Ministry of education

Moldova State University

Faculty of foreign languages and literature

Translation and applied linguistics

Report:

“Teenager’s slang“

Submitted :Titomir Cristina.

261 L

Research advisor :

Corcodel Sfetlana

Chisinau 2016
 Table of contents:
I.Introduction……………………………………2
II.Chapter I……………………………………....4
1. Etymology of the word slang……………....4
2. Formation of slang…………………………4
3. Social media and Internet slang…………..5
4. Slang dictionary……………………………6
5. American slang…………………………….6
6. Moldavian slang…………………………...7
III. Chapter II
1.Examples of American slang………………8
2.Exemples of slang used in social media…..12
3.Exemples of British slang ………………...13
IV. Conclusion………………………………… .16
V. References……………………………………18

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 Introduction

“If necessity is the mother of invention,

then laziness is the father”

(Anonymous)

Throughout human development, people looking to make things easier. Thant’s why,
in my opinion, appears slang. We are using this every day, everywhere: talking with
our family, friends, or people that are in the same group. Slang is evidence that the
spoken language is continually changing to meet new needs for verbal expressions,
tailored to changing realities and perceptions.

Slang consists of a lexicon of non-standard words and phrases in a given language.

Use of these words and phrases is typically associated with the subversion of a
standard variety (such as Standard English) and is likely to be interpreted by listeners
as implying particular attitudes on the part of the speaker. In some contexts, a
speaker's selection of slang words or phrases may convey prestige, indicating group
membership or distinguishing group members from those who are not a part of the
group.

Slang is a type of language that consists of words and phrases that are regarded as very
informal, are more common in speech than writing, and are typically restricted to a
particular context or group of people.

Slang, writes Michael Adams, is poetry on the down low, and sometimes lowdown
poetry on the down low, but rarely, if ever, merely lowdown. It is the poetry of
everyday speech, the people's poetry, and it deserves attention as language playing on
the cusp of art. In Slang: The People's Poetry, Adams covers this perennially
interesting subject in a serious but highly engaging way, illuminating the fundamental
question "What is Slang" and defending slang and all forms of nonstandard English as
integral parts of the American language. Why is an expression like "bed head" lost in a

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lexical limbo, found neither in slang nor standard dictionaries? Why are snow-
boarding terms such as "fakie," "goofy foot," "ollie" and "nollie" not considered slang?
As he addresses these and other lexical curiosities, Adams reveals that slang is used in
part to define groups, distinguishing those who are "down with it" from those who are
"out of it." Slang is also a rebellion against the mainstream. It often irritates those who
color within the lines indeed, slang is meant to irritate, sometimes even to shock. But
slang is also inventive language, both fun to make and fun to use. Rather than
complain about slang as "bad" language, Adams urges us to celebrate slang's playful
resistance to the commonplace and to see it as the expression of an innate human
capacity, not only for language, but for poetry.

“I had always thought that slang was what your mother told you not to use at the
dinner table. That turns out to be an old-fashioned idea” (Thomas B. Allen )

Slang, according to Paul Dickson- author of the book “Slang”, is the way the
American language replenishes itself. (Some words once labeled slang: bogus, clumsy,
snide, and spurious.) The latest round of replenishment comes from the Internet,
which, author Paul Dickson says, "could be the greatest of all dispensers of slang and
new English since the invention of movable type." One of the innovations of this book
is the division of slang into categories: You look up definitions by turning to "Net-
speak," say, to find out what, say, "kevork" means: "To ban electronically from a site
or bulletin board. From the name Jack Kevorkian, a doctor who assisted suicides."
Net-speak is one of thirty categories. Others include Java-speak (black eye: "Expresso
mixed with brewed coffee") and that grand old American dialect, Bureaucratese (fuzz:
"To blur on purpose; to make less direct"). As you can see, it's a book not for just
looking things up but for browsing, for searching out new words, and for replenishing
your own noggin.

