Saturday, March 24, 2007
    3617

    Talk the talk of the sub-cultures

    Talk the talk by Luc Reid is published by Writer's Digest Books (2006) and is a slang dictionary. The "about the editor" paragraph says Reid is the founder of the neo-pro (?) writers' group Codex which promotes the exchange of information, ideas, and writing wisdom among pro-level writers and other good stuff, and has published in Galaxy Press anthologies. His web site is http://www.lucreid.com.

    The book is sort of fun to look through, and makes you realize that no matter how careful you are in using English, you could be offending anyone at any time just because of the huge variety of subcultured words. I think there was a time when a lot of our slang came from the prison population then moved into the main stream via the entertainment world, but obviously there are many sources.

    Some of the cultures represented (neither librarians or Christians made the cut because he doesn't cover professions or religions) are:

    • Americans in Antarctica
      bag drag - weighing luggage in preparation for flying out
      house mouse - temporary janitorial duty at the station

    • Bicyclist and mountain bikers
      Betty - generic name for a female rider
      BSG - bike store guy

    • gardeners
      harden off - accustom an indoor plant to the outdoors
      lasagna bed - soil has been piled up on top of the existing ground in layers

    • politicians
      big foot - well-known media figure
      bafflegab - speech or statements without clear meaning
      lunch bucket - having to do with working class

    • skateboarders
      snake - jump ahead in a queue
      wood-pusher - derogatory name for skateboarders, used most often by rollerbladers
    A fun book to browse, and useful for writers of all types especially if they need to sprinkle authentic slang into dialogue.Source URL: https://maryelizabeth-winstead.blogspot.com/2007/03/3617-talk-talk-of-sub-cultures-talk.html
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