The migration of English slang: Past and present

41
 Tập 12, Số 6, 2018Tạp chí Khoa học - Trường ĐH Quy Nhơn, ISSN: 1859-0357, Tập 12, Số 6, 2018, Tr. 41-4
THE MIGRATION OF ENGLISH SLANG: PAST AND PRESENT 
NGO DINH DIEU TAM
Department of Foreign Languages, Quy Nhon University
ABSTRACT
Slang is becoming much more dominant, especially in this era of information technology. It ignores 
barriers of languages and cultures, becoming a linguistic phenomenon among the youth. Vietnamese is no 
exception to adopt English slang, therefore, more attention should be put on slang from academics. This 
article gives an overview of slang history, why youth enjoys slang, how they are increasingly exposed to 
slang and how such trends may affect Vietnamese native language and, thus, deserve attention.
Keywords: Slang, migration, social networks, global, culture, teen-speak, adolescent, lexicography.
TÓM TẮT
Sự di cư của từ lóng tiếng Anh
Sự phát triển của tiếng lóng, đặc biệt là trong thời đại công nghệ thông tin hiện nay, đang có một 
sức lan tỏa vô cùng mạnh mẽ, vượt qua rào cản ngôn ngữ và văn hóa giữa các quốc gia, trở thành một hiện 
tượng và phong cách ngôn từ trong giới trẻ. Tiếng Việt cũng không nằm ngoài độ phủ sóng của hiện tượng 
“di cư” ngôn ngữ đặc biệt này. Bài viết đề cập đến lịch sử phát triển của tiếng lóng Anh ngữ qua thời gian, 
phân tích tâm lý giới trẻ và công nghệ thông tin như là chất xúc tác cho sự nhân rộng đó về mặt địa lý, đồng 
thời nêu lên sự ảnh hưởng của tiếng lóng “di cư” đối với tiếng Việt, từ đó khẳng định nhu cầu nghiên cứu 
thiết yếu về hiện tượng ngôn ngữ này. 
Từ khóa: Tiếng lóng, sự di cư, mạng xã hội, mang tính toàn cầu, văn hóa, lối nói của tuổi teen, thanh 
thiếu niên, việc soạn từ điển.
1. Introduction
When writing about slang, one must understand that no work of research will ever be able 
to give read ers a complete picture of how slang functions. This is due to the mercurial nature of 
slang: like quicksilver, it is fl uid and ever-changing. Since new slang words are constantly created 
and spread across cultures, researchers and etymologists struggle in keeping their work relevant 
and up to date with the latest word trends. 
Nevertheless, there is still plenty of literary material available regarding the creation and 
spread of the English slang. McCrindle (2011) devotes his book, “Word Up”, to understanding 
youth slang. Fasola (2011) traces the roots of slang in her graduate thesis “Slang and Its History”. 
Other writers have tried to pin down and analyze the daily explosion of new slang on the Internet, 
to which “The Urban Dictionary,” an online encyclopedia of modern English slang, is a great 
source of reference. 
*Email: dieutam09@gmail.com
Ngày nhận bài: 14/6/2018; Ngày nhận đăng: 02/8/2018 
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If we view language like a well tended fl ower garden, kept tidy and orderly by grammar 
and spelling, then slang is generally regarded as the wild, fast growing weed that sprouts up 
overnight and tries to take over the beautifully kept fl owerbeds. It has been criticized by many 
members of the older generation as a form of linguistic impurity. But the weed can just as easily 
grow into a beautiful wildfl ower. We must recognize that slang has an increasingly important role 
in the creation of new vocabulary and, thus, should receive greater attention from academics. 
Due to the advent of the Internet, the rate of migration of English slang from culture to 
culture and nation to nation has reached a new level. Its use, mostly by teens and young adults, 
has become universal. The introduction of the internet and its various media platforms have had 
a huge effect on the speed at which English slang now spreads throughout the world, particularly 
in developing nations. All of these things are changing English, as well as the native languages of 
countries like Vietnam.
2. What Is Slang?
First let us establish the basic defi nition of what constitutes slang.
Simpson and Weiner (1989, p. 1134) defi ne it as: 
“A type of language consisting of words and phrases that are regarded as very informal, 
that are more common in speech than writing, and are typically restricted to a particular context 
or group of people.”