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 Chapter I

1.Etymology of the word slang

In its earliest attested use (1756), the word slang referred to the vocabulary of "low or
disreputable" people. By the early nineteenth century, it was no longer exclusively
associated with disreputable people, but continued to be applied to language use below
the level of standard educated speech. The origin of the word is uncertain, although it
appears to be connected with thieves' cant, or the contraction of "shortened language"
into s'lang. A Scandinavian origin has been proposed (compare, for example,
Norwegian slengenavn, which means "nickname"), but is discounted by the Oxford
English Dictionary based on "date and early associations". Jonathan Green however
agrees with the possibility of a Scandinavian origin, suggesting the same root as that
of sling, which means "to throw", and noting that slang is a thrown language - a quick,
honest way to make your point.

2.Formation of slang
It is often difficult to collect etymologies for slang terms, largely because slang is a
phenomenon of speech, rather than written language and etymologies which are
typically traced via corpus.

Eric Partridge, cited as the first to report on the phenomenon of slang in a systematic
and linguistic way, postulated that a term would likely be in circulation for a decade
before it would be written down. Nevertheless, it seems that slang generally forms via
deviation from a standard form. This "spawning" of slang occurs in much the same
way that any general semantic change might occur. The difference here is that the
slang term's new meaning takes on a specific social significance having to do with the
group the term indexes.

Coleman also suggests that slang is differentiated within more general semantic
change in that it typically has to do with a certain degree of “playfulness". The
development of slang is considered to be a largely “spontaneous, lively, and creative”
speech process.

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Still, while a great deal of slang takes off, even becoming accepted into the standard
lexicon, much slang dies out, sometimes only referencing a group. An example of this
is the term "groovy" which is a relic of 1960's and 70's American "hippy" slang.
Nevertheless, for a slang term to become a slang term, people must use it, at some
point in time, as a way to flout standard language. Additionally, slang terms may be
borrowed between groups, such as the term "gig" which was originally coined by jazz
musicians in the 1930s and then borrowed into the same hippy slang of the 1960s. 'The
word "groovy" has remained a part of subculture lexicon since its popularization. It is
still in common use today by a significant population. The word "gig" to refer to a
performance very likely originated well before the 1930s, and remained a common
term throughout the 1940s and 1950s before becoming a vaguely associated with the
"hippy slang of the 1960s". The word "gig" is now a widely accepted synonym for a
concert, recital, or performance of any type. "Hippy" is more commonly spelled
"hippie".

Generally, slang terms undergo the same processes of semantic change that words in
the regular lexicon do.

3.Social media and Internet slang

Slang is often taken from social media as a sign of social awareness and shared
knowledge of popular culture. This particular branch of slang has become more
prevalent since the early 2000s as a result of the rise in popularity of social networking
services, including Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. This has created new
vocabularies associated with each new social media venue, such as the use of the term
“friending” on Facebook, which is a verbification of “friend” used to describe the
process of adding a new person to one's list of friends on the website. This term is
much older than Facebook, but has only recently entered the popular lexicon. Unlike
most slang, social media slang is often not spoken aloud in conversation, but rather
written, though it is still not viewed as acceptable in a formal setting. Other examples
of the slang found in social media include a general trend toward shortened words or
acronyms. These are especially associated with services such as Twitter, which has a
140 character limit for each message and therefore requires a briefer, more condensed
manner of communication. This includes the use of hashtags which explicitly state the
main content of a message or image, such as #food or #photography.
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 4.Slang dictionary

A slang dictionary is a reference book containing an alphabetical list

of slang, vernacular vocabulary not generally acceptable in formal usage, usually
including information given for each word, including meaning, pronunciation,
and etymology. It can provide definitions on a range of slang from more mundane
terms (like "rain check" or "bob and weave") to obscure sexual practices. Such works
also can include words and phrases arising from different dialects and argots, which
may or may not have passed into more common usage. They can also track the
changing meaning of the terms over time and space, as they migrate and mutate. This
makes them of interest to a variety of people, from oral historians, to etymologists, to
the casual browser.

