Slang in Newspaper
According to Cambridge dictionary. Slang is vocabulary that is
used between people who belong to the same social group and who know each other
well. Slang is very informal language. It can offend people if it is used about other
people or outside a group of people who know each other well. We usually use slang in speaking rather than
writing. Slang normally refers to particular
words and meanings but can include longer expressions and idioms.
Slang
is a type of language consisting of words and phrases that are:
- considered to be very informal
- more common in speech than in writing
- typically restricted to a particular context or group of
people
Slang may be all things to all people. According to the American poet Carl Sandburg (1878-1967), slang is "language which takes off its coat, spits on
its hands - and
goes to work." The
Concise Oxford Dictionary is more prosaic: "words, phrases, and uses that are regarded as
very informal and are often restricted to special contexts or are peculiar to a
specified profession, class, etc(racing
slang; schoolboy slang)."
The
problem for learners of English is to know when or when not to use slang. Many people condemn slang, but in fact we all
use it. The trick is to use slang in the right
context. For the learner, perhaps the first
thing to remember is that slang is normally spoken, not written. The second thing is that you may wish to learn
slang so that you can understand it when you hear it, but not necessarily to
use it.
From
the Cockney rhyming calls of London's East End traders to teen speak, slang has
always been part of Britain's rich and diverse language.
But young people are
increasingly unable to distinguish when it's appropriate to use it, say some
linguists. Their language is becoming saturated by slang, leaving them
ill-equipped to communicate in the wider world.
"Young
people are growing up with a new form of composite language. It's a bit
cockney, a bit West Indian, a bit West African, with some Bangladeshi and
Kuwaiti - and it seems to be replacing traditional cockney."
This
"multicultural English" is now the ordinary way of speaking for many
young people, he says. Instead of just using it to be cool or to fit in with
peers, they use it when they speak to everyone.
And those
who use it are losing any sense of "appropriacy" - the important
skill of turning it on and off in different situations.
"Appropriacy
simply means using the right variety of language for the right context - using
business jargon in business meetings, formal English in exams or slang in
school playground," says slang expert Tony Thorne.
"Language isn't just about communication, there is a strong
social, political and emotional charge to it."
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| A job interview, innit |
According
to The Startling blog , just because English is so common worldwide
does not mean that English speakers of different dialects can’t still confuse
one another with slang and local terms. American English
speakers and British English speakers both have usages that confuse, and amuse
one another. Accents alone can sometimes be enough to form
a language barrier, despite the fact that in the U.S., a British
accent might be treated as either sexy, or comical depending on the persona
it’s attached to.
A study of slang and informal usage in the newspaper
Yes, we do have a lot of "in"
expressions;
they are, in fact, the motive for this thesis, which discusses slang and
informal usage in the major Vancouver newspapers (The Vancouver Sun and The Vancouver Province). The creation of these non-standard usage groups in language arose through the
concept of standardization. In the seventeenth and
eighteenth century’s lexicographers and grammarians, especially men like Dr. Samuel Johnson proposed that the English language
should be purified and “fixed"; that, in fact, it should
be standardized for all time. But only dead languages
remain lifeless; live languages branch infinitely in all directions. Thus, these Renaissance pursuers of standardization
in language ironically created, through their efforts, the substandard - the slang, informal and other areas not relegated to
the "cleansed" version. lt was hoped that these
vulgarities would thereby drop from use and cease to infiltrate the standard
level of language.
