Rhyming slang is a form of slang word construction in the English language. It is especially prevalent in the UK, Ireland and Australia. It was first used in the early 19th century in the East End of London; hence its alternative name, Cockney rhyming slang. In the United States, especially the criminal underworld of the West Coast between 1880 and 1920, rhyming slang has sometimes been known as Australian slang.
A dictionary is a listing of words in one or more specific languages, often arranged alphabetically, which may include information on definitions, usage, etymologies, pronunciations, translation, etc. or a book of words in one language with their equivalents in another, sometimes known as a lexicon. It is a lexicographical reference that shows inter-relationships among the data.
Internet slang refers to various kinds of slang used by different people on the Internet. An example of Internet slang is "LOL" meaning "laugh out loud". It is difficult to provide a standardized definition of Internet slang due to the constant changes made to its nature. However, it can be understood to be any type of slang that Internet users have popularized, and in many cases, have coined. Such terms often originate with the purpose of saving keystrokes or to compensate for small character limits. Many people use the same abbreviations in texting and instant messaging, and social networking websites. Acronyms, keyboard symbols and abbreviations are common types of Internet slang. New dialects of slang, such as leet or Lolspeak, develop as ingroup internet memes rather than time savers. Many people use internet slang not only on the Internet but also face-to-face.
Slang is language of an informal register that members of particular in-groups favor over the common vocabulary of a standard language in order to establish group identity, exclude outsiders, or both.
An antiquarian or antiquary is an aficionado or student of antiquities or things of the past. More specifically, the term is used for those who study history with particular attention to ancient artifacts, archaeological and historic sites, or historic archives and manuscripts. The essence of antiquarianism is a focus on the empirical evidence of the past, and is perhaps best encapsulated in the motto adopted by the 18th-century antiquary Sir Richard Colt Hoare, "We speak from facts, not theory."
Shelta is a language spoken by Irish Travellers, particularly in Ireland and the United Kingdom. It is widely known as the Cant, to its native speakers in Ireland as De Gammon, and to the linguistic community as Shelta. It was often used as a cryptolect to exclude outsiders from comprehending conversations between Travellers, although this aspect is frequently over-emphasised. The exact number of native speakers is hard to determine due to sociolinguistic issues but Ethnologue puts the number of speakers at 30,000 in the UK, 6,000 in Ireland, and 50,000 in the US. The figure for at least the UK is dated to 1990; it is not clear if the other figures are from the same source.
LOL, or lol, is an initialism for laugh(ing) out loud and a popular element of Internet slang. It was first used almost exclusively on Usenet, but has since become widespread in other forms of computer-mediated communication and even face-to-face communication. It is one of many initialisms for expressing bodily reactions, in particular laughter, as text, including initialisms for more emphatic expressions of laughter such as LMAO and ROFL. Other unrelated expansions include the now mostly obsolete "lots of luck" or "lots of love" used in letter-writing.
Eric Honeywood Partridge was a New Zealand–British lexicographer of the English language, particularly of its slang. His writing career was interrupted only by his service in the Army Education Corps and the RAF correspondence department during World War II.
LGBT slang, LGBT speak, or gay slang is a set of slang lexicon used predominantly among LGBT people. It has been used in various languages since the early 20th century as a means by which members of the LGBT community identify themselves and speak in code with brevity and speed to others.
A cant is the jargon or language of a group, often employed to exclude or mislead people outside the group. It may also be called a cryptolect, argot, anti-language or secret language. Each term differs slightly in meaning, and their use is inconsistent.
"Chav", also "charver" and "scally" in parts of Northern England, is a British pejorative term used to describe an anti-social lower-class youth dressed in sportswear. "Chavette" has been used to refer to a female chav, and the adjectives "chavvy", "chavvish", and "chavtastic" have been used in relation to items designed for or suitable for use by chavs. In Ireland, "skanger" is used in a similar way.
Terms used to describe homosexuality have gone through many changes since the emergence of the first terms in the mid-19th century. In English, some terms in widespread use have been sodomite, Sapphic, Uranian, homophile, lesbian, gay, and same-sex attracted. Some of these words are specific to women, some to men, and some can be used of either. Gay people may also be identified under the umbrella terms queer and LGBT.
Thieves' cant was a cant, cryptolect, or argot which was formerly used by thieves, beggars and hustlers of various kinds in Great Britain and to a lesser extent in other English-speaking countries. It is now mostly obsolete, and is largely relegated to the realm of literature and fantasy role-playing, although individual terms continue to be used in the criminal subcultures of both Britain and the United States. Its South German and Swiss equivalent is the Rotwelsch, its Dutch equivalent is Bargoens and the Serbo-Croatian equivalent is Šatrovački.
A slang dictionary is a reference book containing an alphabetical list of slang, which is vernacular vocabulary not generally acceptable in formal usage, usually including information given for each word, including meaning, pronunciation, and etymology. It can provide definitions on a range of slang from more mundane terms to obscure sexual practices. Such works also can include words and phrases arising from different dialects and argots, which may or may not have passed into more common usage. They can also track the changing meaning of the terms over time and space, as they migrate and mutate.
Dirty Sanchez is a purported sex act which consists of feces purposely being smeared onto a partner's upper lip. Sex-advice columnist Dan Savage says the act is completely fictional. Brian Bouldrey in Dirty Words: A Literary Encyclopedia of Sex says the act is an urban legend. The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English says, "This appears to have been contrived with the intention to provoke shock rather than actually as a practice, although, no doubt, some have or will experiment."
British slang is English language slang used and originating in the United Kingdom and also used to a limited extent in Anglophone countries such as the Republic of Ireland, South Africa, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand, especially by British expats. It is also used in the United States to a limited extent. Slang is informal language sometimes peculiar to a particular social class or group and its use in Britain dates back to before the 15th century. The language of slang, in common with the English language, is changing all the time; new words and phrases are being added and some are used so frequently by so many, they almost become mainstream.
The Royal Air Force developed a distinctive slang which has been documented in works such as Piece of Cake and the Dictionary of RAF slang.
A Dictionary of Modern Slang, Cant and Vulgar Words is a dictionary of slang originally compiled by publisher and lexicographer John Camden Hotten in 1859.
John Stephen Farmer also known as J. S. Farmer was a British lexicographer, spiritualist and writer. He was most well known for his seven volume dictionary of slang.
