*crsssss-taktakatakatak-thud* This is a sound you hear often enough in cities. These "damn hooligans" on their skateboards, with their half-pipes, rail-slides and... well, I don't know what they're talking about half the time. Skaters have their own personal brand of English that doesn't really register with anyone who isn't a fan of gliding along on wooden plank with wheels.
It's a little weird that two people can be speaking English, but not understanding each other at all. One of the most celebrated story-tellers in the history of English literature, Geoffrey Chaucer, wrote and spoke a form of English completely different to that spoken today. Every era of history has had it's own peculiarities, it's own slang.
Swingers and teddy boys, punks and goths and hipsters, mobsters, gangsters, skaters and stoners. All subcultures with their own slang, their own sub-English.
The sanctity of the English language was questioned when the word of the year, 2013, was "selfie". The sanctity of the English language is a hollow concept. English has never existed except as a constantly changing, mutating, reforming mass of slang, swear words and borrowed grammar. That is what makes it one of the most expressive, rich vocabularies there is, because if you need a word, you just make one up (or borrow it from someone else's language). It's sure to catch on sooner or later.
To hear someone make slang funny, listen to Slang 101. Skip to 1:20, if you like.
Interesting ideas. I agree with your reflection: "English has never existed except as a constantly changing, mutating, reforming mass of slang". Good start, Grace. I am looking forward to reading more and more.
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