In 1892, Walt Whitman described slang as "the start of fancy, imagination and humor, breathing into its nostrils the breath of life." Slang is for the most part a bit wittier and clever than standard English. Another quote from Whitman "rich flashes of humor and genius and poetry." Young slang is blatantly predatory, pouncing on any and all slang for its own purposes. American youth slang of the 20th century cannot be over-stated. As we pass from our teen into our twenties, most of us stop acquiring new slang and our use of it starts taper off.
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