Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
For years, parents have had the same complaint: "I can't understand what my teenagers are saying!" which is exactly how they want it. But parents are relentless. They keep trying to decipher their teen's jargon in order to bridge the communication gap and simply to be kept out of the dark. But it may seem easier than it looks.
The parent, desperate to unravel this mysterious teen lingo, overhears a conversation that his/her offspring is having on the phone:
"Hey, brah! You looked way dope in the fly hat when we were out crusin' today. Oh, no! I'm late for class! I'm breakin' out!"
That wasn't so hard. Having comprehended every word, the unsuspecting parent walks away smugly pleased to have finally broken through the language barrier, believing to have understood:
"Hey, my bra! You looked like an idiot in that pilot's hat when we were out sailing today. Oh, no! I'm late for class! My skin is erupting!"
What the teen really said was:
"Hey friend! You looked really great in that fantastic hat when we were out looking for girls today. Oh, no! I'm late for class! I'd better leave right away!"
To further complicate the parent's burden of comprehension, there are two other types of slang that are becoming increasingly popular among teens: rap slang and surfer slang. Rap and surfer slang are heard not just in daily conversation between members of the younger generation, but on prime time American television and radio as well. In fact, television besieges the viewers with this type of slang every Saturday morning when the majority of its viewers are youngsters and teenagers.
Street Talk 2 takes a close look at teen, rap, and surfer slang, as well as everyday slang used consistently in popular American television shows, traffic reports, news broadcasts, television weather reports, and sports broadcasts, which are of special importance to non-native speakers who are trying to integrate into our culture.
Street Talk 2 is a self teaching guide divided into four parts:
Dialogue: Twenty to thirty new American expressions and terms (indicated in boldface) are presented as they may be heard in an actual conversation. A translation of the dialogue in standard English is always given on the opposite page followed by an important phonetic version of the dialogue as it would actually be spoken by an America. This page will prove vital to any non-native since, as previously demonstrated, Americans tend to rely heavily on contractions and shortcuts in pronunciation.
Vocabulary: This section spotlights all of the slang words and expressions that were used in the dialogue and offers more examples of usage, synonyms, antonyms, and special notes.
Practice the Vocabulary: These word games include all of the new terms and idioms previously learned and will help you to test yourself on your comprehension. (The pages providing the answers to all the drills are indicated at the beginning of this section.)
A Closer Look: This section offers the reader a unique look at common words used in slang expressions pertaining to a specific category such as Rhyming Slang, Exclamations Used in Cartoons and Comic Books, Foreign Words Used in Everyday Speech, Popular College Slang, etc.
Whether you're a parent who wants to understand the most popular slang used by the youth of today, a non-native speaker who is lost every time he/she turns on the televisions, or even a teen who has been accused of being "uncool" or "square," Street Talk 2 will quickly unravel the "inside language" of slang that has always been reserved for specific groups...until now!
David Burke Author
