From Slang to Standard English
Dictionaries
New and informal words make the jump from the category of slang to standard English every year. While the United States has no official equivalent of the Académie Française, the government organization that monitors the integrity of the French language, new words in English are recognized and informal words legitimized when they are included in the dictionary. The Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, Eleventh Edition was released in 2009 and presented a list of its new words on its website. Noting the ideological sources behind the creation of these twenty-six words, the site qualifies that:
Many of the new words address: concerns about the environment (carbon footprint, green collar), government activities (earmark, waterboarding), heath and medicine (cardioprotective, locavore, naproxen, neuroprotective), pop culture (docusoap, fan fiction, flash mob, reggaeton), online activities (sock puppet, vlog, webisode), as well as several miscellaneous terms such as haram, memory foam, missalette, and zip line (Merriam Webster Online).
Identifying the particular fields and ideologies that produced these new words, this list reveals what fields are most relevant to American life today and which fields are fruitfully making progress for the future. They cover a vast amount and variety of ideas, more than any one person is likely to be familiar or comfortable with. As a twenty-two-year-old, fairly immersed in media and pop culture, or at least not living under a rock, I only know what seven of these new words mean. This fact again reinforces the fact that students will face unfamiliar language. Therefore, they need to learn how to discern the meaning of new language in order to comprehend the world around them.
Publications
In the Time article addressed earlier, “Who Am I To You?,” columnist Nancy Gibbs cites The New York Times as the closest comparable American institution to the Académie Française, suggesting that The New York Times ultimately decides what is and what is not Standard English. The New York Times refused to use the title Ms. because the title had not passed into common usage. The editors stated that, “We reconsider it from time to time,” but “to our ear, it still sounds too contrived for news writing” (qtd. in Gibbs 64). Here, the editors of The New York Times posed a set of criteria. The prestigious publication must not only include in its text words that are commonly used, but words that are not contrived. Therefore, The New York Times does not seek to set language trends but to reinforce those that already exist, presumably within the existing realm of Standard English and not slang. Eventually, by 1986, the title of Ms. was recognized by the Times.
Slang Dictionaries
Outside of revising Standard English dictionaries, other publications that catalogues slang are slang dictionaries. If slang dictionaries, by nature, do not legitimize slang words and phrases as standard English, they at least legitimize slang as real words with significant meaning and powerful uses. They can serve as tools to help students, especially those unfamiliar with American culture, to grasp those commonly used words in the surrounding subculture or larger linguistic framework that may not have yet made it into the standard English dictionary. In order to decipher the world around them, it is important that students understand the language being used in everyday settings and popular texts. Paul Dickson, writer of, Slang: The Topical Dictionary of Americanisms, sheds some light the relevance of slang, the difference between slang and Standard English, and how that gap is narrowed or bridged. Having catalogued slang by topic spanning slangs such as hip hip, java speak, office, and even pizza delivery jargon, Dickson shows the comprehensive nature of his study. In an NPR All Things Considered program, Melissa Block interviewed Paul Dickson. Reflecting the evolution of language over time, Mr. Dickson said:
I’ve gotten rid of the counter culture, the ‘50s, the ‘60s, the early drug culture. It’s now become so much part of the language that it’s now standard language. So bummer, or a trip, that counter culture of do your own thing, all that stuff has now become standard English. Even hip hop, there’s 70 hip hop terms are now in the Oxford English Dictionary. It’s fascinating because it’s like any other jargon or slang, it’s just a question of decoding and finding context and then finding other examples and writing about it (Dickson).
Mr. Dickson hits on two important points concerning the evolution of language and one’s ability to keep up with it. He notes that with passing time, slang eventually becomes standard English due to its frequent and continued use. Secondly, he describes two strategies for deciphering new or informal words (Dickson). The first is to find the context of the word, and the second is to find and note other examples of a word being used in the same way. These are two strategies that students could employ. In this interview, Dickson also investigates the origins of slang. For example, he cites the movie A Streetcar Named Desire as the origin for the term “wife beater,” which is slang for a male tank top undershirt. Marlin Brando wore one in the movie, and physically abuses Stella.
Examining how the media affects common use of language, Dickson highlights a curious trend that describes how some slang is incorporated into standard English called in the linguistics field the “Couric Factor.” Dickson describes the “Couric Factor,” saying that “once a mainstream talk show host explains the term to his or her audience…Once it’s explained on mass media then…it’s gone.” He notes a particular moment about the hip hop slang term “def; if something was “def,” it was something good. Dickson explains its demise:
When it was accepted, it was the first rap term or hip hop term that went into the OED and when that happened they had a burial, a funeral service for it on BET, Black Entertainment Television, and the Reverend Al Sharpton officiated at the funeral and it was such a tremendous moment in the history of slang. There are these moments when all of a sudden, the people take it so seriously that somebody has to stand up and actually bury a word because it’s now so mainstream. (Dickson)
This moment and the “Couric effect” are rather surprising. As slang becomes integrated officially into standard English, it stops being used. One would initially imagine that subcultures would celebrate when their words are legitimized as valuable and relevant contributions to the English language. However, many subcultures take pride in the fact that they are counter-cultural, and they use slang to reflect that identity. To include their distinct language in a standard, mainstream source, is to incorporate their subculture into the dominant culture. This is not an ideal outcome, whether because the subculture’s values do not align, or because they will lose their unique identity.
