Slang, Idioms, and Figures of Speech:

1. Slang, Idioms, and Figures of Speech: “Symphony in Slang”

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. 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.

6. 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.

7. 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.

8. 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.

9. Born with a silver spoon in the mouth To be born lucky or rich Get up/wake up at the crack of dawn Get up/wake up as the sun is rising Be short-handed To not have enough help/workers Grow up over night Seem to grow up fast Sling the hash To be a cook or to cook Can’t cut the mustard Not capable or knowledgable to do the job What Do These Mean?

10. Give the gate To fire from a job A hole in the wall A small, worthless looking place Besides myself in anger (or other emotion) An extreme feeling Fly to… Take an airplane to a place Paint the town red Enjoy yourself/have a good time Come into the picture Meet someone or something becomes important What Do These Mean?

11. Get up with the chickens To get up very early Make some dough To earn money Punching cattle Marking and herding cattle Eyes meet To get someone’s attention Pair of good-looking pins Nice legs Breath in short pants To take quick, short breathes. Have trouble breathing Get goose pimples(bumps) When the skin gets bumpy from cold or excitement.

12. 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:

13. …On a sheet of construction paper you will… • Write idioms, figures of speech or expressions you use with your friends. Keep it appropriate to school. • 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. • Next, you will illustrate the picture using the LITERAL meaning of the words.

14. 4. Finally, you will need to write the explanation for the expression. What do you really mean when you say that.