5.American slang
The English language, especially the American variant lacks any such sense of
formality and is creating new words just as fast as anyone can think them up. Many of
them, especially in the computer field aren't words at all but TLA's (Three Letter
Acronym) that substitute brevity to save typing.
Every aspect of American society has been busy creating new words, almost it would
seem just for the fun of it. And this book is organized (if you can call it organized at
all) by the general areas where the new words began, such as: Automotive, Bureaucrat,
Computer, Drugs, Media, Medical (Sub-title: words you don't want to hear from your
hospital bed --C&T Ward: Place where comatose patients are placed in a hospital - it
stands for 'cabbages and turnips.'), politics, schools, and on and on.

The French have a special committee to ensure that the purity of the language doesn't
get corrupted by among others those vulgar Americans. As such, they are effectively
marginalizing their language to the past and preventing people from being able to
discuss current trends.

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 6.Moldavian slang :
"The name 'Moldovan language' (in Russian, МОЛДaВCKИЙ ЯЗБIK 'moldavskii
iazyk'); in Romanian, limbă moldovenească, or, in Cyrillic characters, ЛИMбЗ
MOЛДОBeНЯCKЗ was applied in the Soviet Union, as during earlier periods of
Russian occupation of the area in question, to the * Romance language used in the
Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic (corresponding more or less to the formerly
Romanian territory of Bessarabia, annexed by the Soviet Union in 1940). In reality,
'Moldavian' is nothing else than the *Romanian language as spoken in Moldavia, i.e.
both east of the river Prut in Bessarabia (now the Republic of Moldova) and west of
the Prut in that part of the former province that remains as part of Romania.

Actually what you say looks rather pathetic. Even at the internationally level
(officially) is recognized that in Moldova the people speak romanian. Just for your
record the US State Dept. (their foreign office), the french ministry of foreign
affairs(France), the UK foreign office (UK), the german ministry of foreign affairs
(Germany) are stating one think: in Moldova it is spoken romanian. romanian is the
official language even if the name is Moldovan.

pîntece = burtă pleşuv/chelbos = chel ţintirim = cimitir pişca = ciupi mamcă/mancă =

doică mai = ficat cute = gresie sudoare = năduşeală ciolan = os oghial = plapumă cori
= pojar popuşoi = porumb hulub = porumbel rărunchi = rinichi moş = unchi curechi =
varză omăt/nea = zăpadă

Actually, pântece, pleşuv, pişca, cute, sudoare, ciolan, rărunchi, moş and nea are
commonly used in standard Romanian.
chelbos, ţintirim, mai (for "ficat") and curechi are commonly used in
Transylvania and/or Maramureş, but not in Southern "standard" Romanian.
Moldavian slang is influenced by Russian language.

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 Chapter II
1.Exemples of American slang :

1. Bail — Intransitive verb for leaving abruptly.

2. Feeling blue; have the blues — A feeling of depression or sadness.

3. A buck — Slang term for a the American dollar.

4. By the skin of (my/your/his/her) teeth — just barely.

5. Creep (n.) — An unpleasantly weird/strange person.

6. Couch Potato — A lazy person who spends the bulk of their time engaged in
things that can be done while sitting on a couch.

7. Cram — To study feverishly before an exam typically done after neglecting to

study consistently.

8. Crash — To abruptly fall asleep, or to show up without invitation.

9. Down to earth — And adjective for practicality and lack of pretense.

10.Drive up the wall — To irritate.

11.For Real — A proclamation of honesty.

12.Going Dutch — When each person, usually in a dating scenario, pays for his/her
own meal.

13.The cold shoulder — A metaphor for deliberately ignoring someone.

14.Give a ring — To call someone on the telephone.

15.Hyped (adj.) — A very excited state.

16.Hang out — To casually gather together or spend time with someone in a social
manner.

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17.Jack up — An abrupt increase, typically in the price of something.

18.Knock — To speak negatively, to disparage, to badmouth.

19.Lighten up — To relax and take things too seriously. Typically stated as an appeal
to someone who is acting uptight.

20.Pass the buck — To deflect responsibility onto someone else.

21.Piece of cake — A metaphor to describe something that is easy or effortless.

22.Pig out — A metaphor for binge eating.

