2006 Update: Language disapproved of in archaic speech and clucks.
Redefining misanthropy for a fresh generation. Standard posts begin with a definition from Ambrose Bierce's The Devil's Dictionary followed by a modern adjustment. Miscellany on Wednesday and storytelling on Saturday.
Monday, September 04, 2006
Slang
SLANG, n. The grunt of the human hog (Pignoramus intolerabilis) with an audible memory. The speech of one who utters with his tongue what he thinks with his ear, and feels the pride of a creator in accomplishing the feat of a parrot. A means (under Providence) of setting up as a wit without a capital of sense.
2006 Update: Language disapproved of in archaic speech and clucks.
Today on Doug Drones On, a story in verse contributed by a new friend, the Old Mule.
2006 Update: Language disapproved of in archaic speech and clucks.
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29 comments:
Hey dude, how´s it hangin' this morning?
slang,n. accents, foreign languages and rap music.
I love Birece´s take on this!
oh...and also this baby talk people use to communicate with their newborns:
"coooeyyyyyyyy, now whosey little diddle boysie woysie here?"
(bytheby: first and second! I collect metals:)
present tense of slung, as in,
'he is well-slang'
wmvpap: woman moved my pappy
Slang: passable and/or poser patois
perhaps my brain will be more capable of conjuring up a clever and/or amusing definition once i've tossed back a cuppa joe. but, if i were you, i wouldn't hold my breath, for the chances of that *actually* happening are slim and none. (the aforementioned clever and/or amusing definition which may ultimately be described/regarded as "the cat's pajamas", "a doozie", "hunky dory", "killer", and/or "wicked good", that is, *not* the likelihood of my consuming massive amounts of caffeine.)
Slang: The way we word
Yo, Pierce Man is all up-in-himself. I ain't no parrot. That is some cold s***.
Bierce? Well what eva...what kinda name is Aaaaaambrose anyway? I mean maybe your moms gave it to you or what eva, but you betta watch yourself with a wacked tag like that.
slang n. 1) a language foreign on every continent and in every home; 2) a vocabulary meaningless to all but it's own generation
Peace out.
Boy! Don't have a cow just 'cause you don't speak the lingo. Slang is bitchen. It's easy to chop slang, but you outta check it out Clyde. You got a hang-up or sumthin'?
Gotta buzz off now.
Minka, Bierce's take surprised me a little because I can think of four or five times where he slams (other) dictionary-makers and lexicographers for trying to fix language in time. I guess the nice thing about being so sarcastic is hypocrisy is kind of beside the point. When you say you collect metals, you mean like Arsenic?
Brian, yer f***in A, bubba!
Karma, I'm sure I don't know what you mean but you and the verifiers is a strange form of genius.
Puppybrose, however much coffee you'd had when you came up with "The way we word" is the right amount.
Mutha, you betcha.
Great definitions, Quilldancer.
Right-o, Mum.
Oh, and Mutha, I loved the new interview on your site. I can relate to Pete.
U have no i-d how hard it is 4 me 2 resp 2 ur post. I ♥ wurds. Txting is 2days slang. whew
xoxo
Like oh my God, this word like so barfs me out right now. Totally! But what-everrr....
Valerie
Thanks, Doug. Puppybrose's definiton is so perfect I almost didn't bother with mine. Still, I'm diggin' on da righteous words ya'll be passin'.
SLANG, n. Mud up the ear. Derived from the past tense of the verb SLING: I slang that mud right up 'gainst her window. Sure as hell got her attention.
Actually, Doug, Bierce was being consistent. He only got upset with lexicographers "fixing language in time" when they denied him the use of words that were obsolete when Cromwell overthrew the Stuart monarchy. All modern usage was "slang" to him, especially if it was in use by humorists trying to be funny. And we all know what Bierce thought of humorists. I don't imagine that Bierce and Twain got on at all. It's as well that Bierce isn't buried in San Francisco. On the first strains of gangsta rap, the city would have been flattened, burned, and tumbled into the sea.
Mireille: see TELEGRAM. Today is yesterday.
Slang seems to work best orally with gesticulations and countenance.
Minka's first comment cracks me up!!!! She is one witty person for sure.
Slang: Saying "Dang it!" when you really want to say "Damn it all to hell and back!"
Love 20's slang like 22 skiddo
Slang? Huh! Bohemians cannot relate to this word at all, AT ALL!
whoo hoo...this one has really got 'em goin'!...
O Ceallaigh -- sling, slang, slung; fling flang, flung .... And duck when it hits the fan.
22? Isn't that one skid short of a do, pia?
[ducks]
:)
Mireille, there isn't an ounce of marrow in my bones that doesn't ache seeing those instant message codes. I have to thank you for putting yourself through that for us. We'll be changing Mireille to Meschach.
Valley Girl, you're the Sylvia Plath of a new generation.
Quilldancer, you're fine as mist and half as damp.
I see O Ceallaigh, so it was the radical progressivism of Noah Webster that irritated Bierce? Sounds about right.
Icy, wagging's good too.
Jamie Dawn, Jiminy Christmas is another good one. Piety is all about misdirection.
Pia, you'd have been a fine flapper and you know it.
¡O DIOS MIO, flaja!
Ignatius, you're darn tootin'
Your updated 411 on Slang was wicked cool. You're so da bomb home dog.
i may come off as a paper shaker here, but i totally dug today's word, daddy-o! your definition shows you not only got the jets, but the illuminations to do something with 'em. i kid you not, bit daddy, you fractured me from here to, well... Tuesday.
and *that*, Clyde, is the word from the bird.
Sar, Woof!
Puppy, if it's good to you, it's good for you. Think I'm lying?
Ooops, Alice, we roll like dat.
BIG daddy, if you're lyin' you're dyin'. xo
1. Linguistic spice. A little is piquant; more is poison.
2. Pejorative term for other people's argot.
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