Electronic Journey into the Wide World of Slang: 
Finding Slang Sites on the Web
Laura Myllykangas
 

Time to take off 

I set out on my brave mission to find out if there are any authoritative, useful slang dictionaries out there in the wide world of web, and if there are, what is to be gained by referring to them.

Google is my starting point. Full of good hope, I tap the word "slang" into their search box, and wait for results. It gives me a long list of links, the first of which I decide to follow. Yet another set of links. This is, of course, normal for anyone using the search engines. For everyone using the net, that is. The difficulty now is to scan through the results and find the ones that prove to be of use, or (note!) entertaining if not very academic in content. 

Some of the stuff I ran into while selecting the sites really raised the thought in the surfer’s mind: "These people really have too much time in their hands!" But simply for the purpose of presenting a range of different slang sites, some of these have been included in the article.

There is also the problem of the distinction between slang and jargon. Which topics can be considered as jargon, and which as slang? I attack the problem and define jargon as language used in specific situations among a specific group of people -- used in a context that is always the same. With this in mind, I decide to leave out things like mountain biking slang, rap, gangster, prison, drug, gay, poker, naval, Vietnam veteran, and percussion slang. However, as Brecht pointed out, when there is a rule there is always the exception, and so I have included one or two sites that could be classified as jargon, like playground slang and college slang, merely for their entertaining value.

With a suitable itinerary thus charted out, it is now time to travel to the sites and see whether they're worth the visit.
 

First stop USA and Britain – the more general online dictionaries

I begin by looking at two sites that are ambitious and authoritative in appearance. One of them is A Dictionary of Slang, This presents itself as "A monster online dictionary of the rich colourful language we call slang… all from a British perspective." Maintained by J.M. Duckworth at Manchester University, the site is very convincing-looking and provides an extensive (-seeming?) dictionary of current British slang. 

The other one is The Online Slang Dictionary. It is maintained by Walter Rader, a student at University of California at Berkeley. This site relies completely on readers’ contributions, so the material comes directly from the speakers of a language variety. This is both a plus and a minus. Considered from an academic point of view, the selection of material is up to one person’s views, and therefore might not be very objective. However, the fact that all entries are from the actual speakers of a particular slang makes this site interesting, and for sure accurate. Provides quite an extensive general dictionary, from the US perspective. Does not include a lot of phrases, but has a wide list of slang words.

These two dictionaries serve here as the general slang dictionaries. The next thing to look at is slang from different regions of the English-speaking world.

Travelling around the world for Slang - regional varieties

In this section, our electronic journey takes us hopping around the world. Naturally, the majority of slang sites list the slang of a specific area. These areas include major regions like the US, Australia and Canada, but also some very interesting local varieties, like for example Seattle slang. If you are looking for the slang of a particular area, the easiest way to do it, of course, is to go to Google once again and to tap in the search word, e.g. "Seattle Slang". Here, I decided to list a few pages of such local slang to illustrate the point. 

The first stop on our electronic tour around the web is Australia. Aussie slang seems to be a major among the slang sites floating around the WWW. You can find pages and pages of it, so here I decided to name a few. Aussie Slang is the place to begin. This page is a good place to find a particular word of Australian slang. The site has over 400 entries, and with luck the word you’re looking for might just be among them. So, good luck haunting those weird Aussie words. (Whether or not this page is authoritative or not is another thing – but we just have to trust the maker of this page to know his/her business. In fact, the maker of this page does not advertise him/herself too much, the copyright of the page is to sOOz.)

Next stop is at a page titled Australian slang. "G'day, mate! Learn these Australian slang words and phrases and you'll feel at home on your first day Down Under," as the page advertises itself. This is yet another page of the extensive Aussie slang collection. Compare with the above. Didn’t find what you’re looking for up there? Try here. Nice Koala and Kangaroo pictures to illustrate the theme. A few examples from this site are in order. Apparently, Australians talk about "Kangaroos loose in the top paddock" (as in "he's got kangaroos loose in the top paddock") or he doesn't know Christmas from Bourke Street. (Bourke Street is a brightly lit Melbourne street) when they mean "intellectually inadequate" people.