23.Plead the fifth — References the fifth amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which
allows a witness in court to refuse questions on the grounds that they risk self-
incrimination.

24.Screw up — To make a mistake, i.e. mess up.

25.Sweet — An adjective that describes something that is good, or nice.

26.Tight — An adjective that describes closeness between competitors, i.e. a tight

competition.

27.Trash — Can be used as an intransitive verb for destruction. e.g. “He trashed the
car.”

28.Uptight — Stuffy, persnickety, the opposite of relaxed.

29.Wrap (something) up — To finish or complete something.

30.Zonked — Completely exhausted.Our next post will cover British slang terms that
Americans find confusing. Until then, here are some of our favorite American slang
words:

31.Pants — CLOTHING RETAILERS TAKE NOTE: The Brits say ‘trousers’

… The American default word for the article of clothing that covers the legs and
pelvic region seems pretty general and innocuous to English speakers in the U.S. To

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the actual English, however, ‘pants’ is the primary word they use for ‘underwear.’ And
while American cinema and television typically writes the word ‘knickers’ for
underwear into the vocabulary of British characters—that’s probably just for comedic
effect since ‘pants’ wouldn’t induce any response—the most common British word for
underwear really is ‘pants.’ Americans tend not to notice how often they refer to their
so-called pants until someone from the U.K. joins their ranks. Once that happens they
begin to notice restrained snickering every time ‘pants’ are referenced in a polite
conversation.

32.For the birds — Imagine how this phrase must sound to someone who doesn’t
understand that it refers to something that is substandard in some respect. Is it a bag of
seeds or some kind of yard ornament reference? The Brits sometimes use the word
‘bird,’ to refer to women, in the same way Americans use ‘chicks.’ So, maybe it
comes off like reference to girlishness. Who knows?

33.Bought the farm — ”I didn’t know he wanted to move to the country,” is how a
British person might respond to hearing this phrase. At this point ‘bought the farm,’ is
a general reference to untimely death. However, the phrase originates from WWII-era
military accidents involving unreliable aircraft crashing into rural European
countryside properties resulting in damages for which the U.S. government was
responsible to pay, thereby, ‘buying the farm,’ so to speak.

34.Jonesing — To want, crave, or desire something intensely, and its noun form,
‘joneser,’ (a person who wants or craves something intensely), isn’t always apparent
even to Americans. The Oxford Dictionary associates this word’s slang usage with
Jones Alley in Manhattan, a haven for drug addicts in the 1960s. The unsavory drug
culture connotations continue today. However the definition of ‘joneser,’ has been
broadened among some circles to include describing a person whose character is found
wanting, i.e. lacking, as opposed to someone who simply wants something
desperately.

35.Take a raincheck — This is an Americanism that dates back to the 1880s and
references the practice of giving baseball game ticketholders a pass to a game that
must be rescheduled due to weather. It’s commonly used as a metaphor for postponing
or rescheduling a meeting between people to some later date that is more convenient.

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36.Spill the Beans — British English speakers might pick up on the use of the word
‘spill,’ as a metaphor for divulging. But ‘spill the beans,’ might be obscure enough for
them to assume a more specific connotation, which they are not aware of. Needless to
say, ‘spill the beans,’ is an American idiom for divulging secret information that dates
back to the very early 1900s.

37.Shoot the breeze — An idiomatic phrase for killing time with idle chit-chat,
‘shoot the breeze probably stems from old-west imagery, either cinematic or anecdotal
in origin, in which men with nothing but time and ammunition on their hands shot
their guns at no particular target.

38.John Hancock — Although obscure associative references are a favorite form of

Cockney slang, it’s unlikely that an English person would have any idea who John
Hancock was. The reference would escape them. The name John Hancock became
synonymous with a person’s signature because his was one of the more flamboyant
signatures on The Declaration of Independence.

39.Monday morning quarterback — Because quarterback is an on-field leadership

position played in American football, which the British have no interest in, and
because Monday morning references the fact that most NFL games take place on
Sundays, this is a doubly obscure metaphor. While American’s understand that the
phrase references the practice of criticizing something after-fact-with the advantage of
hindsight, an English person would find this phrase totally meaningless.

