Slang Usage In Literature?

[Pensive]

You can see that slang language is used quite a lot in modern literature such as Stephen King's works. Do you think that it is okay to use slangs and it doesn't affect the works or do you discourage slangs?

We were having a debate about it in the class. Our teacher thought that slangs come and go easily, so they shan't be adopted.

Now, I will like to hear your thoughts about it. :)

[Virgil]

You can see that slang language is used quite a lot in modern literature such as Stephen King's works. Do you think that it is okay to use slangs and it doesn't affect the works or do you discourage slangs?

We were having a debate about it in the class. Our teacher thought that slangs come and go easily, so they shan't be adopted.

Now, I will like to hear your thoughts about it. :)

Good question Pensy. Actually excellent question. Joseph Conrad felt exactly like your teacher and would avoid them. But James Joyce felt they captured the historical time and place of the drama and used them frequently; today people can look those kind of things up. So two great writers with opposite opinions. I'm somewhere in the middle. I don't use them often but there are moments when I think it's good to use them.

[muhsin]

To me, using Slang is only applicable/useful in modern literature when a writer is copying/writing the exact word of his character eg in (some instance) dialogue not in composition.

[Shannanigan]

Hmm, never thought of it that way. I was always one to use slang freely because my audience is in the present and I felt the slang truly expressed what I wanted...but for writing that an author wants to stand the test of time, I wonder if it'll be like when we read Shakespeare today and there are little footnotes defining the slang, lol. I guess you'd have to be a pretty good writer for it to last that long, though.

I'm definitely going to continue to use it for most of my writing, but if I ever do it in a more professional manner, hoping for it to last, I may consider avoiding it...

I don't mind it at all when I'm reading, though :)

[rashikwa]

In my opinion, Literature is a mirror of life, a reflection of every aspect of social life specially language. when we use slang in literature that's simply coz it's used in every day life, so I don't think it is bad to use slang in literature, at least when people come to read our literature a hundred years from now they can have a clear idea of how our language was at that time (our time now).that's how I look at it :)

[PeterL]

I think that a little slang goes a long way in literature. Narrative shouldn't include slang at all. In dialogue some slang helps to show the characters, but too much slang makes the dialogue hard to read. Then there are characters who use use a lot of slang, but that has to be necessary for the character. It also depends on the exact slang words used. Some slang has been in use for a very long time, and probably will continue to be used, while other terms come and go.

[TEND]

Narrative shouldn't include slang at all.

I would agree with that in all cases in a third-person narrative, but if told from a first-person perspective I feel that it is appropriate to use.

An example for slang used that is quite obvious (and that I'm sure most have heard of) is Anthony Burgess' 'A Clockwork Orange.' This story is told from a first-person perspective, and was partially in response to the street gangs roaming England at the time who used a certain slang. Burgess who orginally thought of using the current slang but realized that it was everchanging, invented his own sort of slang which the main character and narrator uses throughout, I feel it works very effectively and immerses you quite well into the characters mind and gives a feel of the world the story is taking place in.

[PeterL]

I would agree with that in all cases in a third-person narrative, but if told from a first-person perspective I feel that it is appropriate to use.

An example for slang used that is quite obvious (and that I'm sure most have heard of) is Anthony Burgess' 'A Clockwork Orange.' This story is told from a first-person perspective, and was partially in response to the street gangs roaming England at the time who used a certain slang. Burgess who orginally thought of using the current slang but realized that it was everchanging, invented his own sort of slang which the main character and narrator uses throughout, I feel it works very effectively and immerses you quite well into the characters mind and gives a feel of the world the story is taking place in.

I don't disagree, but in first person narrative, there should be very little slang. An occasional word to show that it is that narrator. In A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court the narrator was riding with some people somewhere, and one of the woman in the party was telling a story. he narrator suggested that she have one of the characters in her story use "bejabbers" every so often to show which character was speaking. I think that is the way to use slang. I sometimes read detective stories, and I find the use of slang in many of those is annoying, but that's just my opinion.

