Rahman.S.
As a teacher, I always find it fascinating the way language evolves and is constantly evolving. It’s interesting to see how language, specifically vocabulary, differs between countries. For example, between British and Canadian English:
Canadian: I was waiting in line.
British: I was waiting in queue.
Canadian: I live in an apartment.
British: I live in a flat.
Candian: vacuum
British: hoover
Canadian: Which team do you root for?
British: Which team do you support?
Sometimes the vocabulary, phrases used or slang used in one language can be very difficult to understand by another speaker even though they may share the same language. Asides from vocabulary and slang developing in different countries, I find what interests me is how language changes with time and with the age group. Growing up, there were certain words that were particular words to my age group and time. I can’t recall how these words were introduced, but I do remember learning them in context from my peers. I adopted these words in my everyday vocabulary when speaking to my peers, but would change my vocabulary when speaking to my teachers.
“Stop loafin around.” [Stop fooling around]
“I gotta dip.” [I have to go.]
“Send me the pencil.” [Give me the pencil.]
“Aiight” [Alright / Sure]
“Are you for real?” [Are you being serious?/Are you telling the truth?]
With many more social media platform such as TikTok, Snapchat and Instagram, it is quite easy to easy for new information and vocabulary to be introduced spread which often makes me feel out of the loop when I interact with my younger siblings at times and even my students!
A comic which highlights my point above:
https://cheezburger.com/8774110976/spelling-bee-rekt-internet-slang-video-games
It’s quite difficult to even associate different words/slang with a country because it varies so drastically from region to region. Although I was born and raised in Montreal, I hardly recognized any of the slang being used in the video below where Lily Singh explores Canadian slang. And as some of the commentators pointed out, “Video should be called “Toronto Slang that no other Canadian has ever heard of”. And I have to say, I whole heartedly agree with the comment!
The following video is an example of slang from Scotland. Try to see if you can guess the meaning of some of these slang words. I definitely had a difficult time! This goes to show that although slang varies from country to country, it can easily vary from regions within the same country as well.
Reflecting back on my own experience and now observing the changes in slang, it is interesting how we use it in our everyday life and how we as speakers communicate so much meaning through slang. As a language educator, this brings me to ask, should slang be taught to language learners? Do you think it is important? Because slang is constantly evolving. Some slang that we may be familiar with is still being widely used, while other words may no longer be relevant, so taking into consideration these changes, is there a way to teach slang?
