According to Webster's Dictionary, the term slang is defined as "very informal usage in vocabulary and idiom that is characteristically more metaphorical, playful, elliptical, vivid, and ephemeral than ordinary language" or "the jargon or dialect of a particular class or profession." In the modern world, we are surrounded by slang constantly and in every aspect of our lives. From phrases as common as "what's up," "how's it going" or "dead serious" to newer terms like "sick," "lol" or others, we can find people from each class and creed using their own personal style of slang. Slang may be as widespread as formal speech today, but according to Winona Bullard of the University of North Carolina, we have to look back as far as the 15th century to find the roots of slang today.
The origin of slang in English can be traced back to something called "English Criminal Cant," which was a dialect used amongst English criminals in the 16th century to ensure that they could communicate their "business" dealings without outsiders being able to listen in (Bullard). This shows that slang arose out of a need for a self-styled lexicon amongst a specific class of people to ensure not only that outsiders could not eavesdrop, but also to produce a way to immediately know who is and who isn't a part of that specific group. Criminal Cant eventually became taboo in the 18th century due to its associations with criminal groups, even though less than 10,000 people (out of four million total English speakers) actually spoke and understood Criminal Cant in the 17th and 18th centuries. Next, we will explore how slang became more widely accepted, and how it eventually became a part of daily English speech.
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