Burges adapted Russian slang, rather than making up his own.

[stlukesguild]

PeterL;

Interesting that you come down somewhat against the use of slang in literature... or narrative... especially considering the writer whom you quote in your signature;). I can't speak to the use of slang from a personal standpoint... as a writer... as I am not one. As a visual artist I am completely open to the merger of "high" and "low art"... to drawing from popular culture as a source for "serious art". There was a great Picasso quote in which he declared that great art is created much in the manner that great princes created children... by the merger of the aristocratic with the "low born" or the "peasant". Without such, he suggested that art became sterile, lifeless, cold... rather like the Habsburgs.

Turning once more to literature, I would question where the line between serious "proper grammar/vocabulary" and "slang"/neologisms/dialects etc... is to be drawn. Dante clearly wrote in a language that was dismissed by many at the time as the "vulgar tongue". Shakespeare, Goethe, and many others coined endless words and phrases... and drew others from usage by the "common folk". The English language as a whole is made of of endless terms that were borrowed from other languages... that were taken from specific regional dialects (compare Chaucer with Langland, for example), etc... There is always a danger that too much focus upon the specific slang... the details of a given place and time... will lead to a work quickly becoming dated. I think this is a balance any artist in nearly any form must deal with.

[cuppajoe_9]

Slang for its own sake looks very self-concious, but I can't imagine The Catcher in the Rye without it.

[TEND]

Slang for its own sake looks very self-concious, but I can't imagine The Catcher in the Rye without it.

Exactly, another example I would use is many of Faulkner's works where certain characters talk (or think) in that southerly manner. I just feel the slang especially in a period novel that takes place in a certain point in time, would not work as well without that use.

Oh, and P.S. Peter L, although Burgess for the most part did use Russian slang as the basis for Nadsat it did not make up the entirety....

[Neovia]

I can't read book that includes too much slang, even I speak it often by myself. I just don't want to read it, novels are wrong places for such words.

[PeterL]

PeterL;

Interesting that you come down somewhat against the use of slang in literature... or narrative... especially considering the writer whom you quote in your signature;). I can't speak to the use of slang from a personal standpoint... as a writer... as I am not one. As a visual artist I am completely open to the merger of "high" and "low art"... to drawing from popular culture as a source for "serious art". There was a great Picasso quote in which he declared that great art is created much in the manner that great princes created children... by the merger of the aristocratic with the "low born" or the "peasant". Without such, he suggested that art became sterile, lifeless, cold... rather like the Habsburgs.

In my opinion, Twain overused slang. With language it is good to keep the concepts of slang and colloquial language separate. Colloquial language is like "low art' it is part of the recognized language, while slang more closely resembles doodling.


Turning once more to literature, I would question where the line between serious "proper grammar/vocabulary" and "slang"/neologisms/dialects etc... is to be drawn. Dante clearly wrote in a language that was dismissed by many at the time as the "vulgar tongue". Shakespeare, Goethe, and many others coined endless words and phrases... and drew others from usage by the "common folk". The English language as a whole is made of of endless terms that were borrowed from other languages... that were taken from specific regional dialects (compare Chaucer with Langland, for example), etc... There is always a danger that too much focus upon the specific slang... the details of a given place and time... will lead to a work quickly becoming dated. I think this is a balance any artist in nearly any form must deal with.

Dialect and slang are also separate things. I speak the regional tongue of New England, so I have vowels that are somewhat to very different from some other regional dialects. Distinguishing dialects in literature is difficult, and I think that a little goes a long way. Bobbie Burns, I think, went too far, but he was trying to make a point.

[macg1]

If I were to use slang in my writing, it would be used to quote certain
characters. The characters who are not-well educated would be the ones
who I would use slang for to a certain extent. Enough to make the vocabulary of the character sound realistic; but not too much that it would
be considered as a stereotype of poorly educated charcters.

