British Slang - Varieties and Purpose of Slang

Varieties and Purpose of Slang

There are a number of different varieties of British slang, arguably the best known of which is Rhyming slang. Chiefly associated with cockney speech spoken in the East End of London, words are replaced with a phrase which rhymes. For example: plates of meat for "feet", or twist and twirl for "girl". Often only the first word is used, so plates and twist by themselves become the colloquialisms for "feet" and "girl".

Thieves' cant or Rogues' cant was a secret language (a cant or cryptolect) which was formerly used by thieves, beggars and hustlers of various kinds in Great Britain and to a lesser extent in other English-speaking countries. It is commonly believed that cant was developed from Romany but the Winchester Confessions, a pamphlet published in 1616, clearly distinguishes between Gypsy and Cant words. Now mostly obsolete, it is largely relegated to the realm of literature.

Some slang was developed because of a need for secrecy, such as prison slang, believed to be derived from thieves cant, and Polari, a variety used by homosexuals in Britain and the United Kingdom. Homosexuality was a crime until 1967 and Polari has a history going back at least a hundred years. Sometimes the purpose of slang is to cause offence, insults such as wanker or gobshite for example; and sometimes the purpose is to prevent it by substituting a slang word for the offensive one, berk (rhyming slang for cunt) for example. Sometimes a Spoonerism, is employed to make taboo speech more acceptable. For example: Cupid stunt and Betty Swallocks.

Slang is also used to create an identity or sense of belonging and a number of occupations have their own slang; most notably the armed forces, referred to as Forces or Service slang; and the construction industry. A dictionary of service slang by J. L. Hunt and A. G. Pringle was published in 1943. It was reprinted in 2008. The introduction acknowledges that slang is an ever changing language with new slang terms emerging all the time. It also recognises that some service slang has made its way into civilian use. Examples of this include the old naval terms, "Talking bilge" (nonsense) and "A loose cannon" (an unorthodox person with the potential to cause harm).