Proper English versus Slang

Have you ever wanted to look at proper English versus slang to compare the two?  The following article will explore what makes a word a slang word.

Proper English versus Slang

Slang words are not part of Standard English. They are considered informal and are used in various groups and certain situations. So when you are defining proper English versus slang, you would say that slang is informal while proper English is formal. Also, many times slang words are vulgar and not appropriate in certain social situations. Proper Standard English is understood by most English speaking people, whereas slang expressions may be understood by only a small fraction of the population. 

There is actually an online slang dictionary at OnlineSlangDictionary.com. It has a thesaurus that groups words by: words that mean “cool”, insults, women, boyfriend/girlfriend, gangster words, good qualities, and exclamations. For example: under the category “good qualities” there are 369 words. So, if you are wondering about the meaning of a particular slang word, this is one place to go. 

There is another slang dictionary at Alpha Dictionary.com. It is very user friendly and has over 2200 slang words. It also tells you what decade the word first appeared. You can also choose to only see clean words and you can browse by years. Here are some examples of slang words and expressions from this site for the years 2000 - 2010:

• blingy – shiny or sparkly
• bouya! – expression of happiness or triumph
• bromance - friendship between males
• buttery – bad or ugly
• buzz - shave your head
• clean - alright
• cougar - an older woman dating a younger man
• digits - telephone number
• flex - to show off
• ghost – gone or disappeared
• green - ecologically responsible
• grip - lot of money
• hottie - an attractive female
• jump the couch - to lose control, go crazy
• mail - money
• maul - to hug and kiss
• peep – person
• punk - to embarrass
• scooby doos - good shoes
• shorty - girlfriend
• surreal - unusual
• tat - tattoo
• there – liking something

Common Slang Expressions

Some slang expressions are knows to a small group of people while others are used by many. To compare proper English versus slang, we will look at some common slang expressions and their proper English counterpart. The slang expression is used first and underlined, followed by a proper English sentence.

• People like that are a dime a dozen. There are lots of people like that.
• Soon you will be back on your feet. Soon you will be recovered from your illness. 
• Let’s call it a day. Let’s stop working.
• She is a drama queen. She is so overly emotional. 
• My efforts fell short. My efforts were not enough.
• Bob just goes with the flow. Bob just accepts thing as they are.
• He’s in the doghouse now. He’s in trouble now.
• I could hardly keep a straight face. I could hardly keep from laughing.
• You need to lighten up a bit. You need to relax a bit.
• They made a beeline for the bathroom. They went quickly straight towards the bathroom.
• Your team does not have a prayer. Your team does not have a chance.
• That test was a piece of cake. That test was very easy.
• Come in and take a load off. Come in and relax.
• The job is still up for grabs. The job is still available.
• We will wrap this up now. We will finish this now.
• I think he is on the level. I think he is honest.
• You have to hang in there. You have to keep trying.
• He rubs me the wrong way. He bothers me.