Slang, by those who consider themselves educated, is the degeneration of the human language. When examining slang under a microscope it plays as nothing more than the sudo-speak of an increasingly dumber American society, nothing less than what is making Americans so dumb. But is slang necessary for the evolution of man? Also, what has made slang the new standard for the average citizen of the most prolific country in the world? In search of these answers we must go back in history to find the origins of a blended jargon created by the people for the people, and why it may be the “new” standard of English for the coming millennia.
Slang is nothing new for the base groups of cultures around the English speaking world. For instance, small villages in Middle England spoke with words that were not found in the vocabulary of the aristocracy. Examples of this can be found in Shakespearian work from the entire career of The Bard. Slight jabs towards the political realm of England were found in purposely-altered structure of Shakespeare’s most famous works. Eras in history such as the Great Depression and the Civil Rights Movement are examples of clashing alter-cultures together, creating a need to bridge the gap. It was impossible at the beginning of the Information and Space Age for Americans to not adapt to the ever-shifting world and its need for a new, dominate language that could join those of varying speech levels. Thus, the common-era of slang within day to day language became common place.
Today, the vocabulary of the average student is about 10,000 words; a vocabulary that is at a 60% decline from 1945. Words that are not counted however are words, in slang, that we use day to day to describe new concepts. Props, for example, is a word used to give recognition as well as describe manipulated set-pieces to create an effect. In fact, that sentence was not recognized by spell check as correct, and why? Why should the average American have to revert back to the old way to Standard English when man can get by perfectly fine with his current vernacular? The average American vocabulary would probably be double its current count if lexicographers could bother with increasing the size of the dictionary to fit the new standard of the world. The argument that English has deteriorated to its current state is a flawed one. The reality is simply that a dying breed is holding onto the ways of old at any cost. I started this topic by stating that slang was a jargon created by the people for the people. Well, this means so much more than an evolutionary argument for the English language. If language defines us as a people, then slang most certainly defines America as a country that not only accepts the difference in all circles of people, but also as a country that will eventually blend the ideas of several cultures together. Slang is a testament to the acceptance and reason within the mind of the modern man, a language that every living, English speaking person can identify with in some way, and something that can unite us as a humanity that has finally begun reaching maturity. Ignorance is the driving force behind the slander against slang. And it will eventually be held in contempt. Slang is the evolutionary blueprint of a language that will be the standard for humanity in the future; it has become our process of creating words to suit our day to day lives. It is necessary for progress, and it is more efficient than continuing to adopt words from older languages to suit our needs.
In the end we find that our intelligence has been far from deteriorated in the past 50 to 100 years. We have evolved as a society, within our language, to suit the needs of all social circles within our spoken realm. We have achieved a unified understanding through an irregular-lexicon that not only should be understood but should be taught for the betterment of the English speaking world. Standard English may still be the official standard, but if Darwin at all knows his stuff, then slang will begin to prevail in the battle for the modern standard in the 21st century.
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