What Makes a Slang Word Useful?

Living outside of the Philadelphia area for most of my life, I’ve seen my fair share of slang words enter and leave the fray. Some of them are amusing, some of them are useful, and some are outright pointless and forgettable. But it never really occured to me that there might actually be ways of truly assessing a slang word’s value. There are standards that linguists and philologists use to measure what a new word or phrase provides.

There’s the societal significance: whether the slang captures a specific cultural moment or attitude. There’s the communicative efficiency: whether it conveys a complex idea more succinctly. There’s the emotional resonance: whether it expresses a feeling or attitude more effectively than standard language. Slang words can even be major parts of creating and reinforcing group identities.

Taking a few examples of slang words from my own life, it’s plain to see that not all colloquialisms are created equal.

“Jawn” is an interesting word. Perhaps you’ve heard it, and perhaps you haven’t, but it’s a word with a definition almost as wide as “fuck” and with an origin as hotly contested. Though Philadelphians have long taken pride in coining and popularizing the term, recent findings have shed doubt on whether “jawn” could even be called our own.

According to radio station WHYY, “Linguists agree that jawn actually comes from New York City and is derived from the word “joint,” which is deeply rooted in African American Vernacular English (AAVE), but its history goes back to around the time of emancipation.” While “jawn” doesn’t evoke much of an emotional resonance, so to speak, it’s certainly succinct, expressive and culturally embedded.

A jawn can be nearly any object at all. It can refer to nouns and proper nouns. It can be an objectification or a term of endearment. Even places and events can be “jawns.” One can head to “the jawn,” quite different from and not to be confused with, “the john.” Though all “johns” are “jawns,” not all “jawns” are “johns.” There is a world of things that extends well beyond toilets.

But “jawns” can also be people, which means “Johns” are also, by default, “jawns.” “Jawn” is a blanket word that can be nearly all-encompassing, whereas “Johns” are just “Johns,” and “the john” is just “the john.”

“Jawns” can get out of hand or they can be as serene as can be. “Jawns” can be as free as birds or they can be “drawlin’ as shit.” Which brings me to my next word:

“Drawlin” is a slang term, for which Philly is notorious, that is believed to have an origin as far back as the 1590s. According to etymonline.com to drawl means “to speak in a slow, spiritless tone.” But in the centuries since, it’s another word that’s developed a blanket meaning that encompasses nearly all things bad.

People drawl. Police drawl. Politicians drawl. Parents drawl and grandparents drawl and husbands, wives and fiancees drawl. It’s a drawlin’ world, and many things fall within drawlin’ criteria. There’s little drawlin’ that’s done in a positive light, but with a little added emphasis, drawlin’ can be quite amusing. It’s drawlin’ to lie to your mom, but it’s another type of drawlin’ to hack into an electronic billboard and change the sign to read “CAUTION!!! FLESH-EATING ZOMBIES AHEAD!!!” The world of drawlin’ has its gradations.

Another phrase that’s taken off in recent years is “made me feel some type of way.” Though it’s another one that’s difficult to source precisely, author Marcel Iseli explains in his piece “‘Feeling some type of way’ — Here’s What It Really Means” that “The expression… originated in the colloquial slang of the American inner city, and in particular that of the African American community.”

Though the official source of the slang phrase isn’t known, many attribute its popularization to the song “Some Type of Way” by Rich Homie Quan, released in 2013. This is another phrase that, while I don’t use it regularly, does have its uses. In its vagary, I would contend that it actually communicates something quite unique. I don’t think there’s another English word or phrase at all for these strong feelings of such explicitly non-descript direction.

My father and I initially argued a bit about this phrase. But eventually, in a surprising moment of linguistic flexibility, I got the 71 year old psychology scholar to agree that “some type of way” has its place, hard for him as it may have been. Though virtually any emotion can constitute the “some type of way” feeling, it’s still distinct from revealing what exactly that emotion is. It introduces a confident sort of mystique to what you’re talking about. You can acknowledge something affected you deeply without the need to elaborate on the sorts of emotions involved in that deep feeling.

But there are some slang phrases for which I’ve been less forgiving over the years. It was in around tenth grade that people began saying the phrase “No picz” as a substitute essentially for, as Urban Dictionary describes it, “not giving a fuck about people, places, or things.” Though I suppose it isn’t completely without merit, it’s a phrase that I’m glad doesn’t seem to have stood the test of time. There’s a certain efficiency to the brusque and brashness, but it doesn’t carry an emotional weight, it’s not deeply embedded in culture, and it provides no distinct meaning.

There are more clever ways to communicate a lack of regard than this confusing homophone for a common word like “pick.” Additionally, the meaning it connotes is one which twenty other words and phrases already express.

Another slang abbreviation that’s caught on in recent months is the phrase “It’s giving.” Stemming from the phrase, “giving vibes,” this new version makes the perplexing decision of leaving out the object completely. Instead of saying “He’s giving off John Lennon vibes,” or “This party has a major hippie vibe” people will simply say instead that it’s “He’s giving John Lennon” or “This party is giving hippie.” I can’t for the life of me see how this one caught on. Was it simply so that Gen Z could save a syllable? Was this the Millennials’ doing?

While I would argue that it obscures a sentence more than clarifies it, the dropping of the word “vibes” from this phrase is merely a part of what many would consider a natural evolution of language, not unsimilar to the contractional omission of the word “not” from “can not” to make “can’t,” or “will” from “we will” to make “we’ll.” Maybe in a generation this omission won’t feel quite so jarring. But for now — call me old-fashioned if you must — I wouldn’t mind holding onto the word “vibes” for just a little longer.

As language continues to evolve, more and more words and phrases will become a part of our arsenal. Our lexicon will widen, and once regular words will fall out of use. Whether you embrace change or resist it, culture is shifting faster than ever and new words and phrases are popping up like weeds and wild flowers. It’s enough to make almost anyone “feel some kind of way.”