英语语法：208 Writing with Slang

Grammar Girl here. Today’s topic is “Nothing Ages Writing Faster Than Slang.”

Guest writer Sal Glynn writes

Slang is made of informal words and phrases that originate in speech, and often includes substitutions for formal words, like “ride” or “wheels” for a car. Getting down or coming down, tripping, throwing a spaz, digging it, groove¹, and so not into or so into anything are all slang.

It’s the all-night amusement park of language, where different subcultures like artists and street criminals get to play with words and meaning. But nothing ages writing faster than slang.

Can You Dig It?

In the 1950s, stand-up comedian² and jazz shaman Lord Buckley worried that his nightclub audiences had missed out on the stories of Mahatma Gandhi, Marquis de Sade, and Abraham Lincoln, along with many fictional³ luminaries⁴. The embrace of the new in music, painting, and writing was leaving the classics behind. So Buckley translated the old into street talk and the slang of hipsters to revitalize the stories before they were lost.

This is what he did with the Marc Antony speech in William Shakespeare’s JULIUS CAESAR, Act three, Scene two:

Hipsters, flipsters, and finger-poppin’ daddies, knock me your lobes⁶;

I came here to lay Caesar out, not to hip⁵ you to him. The bad jazz that a cat blows wails⁷ long after he’s cut out.

The groovy is often stashed⁸ within their frames;

So don’t put Caesar down. (1)

Clearly what worked then doesn’t work now.

Contemporary readers have to return to the iambic pentameter source to understand what Lord Buckley had laid down:

Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears;

I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him. The evil that men do lives after them;

The good is oft interred⁹ with their bones;

So let it be with Caesar. (2)

Jargon¹⁰ Versus¹¹ Slang

You might be wondering about jargon. Jargon isn’t slang. Jargon is made of specialized¹² terms from politicians, lawyers, computer programmers, and accountants, and tend to be terms that only politicians, lawyers, computer programmers, and accountants can understand—terms like leverage¹³, onboarding, synergy, adminisphere, hegemony, Boolean, conveyance¹⁴, infrastructure¹⁵, and intestate.

Jargon only works when addressing the appropriate audience. Everyone else has to fumble¹⁶ for a dictionary and that makes for a tiring reading experience.

Slang to Standard

The malleability¹⁷ of British and American English allows slang to find a permanent place in our lexicon¹⁸. We use “crow” to mean “boast,” “lopsided” to mean “uneven,” and “gab” to mean “talk.” These were slang terms in the nineteenth century, but many other terms from that time did not make the journey to standard English. For example, schoolteachers are no longer referred to as “flaybottomists” since laws against corporeal¹⁹ punishment in education have become common, and modern dentistry has wiped out the use of “head rails” for teeth (3).

Writing with Slang

Slang is great for parties and long distance telephone conversations, and can be a disaster in writing. In nonfiction and fiction, use online resources such as urbandictionary.com to check meaning and spelling. Reference books aren’t much help as most guides to contemporary slang are out of date before they’re even printed. And if you use too much slang in your writing, your work will be as out-of-date as those reference books. If you must write with slang, it’s best to use it rarely and in dialogue as a way to establish time and define characters, from hippies in the sixties to today’s masters of crunk.

Speech is where the words originate and reading slang in straight prose will confuse the reader with questions of “Am I hip? Is the writer hip? Or are we cool?”

Now that you understand slang, remember the quick and dirty rule that slang is informal and better used in dialogue, if at all. For shizzle.

The Dog Walked Down the Street: An Outspoken²⁰ Guide for Writers Who Want to Publish

Thanks again to guest-writer Sal Glynn. Margaret, Amy, and Aaron all win a copy of his book, The Dog Walked Down the Street, An Outspoken Guide for Writers Who Want to Publish, which won best writing /publishing book at last year's IPPY awards. Find out more about Sal at his blog。。。。.

Grammar Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing Giveaway

Things are going great with my book, Grammar Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing. The book tour plans are almost final and they're all on the website, you can get a free chapter of the book at the website (quickanddirtytips.com), and the print and audiobook will be officially released on July 8. Thanks to all the people who have been so supportive by blogging or Twittering about the book, preordering it, writing reviews, telling their friends, signing up for the tour, putting ads on their sites, and more. You have no idea how much I appreciate it! It's all really coming together and I hope to meet many of you soon.

That's all. Thanks for listening.