[miss tenderness]

it depends on the charaters the story/poem depicts. Sometimes you feel it's forced on the literary work ,sometimes it gives reality to the characters and events.

[Pensive]

If I were to use slang in my writing, it would be used to quote certain
characters. The characters who are not-well educated would be the ones
who I would use slang for to a certain extent. Enough to make the vocabulary of the character sound realistic; but not too much that it would
be considered as a stereotype of poorly educated charcters.
Exactly my thoughts on the matter of slangs.

I am glad to read all the replies in this thread. Thank you all for sharing your opinions! I hope to hear more! :)

[vili]

I would personally think that the use of slang depends largely on two things. One is the actual type of slang used ("slang" is, after all, a very broad term) and to what extent it differs from the "standard" language (if any such exists).

The second point would be that as a writer I am quite uncomfortable with overall statements like "you should..." or "you should not..." -- it is of course only my personal opinion, but I feel that whatever appears to work for a given piece should not be left out simply because of some more general ideas that you might have about what a work of art should be like. Similarly, I agree with cuppajoe_9 that the use of a "non-standard" type of language just for the sake of using it is not really that interesting, and may in fact make the resulting work less interesting as a result.

[litlearner]

I think you need to answer at least these two questions before you decide if slang is appropriate, effective or even permissible: Who is my intended audience? And what is the purpose of my writing? Not all writing is literature--intended for the ages. Some genres are more conducive to slang, like graphic novels, Manga and Comics. You might ask what is my message? Hip Hop uses slang effectively because it is counter-culture--slang is integral to the message of rejection of the dominant society's values.

[ennison]

Almost everyone uses slang in their conversations. A language without it is in the process of decay. Your teacher is right to suggest it is temporary but that is one of its linguistic strengths. Willis Hall's play 'The Long and the Short and The Tall' is packed full of slang and colloquial English which fixes the play in its time. The themes are universal but the language is the immediate language of working-class English soldiers of WWII.The play benefits from that realism. Steinbeck's novel 'Of Mice and Men' is another text packed with slang. John Updike's short story 'A&P' would not work unless he had captured that mix of teenage cynicism and romantic gestures through a careful combination of slang and digression. So if good writers use slang then a student who wants to write well should practise its use too. But you have to have a good ear. Keep a little notebook to write down things you hear your friends and others say. You'll realise that slang is often very inventive as well as often very rude. Some of its more persistent words are however very vague and can suggest lazy thinking. Now here's a question. In Hall's play one of the characters says 'It's put the kybosh on the journey back'. 'Kybosh' - a grand word taken into English from a neighbouring language but how many of you know it, use it, or could explain it. Probably not many. So in one sense your teacher is correct but in another not

[subterranean]

I can't read book that includes too much slang, even I speak it often by myself. I just don't want to read it, novels are wrong places for such words.


Slang for its own sake looks very self-concious, but I can't imagine The Catcher in the Rye without it.



I don't know, suppose it depends.

[Pendragon]

Personally, I think it unrealistic to create a character, such as a gangster, for example, and then expect that the character not talk as a gangster really would. I write short (really short!) stories for a website on The Shadow, and they are set in the 30's and 40's. No gangster would ever say: " So I pulled my gun on this guy, and shot him when he wouldn't keep quiet." It would be more like: "So I out wit my gat and tells him to zip it! He starts to sing so I filled him fulla lead!"

Use of slang or colorful language makes a character more realistic. When the author cannot find a word to describe a scene without resorting to slang or colorful street language, (I have one book here, and I won't name book or author in which the word "bastard" appears on every page, and I kid you not!), then maybe the author needs a thesaurus or something! :lol:

[SummerSolstice]

Back when I was in the deepest throes of my word-collecting passion, I came across the lovely little gem "gadzookery" quite often. It refers to the use of archaicisms or outdated slang, especially in a historical novel, and (the unofficial connotation given it by those fortunate souls with a chance to use it) especially to such a degree that it's hard to read or strikes a false note. "Gadzooks" is an archaic interjection; the idea is that, even if your character is in the time period when that word was popular, it's okay, even preferable, to have them say "gosh" instead.

