Wannabees both?

1 2 3 4 5 6
   Share on Facebook  
CalifJim  #411523  Thu, 30 Aug 07 09:35 AM
But can I send the second one to you, anyway, Mr. P.?
You can do what you blokes call a posh accent, can't you?

CJ

  
Top 10 Contributor
Joined on Mon, Aug 2 2004
California
Veteran Member (17,514)
ModeratorProficient Speaker
"There are no facts, only interpretations" - Nietzsche
MrPedantic  #411842  Thu, 30 Aug 07 11:49 PM

That's what I'll tell 'em, anyway.

  
Top 10 Contributor
Joined on Tue, Oct 12 2004
Veteran Member (12,137)
Proficient SpeakerSystemAdministrator
...opella forensis / adducit febris...
milky  #413469  Mon, 03 Sep 07 07:56 AM

 <It wouldn't be fair to the student for me to pretend I could fulfill those wishes.>

But do you teach Business English? I do, and each day I have to create lessons which involve lanugae that I myself would never have to use. I teach lawyers, engineers, chemist, priests, football players, etc. All ask for job-related language to be included in the course. I have to go in search of such language and present it to my students. I have to guide them in its use. I'm not sure how researching and presenting the latest slang is any different, for example. Also, students could research "special language" on the Internet, in songs, books, chat sites, etc. and the teacher can help guide its use, be a sounding board.. Maybe?

  
Top 50 Contributor
Joined on Thu, Jan 15 2004
Senior Member (3,149)
Hume said that if we had perfect or complete descriptive knowledge of reality, we could not, by reasoning, derive a single valid "ought".
milky  #413472  Mon, 03 Sep 07 08:03 AM

<It would also be reasonable to point out that the slang would be outmoded, by the time the student had mastered it;>

Surely not all of it. "Cool", for example, has been around since the 30s, I think.

  
MrPedantic  #413811  Mon, 03 Sep 07 11:20 PM

Not all of it, no; but surely that "not all" would be (by definition?) "not much":

the "slang" of the American youth culture norms of coolness.

MrP

  
milky  #413816  Mon, 03 Sep 07 11:37 PM

<Not all of it, no; but surely that "not all" would be (by definition?) "not much":>

Can you give examples of slang that has changed in large amounts over just a few months?

  
CalifJim  #414404  Wed, 05 Sep 07 08:13 AM
examples of slang that has changed in large amounts over just a few months?
That wouldn't even be long enough for the slang terms to seep into the general consciousness.  Many 'specialty groups', especially adolescents and criminals, use their own slang only within their own peer group.  By the time it's generally known it's already passe to that group, and they've moved on to even more colorful expressions.  The result of all this is that it may be impossible to answer the question unless the poster is from such a group and therefore has the privileged access necessary to give the examples you seem to be looking for.
All I can say is that, to judge by what you hear on TV, the young people in the U.S. do seem to change their favorite slang words fairly frequently.  You'll hear some crazy new word for a month, maybe six months, and then it seems to disappear.  I could give you some examples if only they would stick in my brain, but they don't.  To me it's like trying to remember the hundreds of jokes you hear in a year -- another task I don't do well at.

I don't think "sup?" lasted very long.  "diss" is a little more long-lived; you still hear it once in a while.

CJ

  
CalifJim  #414406  Wed, 05 Sep 07 08:20 AM
"Cool", for example, has been around since the 30s, I think.
Almost entirely because of the (older)  generation that uses it, however.  Younger people (in the U.S. at least) find "cool" and "neat" rather quaint, I think, although you hear (or used to) "kewl" now and then -- a sort of "cool" with an umlaut!   They have been replaced by "awesome" -- or at least it was for a while -- Who knows what the current term is!

I'm afraid I've never mastered the difference between "Duh" and "Doh", either, but I assure you there is an entire generation who have.

CJ

  
milky  #414431  Wed, 05 Sep 07 09:38 AM

 <The result of all this is that it may be impossible to answer the question unless the poster is from such a group and therefore has the privileged access necessary to give the examples you seem to be looking for.>

So a group of American black and white, non-nerdy, highschool kids would not be using the same slang now as they were using a six months ago. Is that what you are saying?

  
1 2 3 4 5 6
AddThis Feed Button RSS Feed: ESL Linguistics Discussion Forum
© 2008 MediaCET Ltd.
Terms and Conditions & Terms of Service