“Without grammar very little can be conveyed, without vocabulary
nothing can be conveyed”
David Wilkins.
English is now changing so fast that an estimated five new expressions are coined every day.
Some words are publicly acknowledged and included into dictionaries, some are slang words, mostly the language teens speak.
Activity 1.
Let’s look at some new words. Ask the students to look at some new words and predict the meaning.
- Spam
- Mail bomb
- Surf
Probably it will be easy for ones who are the Internet nerds. The Internet is the largest source of new words and new meanings.
Spam is unnecessary ads.
Mail bomb- to send a large amount of e-mail to one computer.
Google - to find information in the Internet, using a popular search engine.
Surf - the prime meaning is sea foam, now it’s browse on the Internet.
Activity 2.
Ask the students to what sphere of everyday life do these words refer to.
- A bit nippy
- It’s spitting
- It’s chuckling down
- It’s pelting down
All these words refer to “weather”, though there is no trace of this word, but they are taken from real life conversations.
A bit nippy is a little cold
It’s spitting is raining but with occasional drops
It’s chuckling and it’s pelting means it’s raining heavily.
Activity 3.
“Podcast” is 2005 Word of the Year.
The term is defined as ‘a digital recording of a radio broadcast or similar programme made available on the Internet for downloading to a personal audio player.
The word is derived from a combination of ‘broadcasting’ and” iPod”.
Ask the students to write down 3 new English words they really like and 3 words they consider boring.
Discuss which words do they think should be included to the official dictionary and which ones are slang words.
Activity 4.
Discuss different opinions on new words.
1. Young and old people don’t understand each other because they use different vocabulary.
2. I love new words, especially the geeky, nerdy ones.
3. It’s better to learn traditional vocabulary. New words come and go.
4. It’s fantastic that English is absorbing so many new words from other languages.
5. You have to be a computer geek to understand new words.
Activity 5. Old words and new meaning.
Can you say whether the definition is true or false?
An ambulance chaser is someone who loves to live dangerously- the greater the risk the more he/she is attracted to it.
If you need cash quickly but do not want to stand in a long queue in the bank you could use a hole in the wall.
A happy clappyis a member of a studio audience who is given free tickets for the show on condition that he will clap and laugh when instructed to do so.
Barfly jumping is not for the faint-hearted as it involves wearing a velcro suit and throwing yourself at a veicro-covered wall with the aim of stickina to it.
A new lad is the opposite of the new man. Where the new man is caring and sharing and will do the washing-up quite happily, the new lad prefers a more traditional male role and embraces decidedly sexist attitudes.
Moshing is a new phenomenon on the music scene. Dancers hold each other very tight and dance as one person.
You've all heard of bimbos. Himbos are the male equivalent - men whose main asset is their good looks.
A spin doctor is a modern name for a quack or charlatan who has no real medical qualifications but who takes advantage of vulnerable people and promises the impossible.
A squeegee is a person who waits at traffic lights with a sponge and a bucket of water, will very quickly clean your windscreen whether you want him to or not and will then expect to be paid for it.
An anorak is a person who pursues an interest in an obsessive fashion.
A Little Experiment.
| an ambulance chaser: | a lawyer who encourages people who have had a recent accident at work or who have been involved in a car crash to sue for damages. The person to profit most from the legal action will be the lawyer |
| a hole in the wall: | a cash dispenser installed in an outside wall of a bank. |
| a happy clappy: | mildly disparaging name for a member of a Christian group whose worship is marked by enthusiasm and spontaneity, (clapping and waving to the hymns but nothing like as extreme as the Toronto Blessing - ecstatic worship with mass fainting, speaking in tongues, weeping and laughing.) |
| barfly jumping: | a new 'fun' activity where participants wear velcro suits, bounce off a trampoline and throw themselves at a velcro-covered wall. The winner is the person who can stick himself highest up the wall. |
| New Lad: | a young man who has blatantly sexist attitudes and who prefers a traditional male role. You won't catch him washing the dishes! |
| moshing: | new dance phenomenon often seen a rock concerts (heavy metal and hardcore) / very wild and violent with jumping up and down and people colliding with one another. It is sometimes called slam dancing and may be accompanied by stage diving in which people jump off the stage to be caught and carried around high above the heads and shoulders of the crowd. Common injuries include pulled hair, cuts and bruises to broken bones. |
| himbo: spin | male equivalent of a bimbo. A man whose main asset is his good looks |
| doctor: | a senior spokesperson for a political party who is responsible for creating the right image for the party and for promoting the party's ideas to the Press. |
| squeegee: | a person who stands at traffic lights with a sponge and a bucket of water. When the lights turn red, the cars all stop and he will quickly clean your windscreen whether you want him to or not. He will obviously expect generous payment for this service, The name comes from the gadget he uses, consisting of a sponge and a strip of rubber fixed to a frame which can be squeezed before taking up clean water. |
| anorak: | someone who is so obsessed with an interest that it threatens to take over his life. But ....the term is gradually becoming less disparaging . Today, in the later part of the 90's anoraks are less isolated and less socially inept, just really passionate about something. |
But the great source of new language is the language of teens, they come from teen culture.