New and informal words make the jump from the category of slang to standard English every year. While the United States has no official equivalent of the Académie Française, the government organization that monitors the integrity of the French language, new words in English are recognized and informal words legitimized when they are included in the dictionary. The Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, Eleventh Edition was released in 2009 and presented a list of its new words on its website. Noting the ideological sources behind the creation of these twenty-six words, the site qualifies that:
Many of the new words address: concerns about the environment (carbon footprint, green collar), government activities (earmark, waterboarding), heath and medicine (cardioprotective, locavore, naproxen, neuroprotective), pop culture (docusoap, fan fiction, flash mob, reggaeton), online activities (sock puppet, vlog, webisode), as well as several miscellaneous terms such as haram, memory foam, missalette, and zip line (Merriam Webster Online).
Identifying the particular fields and ideologies that produced these new words, this list reveals what fields are most relevant to American life today and which fields are fruitfully making progress for the future. They cover a vast amount and variety of ideas, more than any one person is likely to be familiar or comfortable with. As a twenty-two-year-old, fairly immersed in media and pop culture, or at least not living under a rock, I only know what seven of these new words mean. This fact again reinforces the fact that students will face unfamiliar language. Therefore, they need to learn how to discern the meaning of new language in order to comprehend the world around them.
Publications
In the Time article addressed earlier, “Who Am I To You?,” columnist Nancy Gibbs cites The New York Times as the closest comparable American institution to the Académie Française, suggesting that The New York Times ultimately decides what is and what is not Standard English. The New York Times refused to use the title Ms. because the title had not passed into common usage. The editors stated that, “We reconsider it from time to time,” but “to our ear, it still sounds too contrived for news writing” (qtd. in Gibbs 64). Here, the editors of The New York Times posed a set of criteria. The prestigious publication must not only include in its text words that are commonly used, but words that are not contrived. Therefore, The New York Times does not seek to set language trends but to reinforce those that already exist, presumably within the existing realm of Standard English and not slang. Eventually, by 1986, the title of Ms. was recognized by the Times.
Slang Dictionaries
Outside of revising Standard English dictionaries, other publications that catalogues slang are slang dictionaries. If slang dictionaries, by nature, do not legitimize slang words and phrases as standard English, they at least legitimize slang as real words with significant meaning and powerful uses. They can serve as tools to help students, especially those unfamiliar with American culture, to grasp those commonly used words in the surrounding subculture or larger linguistic framework that may not have yet made it into the standard English dictionary. In order to decipher the world around them, it is important that students understand the language being used in everyday settings and popular texts. Paul Dickson, writer of, Slang: The Topical Dictionary of Americanisms, sheds some light the relevance of slang, the difference between slang and Standard English, and how that gap is narrowed or bridged. Having catalogued slang by topic spanning slangs such as hip hip, java speak, office, and even pizza delivery jargon, Dickson shows the comprehensive nature of his study. In an NPR All Things Considered program, Melissa Block interviewed Paul Dickson. Reflecting the evolution of language over time, Mr. Dickson said:
I’ve gotten rid of the counter culture, the ‘50s, the ‘60s, the early drug culture. It’s now become so much part of the language that it’s now standard language. So bummer, or a trip, that counter culture of do your own thing, all that stuff has now become standard English. Even hip hop, there’s 70 hip hop terms are now in the Oxford English Dictionary. It’s fascinating because it’s like any other jargon or slang, it’s just a question of decoding and finding context and then finding other examples and writing about it (Dickson).
Mr. Dickson hits on two important points concerning the evolution of language and one’s ability to keep up with it. He notes that with passing time, slang eventually becomes standard English due to its frequent and continued use. Secondly, he describes two strategies for deciphering new or informal words (Dickson). The first is to find the context of the word, and the second is to find and note other examples of a word being used in the same way. These are two strategies that students could employ. In this interview, Dickson also investigates the origins of slang. For example, he cites the movie A Streetcar Named Desire as the origin for the term “wife beater,” which is slang for a male tank top undershirt. Marlin Brando wore one in the movie, and physically abuses Stella.
Examining how the media affects common use of language, Dickson highlights a curious trend that describes how some slang is incorporated into standard English called in the linguistics field the “Couric Factor.” Dickson describes the “Couric Factor,” saying that “once a mainstream talk show host explains the term to his or her audience…Once it’s explained on mass media then…it’s gone.” He notes a particular moment about the hip hop slang term “def; if something was “def,” it was something good. Dickson explains its demise:
When it was accepted, it was the first rap term or hip hop term that went into the OED and when that happened they had a burial, a funeral service for it on BET, Black Entertainment Television, and the Reverend Al Sharpton officiated at the funeral and it was such a tremendous moment in the history of slang. There are these moments when all of a sudden, the people take it so seriously that somebody has to stand up and actually bury a word because it’s now so mainstream. (Dickson)
This moment and the “Couric effect” are rather surprising. As slang becomes integrated officially into standard English, it stops being used. One would initially imagine that subcultures would celebrate when their words are legitimized as valuable and relevant contributions to the English language. However, many subcultures take pride in the fact that they are counter-cultural, and they use slang to reflect that identity. To include their distinct language in a standard, mainstream source, is to incorporate their subculture into the dominant culture. This is not an ideal outcome, whether because the subculture’s values do not align, or because they will lose their unique identity.
