be an example of the prevailing sexism in the English language, despite the advances in other areas in this respect in recent years. Some cultures have a large number of slang expressions for police, indicating the role and profile of the latter in those particular societies.
The beauty of slang, like other areas of vocabulary, is that it is constantly renewing itself. Yesterday’s slang is today’s neologism and tomorrow’s mainstream vocabulary item. Likewise, other items quickly become dated and fall into disuse. A quick browse through a few pages of ‘A Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English’ (1961) for some of the student slang terms for ‘drunk’ reveals that "mashed" meant "in love", "hammered" could mean "declared a defaulter" and "lashed" could be used to mean "envied". Just 40 years later, none of these terms are any longer used for these particular meanings.
Herein, of course, lies the difficulty for the student of English. How on earth can anyone keep up with the constant stream of new slang terms and then know which of them are no longer current, especially if the student is not in an English-speaking country? The simple answer, naturally enough, is not to bother with it at all. Used inappropriately, slang, like idioms, can make the learner sound odd, even faintly ridiculous. To take this attitude, however, is to ignore a considerable percentage of the language. A large number of current slang expressions and idioms are to be found in novels, short stories, and newspaper and magazine articles, and can be heard in films, television programmes and, of course, in any English-speaking environment. An interest in new terms and expressions can help the learner’s overall level of comprehension. It is not necessary actually to learn such expressions for active use. As mentioned above, this may cause more problems than it solves. But to learn to appreciate slang terms and idiomatic expressions, to take an interest in how they are used and to recognise the humour that often lies behind them may just turn out to be an enriching experience.

Tim Bowen

Comment on this article in the onestop forum

Methodology Archive