Well, it's not mandatry but a lot of peple did. As an adult, I wouldn't necesarily talk to a prospective employer the same way I would to a mate.
'My bluds say the skets round here are nuff deep' - the new inner city language
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Well, it's not mandatry but a lot of peple did. As an adult, I wouldn't necesarily talk to a prospective employer the same way I would to a mate.
gentlegreen
I hummus, therefore I am ...
I'm all for the language evolving, but this is retrogressive.
It makes communication more difficult.
It makes communication more difficult.
8ball
Maximum Facepalm
free spirit
more tea vicar?
don't talk soft lad, we talk proper up ere tha knows...
Lo Siento.
Second As Farce
Have you thought the latter might be half the point? Historically speaking, marginalised groups speaking in codes and slang is hardly unique.
gentlegreen
I hummus, therefore I am ...
I find it sad when what they need to escape is to learn as much as they can.
Idris2002
canadian girlfriend
After my birthday this year (25) I will officially be "approaching 30"
I said to a younger colleague recently that the first hit record I remember is "Another Brick in the Wall".
She just looked at me and said. . . "wow. . .you're really old".
trabuquera
Modesty Bag
The 2 kids in the OP were communicating fine. It's not meant for you and I.
It's not meant for you and ME.
(If you're going to use proper English please use it properly. 
)And nor is it anything to get upset about, or anything new. Young urban people in slang-having horror shock. Really? Making up words and playing around with them - what will this lost generation think of next??
One valid question from/for this thread: given the demographics it seems likely that there should be increasing amounts of Urdu or Bengali-based patois, or at least slang words, in young people's repertoire these days. But that doesn't seem to be happening. Is it a 'cool' thing - because Asian kids and their home cultures just aren't as admired as Caribbean ones? (I already know there's a specifically new Yorkshire-Mirpuri hybrid accent, cos I've heard it spoken, but that's not what I mean). Unless Nang has already been proved to be of Asian origin of course.
8ball
Maximum Facepalm
It's young-person slang, not prison slang.
frogwoman
No amount of cajolery...
and when the kids in the article start to get prostate cancer and become impotent no doubt they will invent some new words for that as well
goldenecitrone
post tenebras lux
A colleague of mine was telling me how much his mate loved the Smiths. I asked him if his friend had ever seen them live and he gave me an odd look and said 'No, he wasn't born then.' I felt old.
andysays
Love and solidarity
"you and ME"
And correct grammar...
(thanks, 8ball)
free spirit
more tea vicar?
Lo Siento.
Second As Farce
there's no escape. where do you think we live? In an age of social mobility and equality of opportunity?
ShiftyBagLady
Thinks she is a flower to be looked at
My son used a word this morning which I didn't recognise so I asked Hume what it meant. He said his Bengali idea told him it and it meant 'man' as in 'stop being so annoying man'. So I looked it up and it seems there is a similar word 'Peta' which translated means of the belly, or from the belly so in the way he was using it it would mean that he meant it from bottom of his belly that his companion was annoying. That's interesting.
I also caught him out swearing in Hindi, he didn't realise that it was a swear word or that it should even count to as we both only speak English.
In principle, it matters very little and is confirmation of various linguistic theories and is interesting for study. However. I find it annoying. I find the actual sound of the slang discordant and it jars, perhaps intentionally or at least for effect. I find it difficult to engage with conversationally so when my son does slip into this manner of speaking I ask him to switch back in to mine. I also thinks it is important that children/teens can switch between these codes because I think language and communication IS loaded with meanings, connotations and unintended signifiers which puts people at a disadvantage when their language is restricted. Is important to know what is appropriate and when and to be capable of both.
Libertad
Sparking up a rollie in the Reichstag
ska invita
back on the other side
while we're here, anyone explain what two-twos means? never understood that
skyscraper101
0891 50 50 50
What I like about the evolution of English in Britain is how we say stuff in a kind of knowing or ironic way, like "wicked" or "safe" and then without realising it becomes part of your everyday lexicon.
sihhi
Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered
Nang is a funny one. I don't see where its Asian origins come in. It means popper in Australian slang, I don't see how that's related.
A popular online source urbandictionary has it as a Hackney thing from schoolchildren early teens - possible but normally the slang comes from youths who are slightly older, on road out of school, looked up to by younger kids.
Someone explained to me as based from a funny version of bad (meaning good) - not just bad but nan(g) apparently from chatting / MCing / rhyming over certain types of music when words get corrupted as part of word-plays and boasts - I'm dubious about that too.
I hear foreign words used as part of English a lot but only amongst that language subgroup - "Kurwa this guy has my phone". Or English words that are easier than the original language's terms "Shoppin(g)e gidiyorum" instead of a more cumbersome "alisveris yapmaga gidiyorum", but again only from that language's speakers.
I think I've heard jol or jhol (Hindi) meaning a fake or a joke used by non-Hindi speakers/from that culture.
Editor's article was from 2006, I'm sure there are updates since then - perhaps it's (MLE) an established dialect now.
sihhi
Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered
I think it just means 'so' or an 'of course' in mid-sentence.
Possibly something to do with a shortened version of 'like two twos are four' 'just as two and two is four', like how 'word' meaning 'yes (I agree)' is actually a short form of 'my word is bond'.
eatmorecheese
He's fallen out of the car again
I used to be irritated by London slang (really a sub-dialect) and the new vowel differences. I absolutely love it now. You can hear the combination of so many different cultural roots in the words, terms and sentence construction. Languages evolve, and London is at the cutting edge in the last two decades or so.
But kids are generally fully aware of the need to differentiate their idiom depending on the audience they're talking to.
But kids are generally fully aware of the need to differentiate their idiom depending on the audience they're talking to.
Favelado
J'adore South Shore
I don't think it differs from most languages in that respect. It's just a feature of language in general, rather than something special about English.
eatmorecheese
He's fallen out of the car again
Yep, all languages have a certain level of capacity to do this, but English has certain characteristics (I think) which make it easier. It's a broad concoction that borrows easily. A little English goes a long way, even if it sometimes takes years to master the illogical inconsistencies. Just look at the number of English-based creoles in the Caribbean, West Africa and elsewhere. English borrows easily and is forgiving of those with only a basic vocabulary.
ShiftyBagLady
Thinks she is a flower to be looked at
You're right and toying with the boundaries is itself an interesting exercise but they all take practise and if children are not well practised in standard English then it stands to reason that they feel less able to communicate in spheres where that is the currency of exchange.
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