Webster (1806/ 2018 ed, p. 627) says slang is: 
“An informal nonstandard vocabulary composed typically of coinages, arbitrarily changed 
words, and extravagant, forced, or facetious fi gures of speech.”
Finally O’Shea et al. (2008, p. 952) give us this defi nition: “a very informal language that 
is used especially in speech by particular groups of people and which sometimes includes words 
that are not polite: see ‘computer slang’ and ‘teenage slang’”. 
Throughout the history of English, slang has been viewed as illegitimate and inappropriate 
for teaching and use by educated people. The fi rst known record of the word slang, in 1785, is a 
reference to a form of English called “cant”, spoken mostly by rogues and criminals at the margins 
of society. The origin of the word “slang” is under dispute. Since that fi rst use of the word, its 
meaning has retained the image of low class or low quality until very recently. For generations 
students were taught and encouraged to use “Proper English”, which was devoid of slang. The use 
of English slang was confi ned to limited groups and areas, its spread actively discouraged by the 
established educational norms of the day (Fasola, 2011).
3. The Migration of English Slang Throughout the World
The invention of the printing press and the increased mobility of English speaking 
populations resulted in the spread of slang to other places. Starting around 1700, broadsheets and 
cheap newspapers wanted to attract more customers, often from the working classes. It can be 
assumed that they wrote in the vernacular of their potential customers. In this way slang began to 
enter printed English. It is well documented that from about 1550 through the early 1900s, British 
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sailors were traveling the globe spreading their language, and likely picking up new language 
from other places. Sailors and criminals were often from the same caste in those days and their 
dialect of English was highly likely to be fi lled with slang. In the colonial era large settlements of 
common criminals were made by England to both Australia and America as an alternative to prison 
back in Britain. As with the sailors, these people did not speak standard English. English slang began 
to spread, but at a slow pace. It was still mainly transferred by person to person contact.
The spread of slang really gained speed in the early 20th century with the invention of 
electronic media, fi rst in music recordings and radio, and later through movies and television. 
(Khan Academy, 2018). While the pace of slang’s spread increased, it was still limited globally 
to those cities and nations with regular access to these media forms. For example, youngsters 
in London or Paris might have easily picked up the language of 1930’s Chicago gangsters from 
movies, while the rest of the world remained largely ignorant of phrases like “hooch” for whiskey 
or “copper” for a policeman.
Today with the internet and with its social networks and media sharing platforms, the 
spread of slang is more rapid and more global. The internet can bring new language directly to 
individual homes and telephones. A musician in Canada can record a video of her latest song and 
post it on YouTube giving anyone on the web instant access to not only her new song, but all the 
slang written into it. Suddenly artists such as Avril Lavigne and Run DMC were spreading their 
subculture’s language (a songwriter/skateboarder and urban black rapper, respectively) worldwide 
in an instant. Teens in India and Japan began adding words like shred* and punk*, or chump* and 
pumped up* to their daily English. To be sure, these teens were also creating their own slang in 
their own language, but they could now add the newest, often diffi cult to defi ne, English slang 
phrases into their speech. By 2010 all varieties of English slang were quickly becoming global 
using the direct delivery system provided by the internet.
4. The Creation of New Slang
The creation of new slang is always a part of any living language. English is possibly more 
susceptible to slang due to its global use and the immigrant populations in the UK and the USA. 
Not only do different nations and cultures add their own slang to English, the widespread teaching 
of English has made it nearly impossible to maintain a pure standardized version. With each 
succeeding generation, new words and meanings come into use. Some last for hundreds of years 
while others die out quickly. Every generation, usually while in their teen years, creates new ways 
to express themselves. Their goal is apparently to separate themselves from previous generations 
(ie: their parents) and create lexicography that is unique to their age, social group or groups they 
wish to be associated with. Creating their new “teen-speak” is often accomplished by altering the 
meaning and/or spelling of existing words or previous slang, or by creating entirely new words. 
Social groups that are farther from mainstream society, but intriguing to youth through music 
and media, tend to create more slang and also more unique slang. Consequently, groups such as 
musicians, surfers and inner city African Americans have contributed large amounts to teen slang 
throughout recent generations.