New words come from the following topics:
- Sport
- Music
- Teen magazines
- Groups/tribes
- Fashion
- The Internet/mobile telephones
Activity 6.
Give the students the headlines from teen magazines. Work in groups and try to predict what the article will be about.
- Shake your booty.
- Totty galore at celeb’s birthday bash.
- Gotcha!
- Bangin’ vids.
- Summer’s here again. Time to get yer kit off.
- The coolest clobber in town-so glam.
- These lush lads are totally droolesome.
- Smoochy choons!
It is really difficult, but if you open any teen magazine you’ll find titles like that.
- booty means body, the title is to get dancing.
- famous person’s birthday party
- get it , caught it.
- impressive videos
- take your clothes off.
- best clothes in town
- nice lads, you’ll die for them
- romantic music to dance
Activity 7.
Abbreviations of common words.
Give the students a list of abbreviations and ask the students to reconstruct the words.
- fave
- fab
- lush
- delish
- brill
- probs
- agro
Some words are recognizable, some are difficult.
- favourite
- fabulous
- attractive
- delicious
- brilliant
- problems
- aggressive
It is very important to distinguish between formal and informal language.
Activity 8. Register.
REGISTER
Polite and familiar language
Our language tends to be more polite when we are talking to a person we do not know well, or a person senior to ourselves in terms of age or social position.
The opposite of 'polite' (in this context) is 'familiar'. When we know someone well or intimately, we tend to drop polite forms of language.
For example, instead of using the polite form Mr Brown, we use a first name (Peter) or a short name {Pete) or even a nickname (Shortie).
Arrange the words below into the appropriate columns.
| gentlemen | prison | lavatory | merry | |
| children | in the nick | toilet | kids | pay |
| short of money | brolly | offspring | drunk | |
| guys | impecunious | brats | salary | loo |
| men | convenience | broke | inebriated | |
| penal institution | umbrella | mirror | ||
| financial remuneration | skint | blokes | ||
| looking-glass | gaol | mates | sloshed |
| Formal, polite, literary, etc (written) |
‘common core’ (written and spoken) |
Informal, colloquial, sometimes slang (spoken) |
Answers to Register:
| offspring | children | brats, kids | ||
| inebriated | drunk s | loshed, merry | ||
| lavatory | toilet | loo | ||
| convenience | ||||
| gentleman | man | guys, blokes, mates | ||
| impecunious | short of money | broke | ||
| looking glass | mirror | |||
| penal institution | prison, jail, goal | in the nick | ||
| financial remuneration | salary | pay, wages | ||
| umbrella | brolly |
Youth slang exclude parents, teachers and police. Professor David Crystal says:
“As soon as the word is picked by adults, teens drop it, that what happens”.
The example with the word “bling’, which rappers used but gradually we picked it up and now no self-respect rapper would use ‘bling’
Primarily it was used as something showy, now it is used as something tasteful and houseblinging - decoration the exterior of the house with large amount of Christmas lights.
If you are not interested in teen’s language then you are a bof, but as a language teacher you have to be Phat, lush and wicked.
Bof-tedious, conventional old person.
Phat - wonderful
Lush - attractive
Wicked - fantastic.