Customer Reviews

Slang: The People's Poetry

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Though this books is for linguists and scholars and written by one, it is also a comprehensive read for those lovers of language like myself who are always questioning the how and why of words. It will make you feel smarter and each section is very informative with tons of examples that will almost have you nodding your head in recognition and laughter; and amazement because of how well-put together the book overall is! If you're a hip word nerd or know one, this book is the perfect gift!

I was an English major in college and enjoy reading books about language and writing, especially since I am in a profession that requires me to write clearly and persuasively. I was looking forward to reading a book whose title held the promise of exploring in a clever way a colorful use of the English language. Instead I found a tedious textbook filled with jargon, and written in a manner that I think even academics would find boring.

To be sure, this book contains a wealth of information, and the list of slang terms in the index is a fun way to look up terms that you are familiar with as well as learn about many new slang terms. But the discussion in this book about these terms is not of interest to a general reader. For example, here is what the author has to say (at p. 134) about the term "f**king -A": "According to McMillan's Rule, infixed and interposed inserts aren't supposed to carry lexical meaning, but f**king-A, a form of both expletive and meaningful has it both ways." He then "explains" this by saying that the examples he has cited "suggest that McMillan's Rule extends not only to infixing, but also to syntactic interposing,'the insertion of emotive intensifiers into collocations that are normally not interruptible or are interruptible under restrictions that exclude intensifiers.'" Not to be disrespectful, but that kind of jargon is meaningless to a reader who does not have expertise in the author's field.

In the preface the author states that he has written the book not just for "Lexicographers, language historians, linguists of various stripes, and cultural critics," but also "for 'everyone', by which I mean university-educated or other really smart people interested in slang and contemporary American culture." However, while this book may serve as interest as a reference to "everyone"--at least those who can understand all of the jargon--this is not something that you will want to read from cover to cover.

I have read the reviews of people who really enjoyed this book, but without exception I found this a tedious textbook that succeeded in focusing not on the poetry of slang, as the subtitle misleadingly suggested, but rather on a pedantic analysis that buries the fun and shock value of even the most colorful terms under a pile of jargon.

If I had to teach an alien (or an android like Star Trek's Data) what slang is, I would give them this book. It is full of the "how and why" of slang, something most people grasp naturally. The issue then is presenting this information in an engaging way, and unfortunately it seems like Mr. Adams has spent too much time buried in literature and academia to really pull in the casual/average reader.
I studied linguistics (electives, did not major in it) in college and this book would feel at home on a professor's syllabus or stacked dauntingly in a college book store. But, despite the inviting title, I can't really see too many people wanting to sit down with this academic drag. Its written in a way that is casual only to people who read academic journals and its not 'slangy' enough on its own. The writer sounds almost too nerdy about the subject to get me to come along for the ride here.

I love geeking out on things, but for a casual read this was too dry.

Michael Adams's book on slang gets dull fast. I hardly made it out of the preface before I felt myself bogged down in the petty arguments Adams holds with his antagonists in the world of words. Sure, it's fun to argue about whether a word is argot (specialized language used by criminals), jargon (specialized language used within a profession or group) and slang (specialized language used by a group). But Adams can't seem to let go of the argument. By page 30, I was already skipping paragraphs, hoping for the author to get to the point or provide some entertaining and educational material. The book deserves 3 stars because it does deliver once in a while. The overlapping definitions of argot, jargon and slang make it hard to definitively determine which applies to a particular word. When criminal argot is picked up by the mainstream, or when ghetto slang are picked up by lily white middle schoolers, it loses its ability to shock, define and conceal its purpose. Adams's treatment of African American slang and idiom is respectful and enlightening. And he does have the ability to untangle the multitude of motives, ironies and sly intents of words. His examples come from recent entertainment like "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "Scrubs," giving them the potential to be accessible to lay audiences.

Ultimately, this book, a mutant hybrid of a popular book on slang and an academic treatise, is far less satisfying than it could have been. A worthwhile read for the lexical enthusiast, it is nonetheless daunting and dull for anyone not committed to learning about language.

SLANG, THE PEOPLE'S POETRY is an interesting, though at times ponderous, look at slang and it's purpose. Author Michael Adams poses some interesting questions and makes plausable arguments to back up his answers. I don't agree with all of his conclusions, but he does make a case for his viewpoint.

Adams did convince me that African American Vernacular English IS a valid dialect of English. I'd never considered dialects being anything other than geographically related, but he proves (I believe) that dialects do exist among racial/ethnic groups that span across multiple geographic regions and that what may on the surface appear to be simply a great profusion of slang usage can actually be a dialect with its own grammatical structures, vocabulary and form.

Adams also proves convincingly that slang is a form of indirection and obfuscation. He shows it to be a necessary component of language, but it's still open to debate whether indirection in language is a GOOD thing.

However, Adam's case for slang being poetry and word play is less solid. The frequent examples cited from TV and movies may show that SCRIPTWRITERS are engaging in humorous word play and poetic slang, but I have my doubts that mobs of teens are consciously doing anything similar!