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While much of slang is created anew with successive generations, some words survive many 
generations. These words may change in meaning and pronunciation, even spelling, however, a 
clear path can be traced as the word moves through the years. An excellent example of this is 
“cool”. The fi rst usage is over 100 years ago, originating in the Afro-American jazz culture of the 
early 20th century. Its meaning of “having soul or deep feeling” has evolved as it crossed social 
groups from Jazz musicians to beatniks (white hipsters of the 1950s) to the hippies in the 1960s, 
and then to California suburban Valley Girls in the 1990s. These girls used “kewl” to mean “in 
style” or “up to standard”. The meaning of cool has varied at times to mean excellent, ie: “That 
is a cool song, I love it.” to one of us as in this use: A: “I don’t trust John.” B: “Don’t worry, he’s 
cool.” It is still in use today and can carry, depending on context, most of its older meanings along 
with the most recent. It has been adopted by the advertising industry to market a variety of things 
from snack chips to bicycles. In fact it could be said that cool is no longer actual slang since it 
has been used by multiple generations, social groups and nationalities. English students from all 
continents use it easily and accurately. It has entered English permanently, carrying the positive 
meaning of being in current style, attractive or desirable. We might say that cool, as slang, is no 
longer cool, yet it persists. Aging baby boomers use it in the way they learned 40 to 50 years ago, 
while Generation Y has reversed its meaning, to be cool, according to them, is negative or anti-
cool. (McCrindle, 2011)
Another word that has been moving through a variety of uses for more than 150 years is 
“dude”. It fi rst appeared in the 1850s in New York to describe a well dressed, or perhaps fancily 
dressed male. Its exact beginnings are not known, however it might have crossed over from the 
German word “dude” for fool. Other research indicates it was shortened from “Yankee Doodle”, 
a phrase referring to foppish men of the day. It migrated west to the frontier areas of America 
and took on the meaning of any city man that wasn’t dressed or experienced in the rough ways 
of the cowboys, miners and other characters of those times. Synonyms include “city slicker” 
and “dandy”, all were derogatory and exclusionary in use. (Okrent, 2013). In the 1960s “dude” 
made a comeback among California surfers and skateboarders. It could be used to address any 
male and had the meaning of one who never gets upset, is always calm and laid back, also a good 
friend or mate. As in “Hey dude, let’s go get something to eat.” (Gould, 2013) In this use it is 
complimentary and inclusive. This new use expanded into mainstream culture and is now used all 
over the world, it has jumped gender lines and is used by young women as well, adding feminine 
suffi xes to create “dudine” and “dudette”.
Examples of entirely new words that have entered teen vernacular are many, here are a few 
notable examples; “hangry” to be so hungry that you become angry and impatient, “crunk” drunk 
and acting crazy, “phat” meaning awesome or cool, and if a young man uses it to describe a young 
woman it means attractive. This last one is thought to have originated as an acronym for Pretty 
Hot And Tempting (Daniels, 2016).
Interestingly, youth slang is predominantly tied to risky or immature activities such as 
drinking, parties, dating and sex. It rarely includes references to school or homework and the 
mundane parts of teen life. This may be because the original use of slang is thought to be a 
language created in the criminal parts of society and thus it allowed thieves and other lowlifes to 
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speak freely about their business without being understood by those around them, (Fasola, 2013). 
Much of today’s gangsta rap music slang has this same origin. Similarly, today’s teens often 
want to discuss their lives and not have their parents or teachers know exactly what is being said. 
Forinstance the phrase P.O.S. when spoken or typed means Parent Over Shoulder. One teen can 
tell friend on the phone or via message that a parent is watching or listening, without the parent 
knowing what has been said, ie: “My situation is POS right now.” Another technique to confuse 
adults is to give words opposite meaning. The word “sick” currently means awesome or great. 
If a parent overhears their teenager refer to a party with too much beer and loud music as “really 
sick” they would be inclined to think their child doesn’t like that sort of party, when in fact their 
teen is saying it sounds great. 
In the same way slang can be used to defi ne sub-groups within peer groups. Young 
people that are particularly interested in a certain music or activity may invent their own style 
of pronunciation or slant the meaning of existing slang so that it becomes recognizable only to 
members of that sub-group. This can create the feeling of membership in a clique that many teens 
desire, while excluding those that are not welcome. People that attempt to use slang from a group 
that they are not a part of are referred to as “wiggers”. From the notion of wearing a wig to change 
one’s appearance, or in this case trying to change your way of speaking to appear to be part of a 
group. An often humorous result of “wigging” is when wealthy non-African teens try to speak 
Ebonics, the slang and colloquial language of poor African-Americans which has been made 
widely available through popular music.
