Monday 22 July 2013

What would you describe the words street jargon as?


Its amazing truly how language evolves and how words pick up meaning and lose it along the way, the concise definition of the words separately:

Street

A street is a paved public thoroughfare in a built environment. It is a public parcel of land adjoining buildings in an urban context, on which people may freely assemble, interact, and move about. A street can be as simple as a level patch of dirt, but is more often paved with a hard, durable surface such as concrete, cobblestone or brick. Portions may also be smoothed with asphalt, embedded with rails, or otherwise prepared to accommodate non-pedestrian traffic.

Originally the word "street" simply meant a paved road (Latin: "via strata"). The word "street" is still sometimes used colloquially as a synonym for "road", for example in connection with the ancient Watling Street, but city residents and urban planners draw a crucial modern distinction: a road's main function is transportation, while streets facilitate public interaction. Examples of streets include pedestrian streets, alleys, and city-centre streets too crowded for road vehicles to pass. Conversely, highways and motorways are types of roads, but few would refer to them as streets.

Now that's a mouth full NEH!!! but it further got stretched where the modern culture of hip hop included it in its language, the streets meaning the hood and the hood life at large, the thought pattern is a bit obvious but its just what we can call evolution.

Jargon

Jargon is "the technical terminology or characteristic idiom of a special activity occupational or social group." The philosopher Condillac observed in 1782 that "every science requires a special language because every science has its own ideas." As a rationalist member of the Enlightenment he continued, "It seems that one ought to begin by composing this language, but people begin by speaking and writing, and the language remains to be composed." In earlier times, the term jargon would refer to trade languages used by people who spoke different native tongues to communicate.

In other words, the term covers the language used by people who work in a particular area or who have a common interest. Much like slang, it can develop as a kind of shorthand, to express ideas that are frequently discussed between members of a group, though it can also be developed deliberately using chosen terms. A standard term may be given a more precise or unique usage among practitioners of a field. In many cases this causes a barrier to communication with those not familiar with the language of the field.

Food for thought NEH!!! now how does this relate to hip hop? Well its obvious people that are into hip hop, that is those that live and love it need a way of communication and association. thus what we call slang a slow move into the global arena gives a wide range of words that form part of the culture.
Feel free to add any words that form part of the culture, their definition, origin as well as the place they are commonly used in for example

kasi, originated (not known to the blogger) meaning neighborhood, used in south Africa.

So street jargon!!! street language!!! Slang

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