A third page of Aussie slang, although a very different one from the two previous ones, is Australian Hypocoristics. (If you're an acco you might know what that means!) Compiled by an acco, Jane Simpson of the University of Sydney, it offers a searchable database of Australian word clippings, especially -- but not only -- place names. This could be a site for those interested int he mechanics of slang word-fornation. Interesting and amusing anyhow. 

From Down Under, next stop for us is back to North America. As well as the Aussies and Americans, the Canadians deserve their own online slang dictionary. Titled Canadianisms, this was, oddly enough, the only even so-and-so page of Canadian slang I chanced on. If you’re planning to travel to Canada, or want to find out how the people there speak, this is the place to start. For me, the best things about this site were the nicknames for Canadian cities (place names again). For example, Canada is also called "the Great White North", Toronto, Ontario is also known as "the Big Smoke" and Calgary, Alberta as "the Cowtown".

From these major regions, we now zoom in and take a look at some of the slang varieties in local areas. The first place to start, of course, is London. There are loads of sites out there dedicated to London slang. I selected one of them, www.londonSlang.com, which seems to be an extensive and interesting collection of London slang. It also seems to be that the site has earned publicity, and has had almost 200 000 visitors since August 1997! 

For those who are interested in rhyming slang, English-Cockney Rhyming Slang is a very amusing dictionary. The dictionary can be viewed either way, English-Cockney or Cockney-English, and  a specific word can also be searched for. In Cockney rhyming slang, "boozer" (bar) is "Battle Cruiser" and "wife" is "trouble and strife".

Moving on to the New World once again, the target is set at Seattle. The reason I chose A Seattle Lexicon of all the other local slang pages is that it is very different from most other online slang dictionaries. Compiled by Steven E. Callihant, it is actually a vast and interesting dictionary with the entries arranged according to categories instead of the usual alphabetical order of most online slang dictionaries. The categories are "Geography", "Blasts from the Past", "Places & Spaces", "Coffee", "Streets & Beats", "Fish & Seafood", "Events & Celebrations", "Sports" and "Miscellaneous".  A totally (at least academically) unuseful but great site!
 

Surfing across the oceans – in search of comparative slang dictionaries online

Having said enough about the online dictionaries focusing on one slang variety, and its English equivalents, it is now time to surf back and forth between different regions and their slang comparisons. Some of the sites are not very useful, but they are a lot of fun, as they seemingly have demanded a lot of work to be compiled. 

Our first site is The English-to-American Dictionary. It is compiled by a Scot who spent some time in America, Chris Rae. Listing the differences between British and American usage of English, it is, once again, very amusing and entertaining, and even of some use I’d dare say. At least if you’re trying to impress a friend or to act like Romans in Rome (i.e. you want to say the right word in the right shore of the pond). Make the distinction between "biscuit" and "cookie", "lift" and "elevator", or "ladder in tights" instead of "run in pantyhose". Two countries separated by the same language, someone once said. 

Another notable site dedicated for the differences between Am. and Br. English usage is titled "Words that can be confusing in the US & UK". This site gives an extensive list of some words that might present surprises to the speakers of either language variety. Just to illustrate this, the British (as well as the first year English students) go "pub crawling" while their American colleagues go "bar hopping". (Note: last time trying to access the site it did not work. I hope you have better luck as the page was very nice and illustrated the differences lively.)

United Kingdom English for the American Novice is another site meant for the Americans who just can’t figure out what the British mean. It is compiled in 1983 by Terry Gliedt, which, of course, means that some of the entries are somewhat outdated. It has been revised with the current edition having 619 items which define 800 terms. Therefore, in comparison to some of the online slang "dictionaries" we have looked at here, this is one of the largest pieces of work. Potentially a very useful site for people from other language spheres, too. The downside of the page is the fact that it isn’t very up-to-date, and in that light, it is almost impossible to know if the slang expressions are still in use. Just out of curiosity, did you ever know that – at least in the beginning of the 80’s - the Brits usually served "demerara" with coffee and sugar with tea..?