5. The Spread of Slang Today
Now that smart phones and computers give us instant and constant connection to the web, 
young people have unfettered access to social networks and media sharing platforms such as Face 
book and YouTube. In addition to spreading slang at a rapid pace around the world, these devices 
and platforms also create the need for many new words to describe our use of them. Take the 
word “blog” for example, it is defi ned as a website that follows someone’s opinion or progress 
on some task or idea. It began as “web log”, using the defi nition of log to mean a diary or record 
of events, as in a ship’s log. The phrase web-log proved diffi cult to enunciate clearly and thus 
“blog” was born. Likewise phrases like cyber bullying and selfi e became necessary to describe 
actions that we were doing with our computers and phone cameras. However, the internet by itself 
doesn’t cause the creation of slang, it merely creates the need for new language to go with the new 
technology (Kalowich, 2017). The real signifi cance of the internet is the speed and totality of its 
infl uence. Youth in any country can now adopt “dude” and “selfi e” into their jargon at the same 
pace as their peers around the globe.
6. English Slang in Vietnam
According to hootsuite.com (a global internet marketing research company) over 3 billion 
people worldwide used some form of social media in 2018, and more than 5 billion have mobile 
phones. That is 42% and 68% of world population respectively. (See graph number one.)
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Graph 1. (Source: www.hootsuite.com)
Additionally, looking at the 17 most common social media platforms, the second graph 
from Global web Index shows that the users aged 16 to 24 account for a low of 25% to a high 
50%, depending on the platform used. Age 25 to 34 is the next largest bracket, at about 33% for 
each network, resulting in 58% to 83% of all social media users being under the age of 35. This 
means all social networks are used overwhelmingly by those under 35 years old. The numbers 
for YouTube users are similar.
Graph 2. (Source: www.globalwebindex.com)
According to Statista.com, in Vietnam there were 58 million Face book users registered as 
of April of 2018. 
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Graph 3. (Source:www.statista.com)
If we apply the global fi gures to Vietnam, we can assume that about 30 to 47 million 
Vietnamese, all under the age of 35, are regular users of internet media platforms and apps, 
this does not account for multiple users on one account (such as a family sharing a Face book 
page) so the true numbers are probably higher. All this increased use of internet, especially in the 
developing world, has happened within the last ten years. Face book alone has increased from 
200 million worldwide users in 2009 to 2 billion users in 2017 according to statista.com. When 
we consider that during these same years the Vietnamese government has been implementing a 
nationwide English language course from grade 3 to grade 12, it is easy to arrive at the conclusion 
that Vietnamese youth have been increasing their exposure to English exponentially. Being 
young and naturally curious they are drawn to the culture of English music and movies and 
thereby the slang that comes with those cultures. Justin Bieber, Taylor Swift and Adele are as 
ubiquitous here as they are in England or the USA. UK and US television are widely viewed on 
Asian cable networks. Adolescent students, bored with the daily school lessons of grammar and 
vocabulary, surf the web for catchy slang and even swear words so they can show their peers how 
clever they are at English. Most Vietnamese English teachers have heard English swear words 
muttered when homework is assigned, often followed by giggles and whispers as teens try out 
their newly discovered words. Parents and teachers fi nd it increasingly confusing to understand. It 
is already diffi cult to keep up with new vocabulary that is part of normal English, understanding 
constantly shifting and changing slang can be a full time job all by itself. As all this new slang 
enters Vietnam’s lexicon, it transforms Vietnamese as well (Tran Thi Mai Đao, 2010). Popular 
singers mix English phrasing with Vietnamese, young adults use “O.M.G.” as readily as “Troi 
Oi”, along with “Forever Alone” and other phrases that fi t their style and personality. Primary 
school students with enough exposure to English TV can insert “No way!” or “Whatever” into a 
Vietnamese sentence easily and with accurate meaning.
7. Conclusion: Looking to the Future
The effect of English slang on Vietnamese language and culture i