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Debate: School slang

Forum guest Rob Owen wanted to hear the latest from the schoolyard

24 Jan
2006

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Is there a universal student / school argot used in Britain today? Can anyone suggest any words or phrases used in such an argot? What purpose does it serve?

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language and occupations

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Is there a universal student / school argot used in Britain today? Can anyone suggest any words or phrases used in such an argot? What purpose does it serve?

Re: language and occupations

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I do entirely agree with Xenia. In addition, I would say the nowadays necessity of being "quick' or either our "lack" of time for our everyday errands allied with technology (Internet, mobile phones, etc) make us abbreviate or even change the way we actually write a specific word into something different, for e.g. l8er,2morrow, etc.

This sometimes becomes more popular in a group or "tribe" and to be accepted in them the appropriate "language" must be spoken or written. What happens is that some of this slangs/argots become too popular or funny and more people use as part of their speech.

However, we cannot forget that these expressions only enrich the language, whichever it is. If they are considered good or bad depends on where and who you are addressing to.

I am not English and I find really interesting all sorts of language used for communication as long as I do understand where and to whom I can apply. I work in a customer service department and talk to different people and feel bad when someone says something I cannot understand. On the other hand I laugh at myself when I find out what it was!!! Anyway, in my opinion that's when a language suffers change...

I ain't say nothin' else, all right,mate? Cheers!!! ;-) - M Campos

Kakashka

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I am really impressed!!!,

Re: Kakashka

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> I am really impressed!!!,

What's the point of saying you are impressed unless you add to the debate??! Schools and young people in general are at the heart of most language change...it is surely interesting to observe how quickly their playground slang / argot moves around the country, is copied etc. What and who are the originators of youth language...? Is it music...drugs...sport...fashion? C'mon Kakashka let's here your ideas.

Re: Kakashka

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> What and who are the originators of youth
> language...? Is it music...drugs...sport...fashion?
It is .....THE INTERNET
The young people can't type quickly, so they change normal phrases on slang (Thanks->tenks->tenx->10x)

Re: Kakashka

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10X ! wot about text messaging? I associate"10X" with mobiles rather than the internet. Do ideas - politics, culture, fashion, music... have any driving force in youth speak?

Re: Kakashka

Archive Comments

There are some my thoughts about slang/argot. I don’t really know about British slang, so I want to give you some ideas about slang/ argot in general.

One day :) a man with charisma appears (according the L.Gumilev theory about passionation: he is a passionate person (not only in good meaning), he begins to use some broken phrases, his own new words. His charisma unites people with weak will around him. They want to become similar to him, they imitate him, copy his “wrong” words.
Almost always these people are teenagers, cause their will is not strong yet, they can’t recognize smb influence, and they depend on alien opinion. They want to look “their own” in the company, so they use the language of the group.

But sometimes the group, where the argot is moving, can be the group of people joint with common idea (for ex: “futurism” in Russian poetry of the beginning of XX century), or can be the group joint with common condition (for ex: the jails argot: a newcomer doesn’t want to become a “white crow”, so takes the rules of prisons society (argot becomes the defense of him))

The originator can be everything; it depends on people who unite this group. Although, I think, some modern music (for instance Mylene Farmer’s song “f*k them all”, it’s full of scolding words, but it sounds nice :( ), movies, may be sport (when the deal concerns fans), surely drugs have an influence on appearance, development of slang.

The driving force of it is…(my idea) natural people’s wish to feel more comfortable with surroundings. And if someone doesn’t have wisdom not to get under someone’s influence, it will be not really good for him.

So did I get the answer for your question? Give me your opinion for this problem.

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