Slash: No Longer Just a Punctuation Mark

[Lenny]

http://chronicle.com/blogs/linguafranca/2013/04/24/slash-not-just-a-punctuation-mark-anymore/

Here's an article about new slang being used by the youth. The interesting point (or so the author tells us) is that the slang in question, the word "slash", is being used as a conjunction, which is apparently a rare occurrence.

Some examples:

1. Does anyone care if my cousin comes and visits slash stays with us Friday night?

3. … culminating in Friday’s shootout-slash-car-chase-slash-manhunt-slash-media-circus around the apprehension of the bombing suspect.

4. I spent all day in the UgLi [library] yesterday writing my French paper slash posting pictures of cats on my sister’s Facebook wall.

12. JUST SAW ALEX! Slash I just chubbed on oatmeal raisin cookies at north quad and i miss you

On the one hand, I despair for our youth. On the other, watching language evolve is kind of cool (unless it's the stupidity of using "of" instead of "have", for example).


Is anyone out there creating their own slang for stories? How do people feel about language being changed like this?

 

[HoopyFrood]

I've used it like this a few times. I like how it's used -- saying what you should probably say, then say what the real deal actually is

 

[allmywires]

I always say it slash I am a product of the Yoof of Today.

Also, I thought you were going to mention the fandom use of the word 'slash' and now I'm kind of disappointed it's not about that!

 

[HoopyFrood]

Haha, yes, I thought it might be about Slash at first. Also disappointed

 

[Vertigo]

I think I may have been guilty of using 'slash' in that way myself, and I'm no youth!

But you are right it is interesting and there really is no single word that replaces it either. If you replace it with 'and' it suggests separate things rather than something that combines all of or just certain aspects of all of them.

Sadly I kind of like it. Though I'm not sure I've come across that last usage before.

 

[Lenny]

Huh. I tend to use "That is", or "Well, no" in those cases.

People may say the word (and I'm sure many do), but actually spelling it out rather than using "/" in writing? Madness, surely?

 

[Vertigo]

I think that's what's most interesting about it. In these days of lol and rofl to switch from a single character symbol to a five character word is odd to say the least. And he's right you know, there are all sorts of new words I see in the dictionary now that weren't there when I was a kid but, as the man says, they are all nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs not conjunctions.

 

[wulfsbane]

Huh. I have never seen slash spelled out like that. For me it's usually just the symbol. I think it was originally used to mean 'or' but evolved to its current meaning. It is indeed quite interesting to see language evolve. I can't help but wonder about the future. In a hundred years, will they look back at this forum post as archaic speaking? Like old english is to us.

As far as making up slang for a world, I've never done it, and haven't seen it done often. Usually it seems that authors just make up different curses.

 

[TheDustyZebra]

I don't see it as a conjunction there -- to me, it's still punctuation, just pronounced and spelled out.

I wonder if it evolved from not being able to use a slash in things like file names and urls? Like the way one sometimes writes an email address as "at yahoo dot com" to prevent spambots from grabbing it?

 

[Ursa major]

Most of you examples simply provide a specific indication of the pronunciation of something (i.e. xxxx/yyyy/zzzz) that's been around for as long as I can remember (which appears longer if you consider my age rather than my ability to recall the past ).

The last one, though,

12. JUST SAW ALEX! Slash I just chubbed on oatmeal raisin cookies at north quad and i miss you

does seem rather odd, as it doesn't seem to fit into the xxxx/yyyy pattern.

 

[Fishbowl Helmet]

Prescriptive versus descriptive linguistics. Love that debate. Interesting though. As it's been in use like this for years, I wonder who the first real linguist to notice / write on the topic was.

 

[MistingWolf]

I've never seen it spelled out like this before, but I find it rather appealing, actually. The slash is almost like a number, in that I feel that it's awkward to have in writing. I might not ever use it, but it's something to keep in mind.

 

[Chel]

Now I need me some good old Guns n' Roses.

 

[hopewrites]

surely the Canadian "eh" was the first pronounced punctuation? which is mostly what I see this as.

incidentally i use (for better or worse) "ie:" for "/" when speaking. but "/" when typing.

 

[Mouse]

I hope I never say it. Sounds daft to I.

Also, I thought you were going to mention the fandom use of the word 'slash' and now I'm kind of disappointed it's not about that!

Me too.

Haha, yes, I thought it might be about Slash at first. Also disappointed

And this.

 

[Hex]

Interesting that Yoof is using it.

Interesting also that it's being represented as a new thing. I used to use it and, like Vertigo, I'm no youth, and my mum has too.

It is just speaking a sort of punctuation mark -- and it sounds a little more poncey if you say "oblique".

 

[Abernovo]

No longer a youth either, but I have spoken it out like this. It's just the spoken form of /, so I don't see a problem with it and it's certainly nothing new.

Perhaps it's becoming more common with the partial disappearance of the word 'cum' in similar sentences (as that word often has other connotations, especially now). Going back to the OP, I would normally say 'shootout cum car chase cum manhunt', to show it was a combination.

I have used slash, but just as often just leave it unsaid, as in and/or. But I have never pronounced it 'oblique'!

Hmm, like Mouse and amw, I did have visions of this being a discussion on slash fiction. Shudder.

 

[chrispenycate]

Everybody says dot com. Nobody writes n dash not true comma one only writes it out to make it clear it has been vocalised period new paragraph

When I attempted open parentheses without any great success close parentheses to master a dictation program I succeeded in getting it to recognise words such as open quotation marks comma close quotation marks or open quotation marks period close quotation marks comma even when more meaningful words were being scrambled period new paragraph

Could it be that the very simplicity of the open quotation marks punctuation close quotation marks concepts reassures that at least italics that close italic information will get across question mark

 

[Ursa major]

...and it sounds a little more poncey if you say "oblique".

Because "oblique" leans that way...?


Besides, a / should be called a solidus or a virgule, rather than a mere oblique.

 

[Hex]

You win. You're significantly poncier than I am