Our next goal is to attack the differences between America and New Zealand (!) of all places… If you come from New Zealand and for some strange reason need to find American cultural terms American Cultural Knowledge for Confused New Zealanders is the place to do it. This page was put together by Michael Witbrock, and it lists the entries in no specific way – alphabetically or otherwise. Later, some newsgroup articles have been added. On the outside, the page doesn’t look very tempting, and the content is somewhat flat (at least from a non-New Zealanders point of view). Not academic or even of much use for students in Finland, but serves as a good example of the range of things you come across when searching for slang dictionaries on the web.

Yet another page meant for the bewildered Americans who travel to that side of the world only to find they can’t possibly understand the natives is Kiwi - Words & Phrases. Distinguishing the maker of the page was somewhat difficult, but after doing a bit of searching I came to the conclusion that they are made by Allan Campbell, PhC, MPS. The site is very convincing-looking, and supports the traditional alphabetical order of listing the entries. Even though the site claims that "it is designed as a helpful insight to folk from the USA who often don't understand what we are talking about!", this site could actually prove of use for others aswell, assuming that they are interested in learning this language variety. 
 

On the thin red line between slang and jargon - Taking a closer look at social, professional and genre varieties

This is the slang-slash-jargon chapter. Here the idea is to overview some of the non-regional slang sites on the web. First, we head to Silicon Valley for The Ultimate Silicon Valley Slang Page. This is made by Mette and Steve Sabram, with additional contributions from surfers. Regarding the type of slang in question, with more than 100 words it is a rather extensive page. Some of the expressions are of use for others than computer workers, but I still wouldn’t say it is useful to most. So, if your future plans include establishing your own computer-related company in Silicon Valley it is probably good for you to check out this site first in order to be able to participate in the conversation over dinner. Other than nerds, no need to bother really.

From Silicon Valley slang we take a look at the higher education around the United States for college slang. Da Bomb is "(the 1997 Cal Poly Pomona slang dictionary) and the dictionary of terms collected by the College Slang Research Project here on the web", as it reads on the page. This site is done as a project by college students, so it might be authoritative enough. So, for anyone in need of College Slang, this might just be the place to find what you’re looking for. For example, in Dillard University, New Orleans, LA, "It's all gravy baby" (phr) means "Everything is okay. It's all good" as in Are you mad at me? Naw, it's all gravy baby!

After taking a look at the world of students of today we now move to the leaders of tomorrow, and check out The Online Dictionary of Playground Slang. I’m wondering, since these people are the leaders of tomorrow, does that mean that the slang children use is the language of tomorrow? Keeping that in mind, this site might be of special interest. It is the work of Rob Langley, Chris Lewis and Sue Wotton, and includes mostly British, but also American playground slang terms. Surprisingly (?), this site is totally uncensored and is at times the most vulgar of the ones listed in this article.

The final two sites to evaluate are very interesting and different. They represent the "genre variety" dictionaries on the web, and, even though are not highly academic, might prove to be useful in some other context. The first one to look at is Twists, Slugs and Roscoes: A Glossary of Hardboiled Slang. Quoting the page itself, I needn’t say much more. It reads: "You may need to translate [hardboiled detective stories] into normal English just to be able to follow the plot. Or maybe you want to seem tougher. Why get in a car when you can hop in a boiler? Why tell someone to shut up when you can tell them to close their head? Why threaten to discharge a firearm when you can say, "Dust, pal, or I pump lead!" This is the language spoken by Philip Marlowe, Sam Spade, Mike Hammer and the Continental Op. When Cagney, Bogart, Robinson and Raft got in a turf war, this is how they talked. Now, with the help of this glossary, you too can speak it like a native!" All you need to do is to say "dame" instead of "woman", "horn" instead of "telephone" or "paw" instead of "hand". Compiled by William Denton, surely a fan of detective stories…

The final site goes into the same category with the above. Misc: Cool Western Slang. This "Love them tough-talkin' cowboys?" site attempts at quoting the real, authentic Western slang instead of the one used in movies. The author, Christian Molick, has gathered some 20 terms of the old west. Not very extensive, as aren’t most of these online slang dictionaries. Not very academic, as aren’t most of these dictionaries. Probably something one never needs to use, as most of these dictionaries. But as most of these dictionaries, it is very, very interesting.