What I got out of this wonderful little linguistic tidbit is that you've got to update your language a little bit just so your reader can relate. In addition, if you pepper your historical novel with bizarre slang words for the sake of authenticity, maybe you're trying too hard. So the moral of the story is, slang is fine, but like all things, use it in moderation. ;)

[PeterL]

"Gadzooks" is an archaic interjection; the idea is that, even if your character is in the time period when that word was popular, it's okay, even preferable, to have them say "gosh" instead.

What I got out of this wonderful little linguistic tidbit is that you've got to update your language a little bit just so your reader can relate. In addition, if you pepper your historical novel with bizarre slang words for the sake of authenticity, maybe you're trying too hard. So the moral of the story is, slang is fine, but like all things, use it in moderation. ;)

""Gadzooks" is an archaic interjection"; that's news. Gadzooks was never a very common word, but it is still in use, as much as it ever was. It is an interjection of surprise closer to "WOW" then to 'gosh". Just because people you know don't use a word doesn't mean that it is obsolete or archaic.

[SummerSolstice]

Shoot, I'm just paraphrasing all the etymological "didjaknows" that I learned the word from. I've never heard anyone say 'gadzooks' myself, but then, my preferred interjection is "fruitcake," and I've never heard anyone else say that either! ^_^ Whatever you can say about the origin, the word, at least, is lovely. Say it out loud... go on! "Gadzookery. Gaaadzookery. GadZOOK-ery..."

[PeterL]

Shoot, I'm just paraphrasing all the etymological "didjaknows" that I learned the word from. I've never heard anyone say 'gadzooks' myself, but then, my preferred interjection is "fruitcake," and I've never heard anyone else say that either! ^_^ Whatever you can say about the origin, the word, at least, is lovely. Say it out loud... go on! "Gadzookery. Gaaadzookery. GadZOOK-ery..."

Gadzooks! You've never heard that spoken. You should take up saying it now and then. The sound of it makes it fit the surprise. I will amit that I have never heard of Gadzookery before.

[ennison]

'Gadzooks!' like 'lo!' or 'Unhand me varlet' is never said by anyone in English unless used self-consciously as an an archaically replete irony - post modern irony no doubt. That's why 'gadzooks' is a good word - it's a joke. Course if it becomes common it'll sound geekily odd.

[PeterL]

'Gadzooks!' like 'lo!' or 'Unhand me varlet' is never said by anyone in English unless used self-consciously as an an archaically replete irony - post modern irony no doubt. That's why 'gadzooks' is a good word - it's a joke. Course if it becomes common it'll sound geekily odd.

Lo and Behold! There are good uses for allegedly obsolete words in everyday language.

Gadzooks! You think its a joke? I think that its rarity makes it more emphatic. It isn't irony at all.

[Niamh]

Slang Usage In Literature?

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You can see that slang language is used quite a lot in modern literature such as Stephen King's works. Do you think that it is okay to use slangs and it doesn't affect the works or do you discourage slangs?


I'm sure that if you examine many of Shakespeares plays you will discover that he uses slang words from his time e.g in Romeo and Juliet Mercutio calls the nurse a Bawd. This was a medieval 'slang' word for a whore. today in ireland the appropriate slang word would be slapper. It just shows that slang words can actually fit in to literature with out affecting the story itself. In truth i believe that a little slang should not be discouraged, as it might simply strengthen an emotion one is trying to express in a sentance.

[Niamh]

Summersolstice: Actually Fruitcake is a very popular amongst everybody i know and is sometimes used as fruit loop as well.

