‘All slang is metaphor, and all metaphor is poetry’ –Gilbert K Chesterton

Slang is an aspect of modern language that has been debated and fret over for many years. Looking into the reasons why led me to identify with those who claimed that slang affected job prospects and education, however, to agree with those who put forward the idea that appropriacy is the key to allowing slang to grow and progress without negative effects.

Having spent the majority of my childhood in the care of my grandparents whilst my parents were out at work, it became clear as I grew older that my idiolect had been greatly affected by their influence. It was not uncommon for them to speak in a 1950’s-BBC-received pronunciation, particularly in a public setting. This resulted in me always sounding my t’s, rarely using contractions and never answering a question with a slang phrase as terms like ‘Yeah?’ and ‘Huh?’ were vigorously corrected.

With other influences in my life ranging from friends at school to ‘Hannah Montana’, I eventually arrived at senior school with a fairly wide and diverse vocabulary that was best described as a mixture of Standard English with a spattering of gang-slang. Having been brought up to believe that using slang phrases committed “a heinous crime against the English Language” as put by journalist Denise Winterman, I was surprised to witness intellectual, clearly educated discussion responses from girls in my form who later swore like troopers throughout break time. This drew me to the conclusion that slang does not, in fact limit your learning capacity but enhances it, allowing you to merge seamlessly into different social groups, the key being gauging the appropriacy of the situation.

However, in recent weeks, my opinions have been challenged and tested, a fine example of this being the article published by The Guardian writer Nick Harding. He claims that ‘this indecipherable code speak’ is slowly filtering itself into the everyday dialect of his daughter Millie, explaining how conversations are now ‘dotted with misused prepositions’ which he is constantly trying to correct by ‘yanking the grammatical reigns’. It’s fair to say that Mr Harding is quite concerned about the effect that ‘Multicultural London English’ is having on his daughter, both outside and inside the classroom. Although, there do appear to be studies that support Harding’s claims that slang is affecting job prospects and education, an example being a West Midlands primary school that banned it’s pupils from using slang terms. This resulted in a 41% increase in children achieving higher than level 5 in reading and a ‘good’ Ofsted report.

It appears that the demonization of slang stretches further than just fear of illiteracy in our future surgeons and lawyers, but to its association with criminal activity. A slightly unconventional example of this is ‘Polari’; an eclectic, secretive slang developed mainly by gay prostitutes in the West End as a way of avoiding exposure and discrimination. Not only was the trade something that was highly frowned upon, but it aided in slang carrying a heavy backpack full of negative connotations. It is not a surprise that parents worry about the seemingly incomprehensible gibberish that their children pick up from peers when it can be associated with social stigma and lawlessness.

An article from the BBC proves, however, that slang may not deserve such a negative reputation when it is considered by the editor of the Oxford Dictionary of modern slang not to be a ‘lazy use of language’. Considered to be a natural human tendency, the article claims that we all ‘use fillers because we can’t keep up highly-monitored, highly grammatical language all the time’. This was affirmed to me when reading a transcript of Highgate Wood School where an English teacher, none the less, uses fillers such as ‘Er’ and continues to repeat herself, adding to the evidence that non fluency features are not a result of a slang takeover but of a subtle human reaction that causes us to fill the ‘thinking space’. The dialect of the teacher clearly matches that of the student who continuously uses ‘like’ and ‘um’, yet still manages to form a relatively knowledgeable response by pausing at necessary points to gather her thoughts. This supports my view that certain aspects of slang only enhance your ability to learn.

Banning slang in school may appear to have a positive effect on the grades of the students, however, slang is believed to create a sense of belonging and friendship between peers. Groups that create their own phrases and terms in order to identify with one another are not uncommon and the majority that I interact with are neither criminals nor high school drop outs. It is evident that the possibility of creating segregation between students and authority figures is likely, however, feeling as if you are losing touch with the younger generation is no reason to expect them to halt their literary growth in order for you to catch up.

I have always believed that appropriacy is vital and speaking to your headmaster in the same way that you would speak to your ‘BFF’ is unbefitting. Although, banning slang is not the way for students to achieve the necessary skills in order to adapt your dialect, and neither can it be policed during the free time of the students. The social wellbeing of the students is also just as important as their academic wellbeing, and as put by Will Coldwell, ‘Banning slang will only further alienate young people, innit’.

Charlotte Creamore, Newstead Wood School