 

1 groove   

n.沟，槽；凹线，（刻出的）线条，习惯

参考例句：

• They're happy to stay in the same old groove.他们乐于墨守成规。
• The cupboard door slides open along the groove.食橱门沿槽移开。

2 comedian   

n.喜剧演员；滑稽演员

参考例句：

• The comedian tickled the crowd with his jokes.喜剧演员的笑话把人们逗乐了。
• The comedian enjoyed great popularity during the 30's.那位喜剧演员在三十年代非常走红。

3 fictional   

adj.小说的，虚构的

参考例句：

• The names of the shops are entirely fictional.那些商店的名字完全是虚构的。
• The two authors represent the opposite poles of fictional genius.这两位作者代表了天才小说家两个极端。

4 luminaries   

n.杰出人物，名人（luminary的复数形式）

参考例句：

• In that day there will be no light; the luminaries will dwindle. 亚14:6那日、必没有光．三光必退缩。 来自互联网
• Includes household filament light bulbs & luminaries. 包括家用的白炙灯泡和光源。 来自互联网

5 hip   

n.臀部，髋；屋脊

参考例句：

• The thigh bone is connected to the hip bone.股骨连着髋骨。
• The new coats blouse gracefully above the hip line.新外套在臀围线上优美地打着褶皱。

6 lobes   

n.耳垂( lobe的名词复数 )；（器官的）叶；肺叶；脑叶

参考例句：

• The rotor has recesses in its three faces between the lobes. 转子在其凸角之间的三个面上有凹槽。 来自辞典例句
• The chalazal parts of the endosperm containing free nuclei forms several lobes. 包含游离核的合点端胚乳部分形成几个裂片。 来自辞典例句

7 wails   

痛哭，哭声( wail的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The child burst into loud wails. 那个孩子突然大哭起来。
• Through this glaciated silence the white wails of the apartment fixed arbitrary planes. 在这冰封似的沉寂中，公寓的白色墙壁构成了一个个任意的平面。 来自英汉非文学 - 科幻

8 stashed   

v.贮藏( stash的过去式和过去分词 )；隐藏；藏匿；藏起

参考例句：

• She has a fortune stashed away in various bank accounts. 她有一大笔钱存在几个不同的银行账户下。
• She has a fortune stashed away in various bank accounts. 她在不同的银行账户上秘密储存了一大笔钱。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 interred   

v.埋，葬( inter的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Marie Curie's remains were exhumed and interred in the Pantheon. 玛丽·居里的遗体被移出葬在先贤祠中。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The body was interred at the cemetery. 遗体埋葬在公墓里。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 jargon   

n.术语，行话

参考例句：

• They will not hear critics with their horrible jargon.他们不愿意听到评论家们那些可怕的行话。
• It is important not to be overawed by the mathematical jargon.要紧的是不要被数学的术语所吓倒.

11 versus   

prep.以…为对手，对；与…相比之下

参考例句：

• The big match tonight is England versus Spain.今晚的大赛是英格兰对西班牙。
• The most exciting game was Harvard versus Yale.最富紧张刺激的球赛是哈佛队对耶鲁队。

12 specialized   

adj.专门的，专业化的

参考例句：

• There are many specialized agencies in the United Nations.联合国有许多专门机构。
• These tools are very specialized.这些是专用工具。

13 leverage   

n.力量，影响；杠杆作用，杠杆的力量

参考例句：

• We'll have to use leverage to move this huge rock.我们不得不借助杠杆之力来移动这块巨石。
• He failed in the project because he could gain no leverage. 因为他没有影响力，他的计划失败了。

14 conveyance   

n.(不动产等的)转让，让与；转让证书；传送；运送；表达；（正）运输工具

参考例句：

• Bicycles have become the most popular conveyance for Chinese people.自行车已成为中国人最流行的代步工具。
• Its another,older,usage is a synonym for conveyance.它的另一个更古老的习惯用法是作为财产转让的同义词使用。

15 infrastructure   

n.下部构造，下部组织，基础结构，基础设施

参考例句：

• We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
• We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设，发展各类群众文化。

16 fumble   

vi.笨拙地用手摸、弄、接等，摸索

参考例句：

• His awkwardness made him fumble with the key.由于尴尬不安，他拿钥匙开锁时显得笨手笨脚。
• He fumbled his one-handed attempt to light his cigarette.他笨拙地想用一只手点燃香烟。

17 malleability   

n.可锻性，可塑性，延展性

参考例句：

• A material's loss of malleability due to chemical treatment or physical change. 材料由于化学处理或物理变化丧失了柔韧性。
• Malleability is a physical property. 延展性是物质的一个物理特性。

18 lexicon   

n.字典，专门词汇

参考例句：

• Chocolate equals sin in most people's lexicon.巧克力在大多数人的字典里等同于罪恶。
• Silent earthquakes are only just beginning to enter the public lexicon.无声地震才刚开始要成为众所周知的语汇。

19 corporeal   

adj.肉体的，身体的；物质的

参考例句：

• The body is the corporeal habitation of the soul.身体为灵魂之有形寓所。
• He is very religious;corporeal world has little interest for him.他虔信宗教，对物质上的享受不感兴趣。

20 outspoken   

adj.直言无讳的，坦率的，坦白无隐的

参考例句：

• He was outspoken in his criticism.他在批评中直言不讳。
• She is an outspoken critic of the school system in this city.她是这座城市里学校制度的坦率的批评者。