However, they did not, and
they remain to add much to the life of the English language today. It was felt that any examination of how effectively
intertwined "slanguage" was with that body of English called standard, would
be best realized through the study of newspapers. Newspapers occupy a special place in the realm of
the written word, a place not far, I believe, from the spoken word. They reveal the daily story of a community in action
and interaction, presenting the discontinuous variety and incongruity of
ordinary life. Newspapers reflect on a rapid, daily basis the
multiplicity of social sub-groups, the mark of
immediacy in transmission, and the permissive quality in our approach to
language today. For purposes of examination the newspapers were
arranged into categories following the pattern in which the papers are usually
presented. Thus, the General category, the Editorial section,
the entertainment pages, the Sports page, the Comics and the financial areas. Slang and informal samples were culled and made up
the lexicon contained within the body of this thesis. Examination of this corpus of words indicates that
the newspaper is very much what Marshall McLuhan terms a group confessional
form or communal mosaic. Through their slang and
informal language numerous sub-groups are clearly in
evidence. it is also clear that their productive vocabulary
changes continuously and rapidly, rarely remaining "fixed"
as the
eighteenth century authoritarians would have wished. Like the authoritarians in their age, we in ours are
experiencing a marked increase in the awareness of language. We now seem to know enough to enjoy observing how
the language of a sub-culture may enrich the
mainstream of language and by observation "slanguage"
gains daily on
standard language. Yes, Snoopy, we do have a lot of "in"
expressions.
Newspaper writing is not always formal and
styles vary from paper to paper, depending on the target audience. Using a word like “collared” is not uncommon –
newspaper style is not exactly the same as any other style of written English.
Depending
on the newspaper, the article topic, and the audience, an article's tone might
be formal, casual, or somewhere in between. For example, "cop" is slang for a police officer. But it is not SO casual that a
newspaper would never use it.
In
the US, "tabloid" implies sensationalism - reports on celebrity divorces, alien
abductions, etc.
Compression or
shortening has little to do with it, in my mind.
Here are some of slang's terms for a newspaper; they are not all current, nor uniquely US: blab sheet, blabber, bladder, blanket, blat, bum wad, butter wrapper, croaker, fish-wrapper (also fried fish wrapper, meat wrapper), fly blister, leer, rag, reader, red top (a UK tabloid), sausage wrapper, sheet (sensational papers have been bunk sheets or scream sheets), snipe, snitch pad or snitch sheet, spread, tab, tibby, toerag. Rhyming slang :johnnyraper, linen(-draper), long acre, skyscraper.
Without a doubt, many of us think slang is one
of the factors that showcase the richness of a language. Despite how the dictionary defines slang, it would be a grave
injustice to dismiss slang as street language. I mean, the theory collapses even on its initial claim. After all, the street isn't some singular and homogeneous place.
So different streets or different parts of a
city have different slangs. Another stumbling block most people experience
when it comes to this subject is confusing slang with jargon and curse words. Of course, they are related and sometimes their paths intersect
with one another, but fundamentally, they are completely different. As a journalist's job is almost always tangled with
words, he or she should be able to distinguish them clearly.
Today, slang is not produced
just by ghettos or underground organizations, as was once claimed.We can clearly observe that the middle and upper
classes sought to form and use their own slang.
There is also a constant
interaction between these different slangs. After all, a word that is produced and used by a
certain group of people may be observed becoming integrated into general use
and used by all types of people through the means of interaction with one
another. However, that being said, slang is not unattached
from the grammar of the language with which it has allied itself.
Another question can be
asked here: Should journalists abandon slang altogether when
writing a news article? The answer to this question lies in surveying each word
that is to be used, separately and thoroughly. Of course, what the word references on ethical and
emotional grounds should be taken into consideration nonetheless. Any word with racist innuendos or that may be
interpreted as a hate crime should be abandoned altogether without fail. On the other hand, there is another misconception
that insists a journalist should choose either formal or informal wording and
stick with it. That is also wrong. Let me tell you why. A newspaper focuses on its understandability.
One should be careful when
using slang, since many words of that particular nature usually have double
meanings, not to mention the metaphorical meanings. Therefore, while using these words, journalists must
be extra careful not to cause ambiguity.
Also, I have to remind
journalists who insist on using slang or see it as a show of intellect this: one must be thoroughly familiar with the nuances of
slang in order to use it correctly. To wrap up, I would like to
emphasize one more point. Journalists can exploit the
vast richness of slang when the situation calls for it, but they should not
produce it themselves. Respect for the reader
compels them to be careful about this.
References
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/8388545.stm
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