Quoted online

Again, this is for my benefit rather than because anyone else will be interested:
http://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/how-internet-changes-language.

Other posts

I've been distracted by contributing to other blogs and website recently.



On the topic of tabooed language and dodgy old nursery rhymes: http://www2.le.ac.uk/news/blog/2014-archive-1/may/university-of-leicester-expert-opinion.



Here's a post about a WWI slang dictionary called Lingo of No Man's Land: http://staffblogs.le.ac.uk/english/2014/05/16/lingo-of-no-mans-land/.



Most recently, I've written about a dictionary advertising campaign here:

http://theconversation.com/twictionaries-are-adorkable-but-theres-a-bigger-story-here-27242.

Slang used by students

I've been running a module on slang at the University of Leicester since 2004, and between them the students on this module have collected just over 3000 different slang terms. Lots of them use various kinds of abbreviation, and here are some of the ones that have been listed more than once:



Clippings

amaze "amazing"

bday "birthday"

bro "brother; friend"

def "definitely"

diss "dissertation"

diss "to disrespect"

flid "an idiot"

ledge "a person deserving respect; excellent"

obv "obviously"

perv "a pervert; to behave pervertedly"

ridic "ridiculous"

scrote "testicles; an despicable person"

uni "university"

vadge "vagina"

vom "to vomit"



Front clippings

nads "testicles"

rents "parents"

tard "an idiot"



Clippings with -ie/-y

bevvy "a drink; to drink"

dissy "dissertation"

eppie "a temper tantrum"

sarky "sarcastic"

selfie "a self-taken photo posted online"



Clippings with -o

aggro "trouble, bother, violence"

deffo "definitely"

disso "dissertation"

pen(n)o "a penalty kick"



Clippings with -s/-z (these are usually adverbial)

appaz "apparently"

blates "blatantly"

mebs "maybe"

totes "totally"



Initialisms

bj "a blowjob"

bs "nonsense; lies"

fml "fuck my life"

fyi "for your information"

idk "I don't know"

lmao "laugh(ing) my arse/ass off"

oj "orange juice"

pov "point of view"

tbh "to be honest"

v "virgin"

wtf "what the fuck"

 

Acronyms

doovd "dvd"

lols "laugh(ing) out loud"

milf "an attractive older woman"

yolo "you only live once"

Doing what it says on the tin

During the launch of yesterday's midterm review (notice how the words pile up with so little meaning), David Cameron described the coalition as 'a Ronseal deal. It does what it says on the tin'. There are so many grounds for objecting to this (there never was a tin, for example, figurative or otherwise), but what struck me was the explanation.
The phrase 'does (exactly) what it says on the tin' has been used in Ronseal adverts since 1994 and  figuratively in other contexts since 1997. I've just does a search in the Guardian (1995-2012) and there are over 300 examples. Normal people use it in normal life too -- all the time. It's in the OED. It's perfectly unremarkable in British English to say that something (anything) does what it says on the tin. So Cameron, or his speechwriters, decided to use it to signal that he's a down-to-earth kind of a bloke who likes nothing better than a weekend trip to B&Q. Unfortunately, they blew it by providing the unnecessary explanation. Or perhaps it's more sinister. What's really odd is the inclusion of the brand-name: that's what the phrase is explaining here. So maybe this is actually an example of product placement: got to pay for those tax cuts somehow! Either way, twat moment carefully avoided, Dave. Well done mate. Lol.

Literary Leicester

I'm doing a talk at Literary Leicester on student slang on the 9th of November, and you can read an extract from The Life of Slang here.

A few more reviews

I've had a few online notices from American reviewers: from VisualThesaurus and one from Just Books Only. Not quite as positive as the British reviews, but for predictable reasons. There's going to be one in Library Journal too, but I can't provide a link to that.

More publicity

Here (again, for my benefit rather than anyone else's), is another item in the Huffington Post.