Slang, Idioms, and Figures

of Speech:
“Symphony in Slang”
 Slang
• Vocabulary, words and expressions you
use to talk to your friends.
• You don’t usually speak to adults in the
same way.
• Slang changes depending on the age of
the speaker.
 Figures of Speech
• Using words or phrases to create
images.
• The actual meaning of the word is not
intended in the expression.
• This creates a mental image of one
thing while understanding another.
 Changes in Idioms
• Because figures of speech and idioms
are used by certain ages, they change
over time.
• What you use as a teenager, adults or
those younger than you probably won’t.
 More Changes in Idioms
• Because every age group has its own
set of idioms, other groups may not
understand each other when speaking
with too many idioms.
• Some are no longer used or have been
changed in wordage but not in
meaning.
 Literal Meanings
• To understand or use the literal meaning of
an expression is to take the actual meaning
of the words as what is meant by the
speaker.
• This can be a problem because the true
intent of the words is not what the speaker
wants the listener to understand.
• This causes many problems to people who
are learning a new language since they are
not applying the shades of meaning to words.
 Noah Webster
• He was the first person to create what
we know as the dictionary.
• He put together the words used in
English along with their origins and
various uses.
• Today there is a book known as
Webster’s Dictionary.
 As You Watch the Cartoon
• First watch it just to enjoy it.
• Then watch it and listen for expressions
you may have heard before.
• Next, think about the ones you haven’t
heard before and watch the examples
in the cartoon.
• Finally, think about what expressions
you use now that mean the same thing.
 What Do These Mean?

• Born with a silver spoon • Grow up over night

in the mouth • Seem to grow up fast
• To be born lucky or rich • Sling the hash
• Get up/wake up at the • To be a cook or to cook
crack of dawn • Can’t cut the mustard
• Get up/wake up as the
• Not capable or
sun is rising knowledgable to do the
• Be short-handed job
• To not have enough
help/workers
 What Do These Mean?
• Give the gate • Fly to…
• To fire from a job • Take an airplane to a
• A hole in the wall place
• Paint the town red
• A small, worthless
looking place • Enjoy yourself/have a
good time
• Besides myself in
• Come into the picture
anger (or other
emotion) • Meet someone or
something becomes
• An extreme feeling important
• Get up with the • Pair of good-looking
chickens pins
• To get up very early • Nice legs
• Make some dough • Breath in short pants
• To earn money • To take quick, short
• Punching cattle breathes. Have trouble
• Marking and herding breathing
cattle • Get goose
• Eyes meet pimples(bumps)
• When the skin gets
• To get someone’s
attention bumpy from cold or
excitement.
 Initial Directions for New
Assignment
Think about what an idiom is and why we speak
in figures of speech.
Today, there are expressions that you use that
were not used 10 or more years ago.
Think about how you speak to your friends or
what you have heard others say.
Your new assignment will be:
…On a sheet of construction paper you will…
1. Write idioms, figures of speech or
expressions you use with your friends.
Keep it appropriate to school.
2. For example, you may say
“That’s tight.” to express the idea that
something is great. Or, “He’s just a poser.”
to mean that someone is a fake.
3. Next, you will illustrate the picture using the
LITERAL meaning of the words.
4. Finally, you will need to write the
explanation for the expression. What
do you really mean when you say
that.