slang

slang

Slangisacasualuseoflanguagethatconsistsofexpressivebutnonstandardvocabulary,typicallyofarbitrary,flashyandoftenephemeralcoinagesandfiguresofspeechcharacterizedbyspontaneityandsometimesbyraciness.Thecentralcharacteristicofslangcomesfromthemotiveofitsuse:adesirefornovelty,forvividemphasis,formembershipinaparticulargrouporclassofpeoplewhose“communityargot”maybeincomprehensibletoanoutsiders,orforbeingupwiththetimeoralittleahead.Forexample,“grass”iscriminalslangfor“informer”,and“crib”means“cheat”instudents’slang.IninformalEnglish,theslang“chicks”areusedtomean“youngwoman”.