Slanguage

The English language is loosening up. I found out not long ago that there are some slang words that are now listed as real words in the dictionary. My fascination with this began when I found out that 'Ginormous' became an official word last year. Apparently they were able to trace it's usage back to WWII. Ergo now it is part of the English language. So I started thinking about all the slang words I've heard recently that one day might become 'real boys'. There are different types of slang. Like the abbreviations you find in instant messaging or e-mails. There is also the dialect slang which is localized and is really an attempt to rewrite the language. Then there is common slang. That's the one where words you use seem appropriate but they're not considered dictionary worthy yet. I've made up a list of three types of common slang. Words that actually made it into the dictionary as permanent, words that are listed in the slang dictionary and not the official dictionary base, and words that aren't even listed in the slang dictionary yet. I've listed the year they were traced back to when available...I hope they make you smile like they did me!

Words that haven't made it yet:

Chillax (chill + relax)
Ba dink a dink (small human rear)
Ba donk a donk (ample human rear)
Etact (tactfulness in using electronic communications such as instant messaging)
Gestimation (guess + Estimation)
Jingo Jango (ridiculous)
Sitch (situation)

Words that have made it to the slang dictionary:

Wussy (wimp + pussy)
Homie (local pal)
Janky (old and broken)
Krunk (wild and exhilarating)
Bazillion (billion + gazillion)

Words that have officially made it to English language:

Phat (terrific, great) trace back to 1960
Dude and Dudette (buddy, surfer slang) trace back to 1991
Slanguage (slang vocabulary) trace back to 1900
Spim (instant messaging ads) trace back to 1999
Grody (disgusting) trace back to 1960
Groovy (really cool) trace back to 1815
Zilch (zero) trace back to 1966
Ginormous (giant + enormous) trace back to 1948
Babe (small child) trace back to 1150
Babe (girl) trace back to 1915
Psycho (abbreviated Psychopathic) trace back to 1935
Cop (police officer) trace back to 1695
Funky (odd and smelly) trace back to 1784
Edgy (highly irritating) trace back to 1837
Scram (to run away quickly) trace back to 1925
Spud (potato) trace back to 1400
Cash (paper money) trace back to 1590
Freebie (free item) trace back to 1940
Grungy (filthy) trace back to 1965
Bonkers (insane) trace back to 1945
Spork (spoon + fork) trace back to 1909
Boo Boo (injury or mistake) trace back to 1954
Caboodle (lot or group of things, as in kit and caboodle) trace back to 1840