Discussion Questions

Aired September 26, 2003

A teacher at Berkeley High School in California assembles a slang dictionary.

1. What type of dictionary have Berkeley High School students created? What are some of the words?

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2. How are slang and Standard English different from each other?

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3. According to the video, new words are usually invented "on the margins of society." What does this mean? What factors do you think contribute to the development and evolution of slang?

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4. Challenge students to translate the slang words used in the video into Standard English. Then ask: What happens to the meaning, expression and delivery of these words once they are translated?

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Related Links

The AmeriSpeak: Expressions of our American Ancestors (http://www.rootsweb.com/~genepool/amerispeak/)

Civil War Slang (http://genie.esu10.org/~dmahalek/Slang.html)

1960's Slang (http://cougartown.com/slang-dict1.html)

1920's Slang (http://home.earthlink.net/~dlarkins/slang-pg.htm)

Wordorigins.org (http://www.wordorigins.org/index.htm)

Keywords

slang, dictionary, communication, margins of society, jankity