At times, the text becomes rather bogged down in the details and my interest waned, but in general the writing style tends more towards the casual. FAIR WARNING! IF VULGARITIES AND OBSCENITIES MAKE YOU UNCOMFORTABLE, YOU WILL NOT LIKE THIS BOOK! Slang terms of this variety are frankly and frequently discussed! So, take heed!

This is NOT light reading and if you're not interested in the how's and why's of language, you'll probably be bored to tears by this book. It is NOT a dictionary of slang words or how they are used (although examples of both are seen), but rather a scholarly work about the purpose and place that slang holds in language. You don't have to be a linguist to understand this book, but you should like linguistics!

In conclusion, author Adams (who says he is an "antirealist") failed to convince me (a "realist") that the masses of people who continually overuse slang (and/or vulgarities) don't fall into one or more of these three categories: a) people with a woeful ignorance of standard English, b) people with low self-worth who seek attention and acknowledgement by others through the "shock" factor of slang or, c) people with low self-worth who seek to blend in with a group and negate their individuality through the imitation of slang speech. MY theory is based on practical experience that has shown me that people who constantly resort to slang (or vulgarities) seem to be the same people who also have no concept of paragraphs, sentences, punctuation or capitalization! Usually, they don't really have much original to say, either! :>) No offense intended!

I give SLANG, A PEOPLE'S POETRY 3 stars. It DOES make several good points about slang and dialect and is generally interesting reading. However, it does bog down at times and in the end, Michael Adams, while making a case for the originators of slang engaging in word play and creative use of language, failed to prove (to me, at least) that slang use in general is anything more than imitative speech patterns by people who don't have a clue about, or any interest in, poetry or word play.

Michael Adams, an academic linguist who has written on the slang of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and other refreshingly nonacademic topics, has written a most interesting book on slang. Not just a compendium of slang old and new (though it includes unusual examples from sources as diverse as the aforementioned Buffy and Louisa May Alcott's Little Women), the book talks about the nature of slang and proposes a variety of ideas about why slang persists and what role it plays.

The book has a comprehensive and usable index and set of reference notes, too. On the downside, some of what Adams says is a bit lightweight and obvious, and some is a bit on the cute side. You can see that the book had some of its roots as classroom lectures. Further on the downside, there are many terms for sex acts, some of which are described in more detail than you might want to read or to have a kid read.

On balance, though, this is a rewarding and enjoyable book for language fans who want something more than a list of terms and something that discusses recent slang rather than concentrating on 18th century cant and flapper terms.

This book is more than just a dictionary of slang words. It puts forth some good arguments that slang is not necessarily incorrect language usage. On the contrary, as slang is the language used by many people, it can be said that it is the language of the people. Or as the author says, The People's Poetry.

Recommended to anyone that likes words and language.

I thought this book was interesting, if at times a bit discomfiting. The author likes to incorporate the slang in with his explanations--that is, he freely drops f-bombs if need be--which works well for learning many kinds of vocabulary, but perhaps not so well for what is ostensibly a scholarly book. I wasn't certain if it was the author's sense of humor coming in, or what.

Which brings me to my second point: I am still not sure how to classify this volume. It's certainly "up there" due to being published by Oxford UP, and admittedly much of the book would be lost to those who aren't familiar with linguistics. On the other hand, there's also something very cavalier about the writing style, as noted above, which wants to mix the ultra-scholar in with the subject at hand. This mixture resulted in my feeling that there is something not quite right about the book.

Perhaps the most important point to make, though, is the take-home "lessons" one can learn from reading it. Certainly things like knowing that ALL of us speak slang, that slang is a way to both fit in and stand out (depending on the social group, dramatic situation, context, etc.) can, I think, be said easily enough. I learned this myself when studying things like the "Northern Cities Vowel Shift" years ago in a college sociology course. But I'm wondering what sort of person this book would help: certainly not a linguist, who I am sure already knows such things. And probably not the general public, either, who might not be interested in getting through page after page of terms like "infixing" and "interposing."

Having taken several graduate level linguistics courses, I expected to find this book a breeze to read. I didn't. It took multiple tries to be motivated to make it past the introductory portion in which convoluted sentences and long paragraphs made it a pain to read. The writing was torn between a college student and a general reader as its audience.Eventually the book picks up the pace with entertaining examples as he explores the social effect and purposes of slang. In the end, I enjoyed the book but in the same way I enjoy some textbooks not in the way I read to "take a break".

For language enthusiasts, "Slang: The People's Poetry" should find a prominent place on the bookshelf. But you really have to be enthusiastic, passionate enough to have earned an A in that college linguistics course that, as an English major, you were required to take, but which you and almost everyone you knew grumbled about afterward. This subject, and the cover illustration, might seem inviting to those who just want to know the origin of some dirty words, but if that's the case, you should look elsewhere.

Brian W. Fairbanks