Slang in English

Slang has probably always been common. New ideas need words to express them, and new generation want their speech to express their own identity, as being distinct from older generation of people who surround them. Slang is not necessarily more common now than it was in the past. Rather, it may be more noticeable now because more of it appears in books, magazines and the electronic media, than used to be the case.
The study of slang lexicography officially began in 1785 when the British Francis Grose published “A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue”. This was the first collection of slang to expand on the previous collection of the underworld language of beggars, thieves and tramps from the sixteenth century, known as the English Criminal Cant.
By 1811, Grose’s dictionary had 5,000 entries and a new title: “Lexicon Balatronicum: A Dictionary of Buckish Slang, University Wit, and Pickpocket Eloquence” (a balatron is a buffoon; from the Latin word for babbler). John C. Hotten’s “A Dictionary of Modern Slang, Cant, and Vulgar Words” went through four editions, with the final one being published in 1874.…