40.Ride Shotgun — Another phrase taken from Old-West folklore, riding shotgun is
a statement of both position and status—a sort of second-in-command support position
who works from a preferential vantage. The imagery invoked by the phrase comes
from stagecoaches, specifically the person who rode in the seat next to the driver
whose job was to fend off any would-be bandits with a shotgun.

41.Turn up — Want to get this party started? Then you better turn up. After all, there
is nothing teens love more than #parties (except maybe #selfies). Also can be used
ironically.

Used in a sentence: “Did you hear Tracy is hosting an open house rager tonight?
TURN UP!”
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42.Can I get an amen — In the religion that is being a teenager, saying something
awesome is practically gospel. To let everyone know what you just said was
awesome, you use this phrase as a marker. Subtlety is not something teens are
known for, after all.
Used in a sentence: “OMG David just texted me. Can I get an amen?”

43.KK — Used exclusively in texting, “kk” is the less passive-aggressive version of

“OK.” After all, teens LOVE to be soooooo chill.

Used in a sentence: (Responding to a question) “Kk.”

44.# — Teens are so “with it” to the point that they use complex technological terms
like “hashtag” in a sarcastic way to embellish a point they are making.

Used in a sentence: “Did you hear Lisa is dating that senior guy? Hashtag
WHATEVER.”

45.Dat — “Dat” is basically the teenage version of “that” except it is hip and fresh
like the teens that use it!

Used in a sentence: “Dat boy is so cute in his prom tux. I want a piece of dat.”

46.Mad — It’s sort of like the teenage version of “very.” Because “very” is very
lame, and “mad” is mad awesome.
Used in a sentence: “Yo, Sarah is, like, mad chill. She’s one of the coolest chicks I
know. I want to ask her to prom.”

47.PAP- Post a picture.

48.Bad - Bad still means good, but now it’s morphed to mean “hot” as in “Ruby Rose
is as bad as they come.”

49.Ship -Ship is short for “relationship.

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50.IDEK - Means “I don’t even know,” and of course IDK means “I don’t know.” In
the same “knowledge” vein, there is also IKR, standing for “I know, right?”
51.Bae -The word is used as a term of endearment, thought to be a shortened form of
“babe” or “baby.” While not generally seen in all uppercase, BAE can stand for
“before anyone else,” when used as an acronym. We’d also point out that bae is
the noise that sheep make. And we won’t laugh at you if you secretly thought it
was Beyonce.
52.Dime - Unlike the party size bag of dope from the 1960s, Dime today means 10 on
a rating scale of 1-10. It’s the best something can be.
53.THOT - Not to be mistaken for a shorthand or misspelling of the word “thought,”
THOT actually means “that ho over there.” Yes, ho as in whore. It refers to a teen
with loose values, as in sexual promiscuity.
54.TBR - Means “to be rude,” and is used in the context of “I don’t mean TBR but
....” (a barrage of harsh feelings follow).
55.Peep - Can either mean your friends — as in your “people” — or to look at or
listen to something.

56.Gucci - Say good-bye to remarking, “That’s cool” and say hello to “That’s gucci.”
Urban Dictionary traces “gucci” back to ‘08, but it’s still a relatively niche term. It
means “good” or “cool.”

As in: “I’ll be there in 10,” Jaden texted me.

“Gucci,” I replied.

57.Ode or OD — In late ‘00s, OD (pronounced oh-dee) used to

mean reallyor very, derived from the acronym for overdose. Now it retains the
same meaning, but the spelling has changed to ode. Why? Spelling it as ode
“makes the intention clear,” Chloe said.

As in: “Jessica, I love your Snapchat story! It’s ode gucci!”

58.Deadass — Seriously.

As in: “That’s deadass a great Vine.”

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 2.Exemples of slang used in social media:

Slang terms have become increasingly prevalent on social networking sites like
Facebook and Twitter. The list below includes common slang used in social media.
You can also view a list of chat slang terms used specifically on Facebook or Twitter.

