Post History
I think the answer has to come from who your characters are, and why they are using slang. Essentially slang is an in-group word-game. It's a way of distinguishing insiders from outsiders. It ca...
Answer
#3: Attribution notice added
by
System
·
2019-12-08T04:15:42Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/17327 License name: CC BY-SA 3.0 License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision
by
Chris Sunami
·
2019-12-08T04:15:42Z (almost 5 years ago)
I think the answer has to come from who your characters are, and why they are using slang. Essentially slang is an in-group word-game. It's a way of distinguishing insiders from outsiders. It can also be a low-key form of resistance to authority. So it depends on your group. Techie slang is filled with acronyms and shortenings. It's a way of showing off your familiarity with arcane knowledge. On the other hand, teen slang is designed to annoy adults, has an anti-authority slant, and is often filled with arbitrary words that need to be memorized rather than figured out. Many years ago, in Kenya, I learned a version of the local slang that was filled with a playfully corrupt mix of English and Swahili. It was the anti-traditionalist language of young global citizens, and it was equally an affront to both formal, school-learned English and to the native languages of the villages (and their older inhabitants). Slang can be crude or elegant, witty or offensive, rule based or arbitrary. It's all about the group that uses it.
#1: Imported from external source
by
System
·
2015-05-18T13:23:22Z (over 9 years ago)
Original score: 3