[EAP]

%Slang=Realism%

[Pendragon]

""Gadzooks" is an archaic interjection"; that's news. Gadzooks was never a very common word, but it is still in use, as much as it ever was. It is an interjection of surprise closer to "WOW" then to 'gosh". Just because people you know don't use a word doesn't mean that it is obsolete or archaic."Gadzooks" is a term that mean this exactly: "God's Hooks", a reference to the nails that held Christ to the cross. Also called "Oddsboddkins". As these were considered sacred, it was considered a mild oath. Another term from that same branch is "Oddsblood" or "God's Blood", reference should be clear. There are all sorts of dictionaries on the net to aid writers in making their characters more realistic. Why would they bother if it wasn't important? If as an American I choose to create a British character, I had best not have him place his umbrella in the trunk of his car. He should toss that brelly into the boot of his auto, by Jove!:)

[PeterL]

"Gadzooks" is a term that mean this exactly: "God's Hooks", a reference to the nails that held Christ to the cross. Also called "Oddsboddkins". As these were considered sacred, it was considered a mild oath. Another term from that same branch is "Oddsblood" or "God's Blood", reference should be clear. There are all sorts of dictionaries on the net to aid writers in making their characters more realistic. Why would they bother if it wasn't important? If as an American I choose to create a British character, I had best not have him place his umbrella in the trunk of his car. He should toss that brelly into the boot of his auto, by Jove!:)

Is gadzooks a British word then? I hadn't bothered to look up the origin; I like it well enough as it is. There is an alternative etymology for "Oddsboddkins" (which I have never seen spelled that way before), that it refers to the odd Bodkins who were left after a feud. Bodkin is an Irish surname, and I believe that it is from Galway.

[ennison]

Aye still in use - in Lilliput. Pull the other one cove.

[PeterL]

Aye still in use - in Lilliput. Pull the other one cove.

Gadzooks! Another one who doesn't have the pleasure of hearing interesting exclamations!

[Pendragon]

Is gadzooks a British word then? I hadn't bothered to look up the origin; I like it well enough as it is. There is an alternative etymology for "Oddsboddkins" (which I have never seen spelled that way before), that it refers to the odd Bodkins who were left after a feud. Bodkin is an Irish surname, and I believe that it is from Galway.
I confess I'm not certain if it is British or not, it turns up often enough in English Literature concerning say, Robin Hood, so possibly. "Zounds" is another, while we are on the subject, originals was "God's Wounds", slurred into one word "Zounds". I have a book here on word origins and another called "Diseased English" which contain definitions of many slang terms. But so many are invented every day, it's tough to keep up! And there’s Ebonics and Cockney Rhyming Slang, not to mention "prison speak" and Cajun so:
" I tink chinning wit ya fine, me China, and I'ma go visit 'nudder thread, yo!" :)

[ennison]

Browning has Fra Lippo Lippi, a Florentine monk of the mid-fifteenth century, say 'Zooks, what's to blame? You think you see a monk' Browning was undoubtedly trying to create a realistically archaic form of speech for the painter monk who went on the run with a nun.

[PeterL]

I confess I'm not certain if it is British or not, it turns up often enough in English Literature concerning say, Robin Hood, so possibly. "Zounds" is another, while we are on the subject, originals was "God's Wounds", slurred into one word "Zounds". I have a book here on word origins and another called "Diseased English" which contain definitions of many slang terms. But so many are invented every day, it's tough to keep up! And there’s Ebonics and Cockney Rhyming Slang, not to mention "prison speak" and Cajun so:
" I tink chinning wit ya fine, me China, and I'ma go visit 'nudder thread, yo!" :)

It is English in origin, but I don't know where it was last in common use. I have heard it used in surprises and read it in similar uses.

[dramasnot6]

literature is a reflection of life. if slang enriches the aspect of life that a literary text is attempting to portray, why we should we look down upon it? we'll be getting more out of our reading. of course, slang can be used innapropriately in a text too. but when you are portraying...lets say, someone impoversihed and uneducated, its unrealistic that theyll be speaking like a Princeton graduate. in George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion it is neccesary for Eliza to carry the slang of her time in order to best emphasize her characters linguistic and cultural journey/uprising.