2 To

2mr Tomorrow

4ward Forward

A3 Anyplace, anywhere, anytime

AM Antemeridian

ATW All the way

BCBG Bon Chic Bon Genre

BD Big deal

Bestie Best Friend

BION Believe it or not

Bling Overly flashy jewelry

Bro Brother

BTW By the way

Creeper A socially invasive person

CYF Check your Facebook

deets Details

DYD Don't you dare

Ermahgerd Oh my gosh

f9 Fine

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3.Exemples of British slang
Ace - If something is ace it is awesome. I used to hear it a lot in Liverpool. Kids
thought all cool stuff was ace, or brill.

Aggro - Short for aggravation, it's the sort of thing you might expect at a football
match. In other words - trouble! There is sometimes aggro in the cities after the pubs
shut!

All right? - This is used a lot around London and the south to mean, "Hello, how are
you"? You would say it to a complete stranger or someone you knew. The normal
response would be for them to say "All right"? back to you. It is said as a question.
Sometimes it might get expanded to "all right mate"? Mostly used by blue collar
workers but also common among younger people.

Bloody - One of the most useful swear words in English. Mostly used as an
exclamation of surprise i.e. "bloody hell" or "bloody nora". Something may be "bloody
marvellous" or "bloody awful". It is also used to emphasise almost anything, "you're
bloody mad", "not bloody likely" and can also be used in the middle of other words to
emphasise them. E.g. "Abso-bloody-lutely"! Americans should avoid saying "bloody"
as they sound silly.

Blooming - Another alternative to the word bloody. You might hear someone say "not
blooming likely" so that they don't have to swear.

Blow me - When an English colleague of mine exclaimed "Blow Me" in front of a

large American audience, he brought the house down. It is simply an exclamation of
surprise, short for "Blow me down", meaning something like I am so surprised you
could knock me over just by blowing. Similar to "Well knock me down with a
feather". It is not a request for services to be performed.

Blow off - Who blew off? Means who farted? Constant source of amusement to us
Brits when you guys talk about blowing people off. Conjours up all sort of bizarre
images!

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 conclusion :

As a conclusion, we can mention that people from all over the world
are using slang. They are necessary and, sometimes is just funny to talk
with somebody using a language that is common to both of you. Every
language has it’s own slang, that’s why we understand hard or we
misunderstood sometimes the meaning. Something that in our language
sounds clear, for somebody else it might be something very strange and
unclear. For example, in Romanian we say “ mănîncă brînza în șîp”
(selfish), in English it’s going to be “tight-fisted”, etc. Is also hard to
translate slang words, from one language to another, because we have
to keep the meaning and, in most cases to paraphrase. When we
translate, words may change word’s order and grammatical category.
Now, slang became an important part of our speech, we are using this
every day, and not only in our native language. For example slang “lol”
which means “laughing out loud “ , teenagers from Moldova started use
this after appearance of movie “LOL” , and now, instead of smile sign ,
they use “lol” .The same is with “gonna “ , which has to be “ going to “
; “gf” for “girlfriend”; “fb” for “ facebook “ ; “bro “ for “brother “ and

“sis” for “sister”.# — Teens are so “with it” to the point that they use
complex technological terms like “hashtag” in a sarcastic way to
embellish a point they are making. “Hashtag” is frequently used by
teenagers in social networks, especially in Instagram , e.g:
“#happy#goodmood#bestfriend#cool. Also they start use this on
Facebook, and they look at this like at something cool

The hardest part of this report was to translate and understand slang
expression, and of course, trying to find equivalence in Romanian

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language .Slang is a new subject and there is a lot of information about
this.In our opinion ,this subject is going to be more and more discussed
and maybe developed, because it’s a part of modernization and
globalization .

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 References:

1. Slang: The People's Poetry, Michael Adams

(2002)
2. https://www.amazon.com/Slang-Dictionary-
Americanisms-Paul-Dickson/dp/0802715311
3. http://effingpot.com/chapters/slang/
4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slang#Formation
_of_slang
5. http://slangit.com/terms/social_media

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