The vocabulary of the English language is constantly changing and being developed. New words are being added, some become 'mainstream' (used by everyone) others stay around for a short while and then just stop being used.
Now there is an online dictionary called the Urban dictionary, for slang words that people make up. In today's activity you are going to learn some of these words. Remember though that these words are very new and that many native speakers don't yet use them.This dictionary is also not suitable for children or younger learners as some of the words may have sexual connotations (or worse!).
Task:
Here are links to some new words. Read the definition and example sentence and decide if it is a word that you will find useful. These words and the things that they describe also have a lot of cultural information and can tell you a lot about our modern way of life, so think about how many of these things are also popular aspects of your own culture.
- Silent Rave
- Bus Surfing
- Deface
- Joe The Plumber
- The Spousal We
- Spin doctor
- Tag hag
- Gigabucks
- Guitarthritis
- Thumb lashing
Related links for teachers:
- Animating vocabulary
- Video Dictionary 2.0
- 12 Second Video Clips for EFL ESL
- Using Word Clouds in EFL ESL
- Picture phrases
- Personalised flashcards
Nik Peachey
3 comments:
Nik~ I spent about 10 minutes in the urban dictionary, and there are so many off-color words, which I wouldn't want my kids to be exposed to....d'ya know what I mean?
Any other slang cites that you know of?
BTW, I found and love your site!
LisaQ
Hi Lisa
You're absolutely right. This isn't something that's suitable for kids / young learners to browse around. As some of the entries and especially the comments on them are not in the best taste!!!
I think if you are using it with younger learners then the thing to do is just grab some interesting texts and use them offline. As I say, it's more of an informative resource regarding modern culture than a lexicon.
Best
Nik
Hi Lisa Q
I just spotetd the question at the end of your post.
You can find a dictionary of English slang here on Scribd:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/4026446/Slang-English-Dictionary
There's also a video dictionary here at http://www.wordia.com/ , but it has similar problems to the Urban one, so use with care.
Best
Nik
Post a Comment