Slang

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Recommended: Semantic changes in the English language

Slang is the everyday common language, generally used by young adults and children, although it is not exclusive. Slang is known to be very informal and usually inappropriate. Today adolescents know more slang words than they do SAT words. According to Valerie Strauss, author of "More and More, Kids Say the Foulest Things," teachers have noticed the rise of this common language in hallways, classrooms, and playgrounds. They believe this is causing the decline of youth's English language skills and leads to a general decline in youth's thoughts. Granting this is a common misconception, often the inability to express one's inner thoughts in a correct manner is confused as being simple minded. She also states that popular culture has played a …show more content…

An intellectual will still have intellectual thoughts just translated into the language they use. Although street language is not an official language, it is a different sort of speech. In order to stop the decline of the English language, youths must work on their code of switching. This is more a problem of verbalizing thoughts into words than having mindless thoughts. Due to the English language decline, the art of slang is rising. When Orwell states that pretentious diction is "...used to dress up simple statement[s]..."(532), it benefits slang words because they are straightforward. Slang was created to have a point come across in a way for multiple people to understand, like any other language. Today slang is seen more as an art, much like the art of graffiti. Rap is now a source of knowledge as rap and hip-hop are being studied under prosody. Valerie Strauss may be right about the English language decline, but individuals thoughts are not. This generation is no longer interested in following the correct rules of our language. They want to branch out and express themselves, uniquely. It may not be the best for our language, but it will inspire our souls. Correct English isn't the most popular, but the sharp ideas of others will always be

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