Time to unpack the suitcase – Conclusion

Compared to the traditional, published slang dictionaries, the online ones seem to have one great advantage. Since slang evolves all the time, it is virtually impossible for publications to keep up with the latest trends. So, by the time the book is in the shelves, the terms might already be out-dated. The online dictionaries are easy to update.

One of the disadvantages of the online slang dictionaries that there is no way of knowing if the sites are truly current or reliable. True, they are easy to update, but who makes sure that the outdated entries are removed? My guess is no-one does. Also, it is very difficult to find the slang sites that are of some use from the huge range of slang sites available on the net. Qualities vary, addresses change, links expire, sometimes it proves to be a total mess to find a useful, reliable site.

As far as I know, there are two superb ways of finding slang sites on the net. The first one is, as mentioned before, Google, or any other search engine. If you want to find out about any variety of slang, you just specify the search word, and off it goes! 

Another way to find slang sites is Surfing for Slang – Internet’s Recommended Slang Links. They have a huge list of slang links, and most of the pages are really good. 

All things considered, the variety that exists among the online dictionaries is a strength. The matter of finding, selecting and evaluating slang dictionaries is not a mission impossible, and this article, to some extent, has tried to prove that to be true.
 

Experience the adventure of the electronic journey into the wide world of slang by yourself – the links

Finally, as in almost anything found in the net, in this article, too, there has to be a set of links. These links are in order of their appearance in this article, and their main purpose is to provide links for those who for some unknown reason might print out this article. A short comment – usually the name of the site – is added for easier reference.
 

http://www.google.com – a search engine

http://www.peevish.co.uk/slang/ - A dictionary of Slang from a British perspective

http://www.geocities.com/online_slang_dictionary/slang.html – The Online Slang Dictionary. American perspective.

http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Plains/9740/slang.html – Aussie Slang

http://www.koalanet.com/australian-slang.html – Australian Slang

http://www.sultry.arts.usyd.edu.au/slee/ - Australian hypocoristics

http://home.istar.ca/~awright/WORDS1.HTM – Canadianisms

http://www.londonslang.com/ - London Slang

http://www.bio.nrc.ca/cockney/main.html – English-Cockney Rhyming Slang

http://www.callihan.com/seattle/lexicon.htm – A Seattle Lexicon

http://english2american.com/ - The English-to-American Dictionary

http://www.wmin.ac.uk/~sfgva/ukus/ukus_noframe.html – Words than can be confusing in the UK & US

http://nz.com/NZ/Culture/AmericanCulture.html – American Cultural Knowledge for Confused New Zealanders

http://www.chemistry.co.nz/kiwi.htm – Kiwi Words and Phrases

http://www.hps.com/~tpg/ukdict/ - United Kingdom English for the American Novice

http://www.sabram.com/site/slang.html – The Ultimate Silicon Valley Slang Page

http://www.intranet.csupomona.edu/~jasanders/slang/vocab-srch.html#letter_browse - Da Bomb

http://www.odps.cyberscriber.com/ - The Online Dictionary of Playground Slang

http://www.miskatonic.org/slang.html - Twists, Slugs and Roscoes: A Glossary of Hardboiled Slang

http://www.bibble.org/western_slang.html - Misc: Cool Western Slang

http://www.linkopp.com/members/vlaiko/slanglinks.htm – Surfing for Slang – Internet’s Recommended Slang Links