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Difference Between Colloquialism and

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Difference between Colloquialism and 

Slang

People often use the word colloquialism for slang, and slang for colloquialism. The reason for this is that quite often
people take them to mean the same thing.Colloquialism and slang do overlap to a certain extent, but they are actually
two distinct forms of language.
How do colloquialism and slang overlap? In other words, how are they alike? The answer to this is – they are both
informal, and they are both spoken forms of language. Now one may ask if they are both informal and both spoken
forms of the language, then how can they be different? Well, the difference is this –
Colloquial language is the informal language used by people in every day speech. Its form is distinct to certain
people and lends them their identity. Colloquialism may be words, phrases, or complete aphorisms. For example:
Word – gonna
Phrase – what’s up?
Aphorism – the rich get richer and the poor get poorer
Slang, on the other hand, is less informal than colloquialism. It is used only by certain groups – like teenagers or
people of certain professions.  For example:
Stinks – for “is bad”
Buzz off – for “go away”
Salad dodger – an obese person
Other differences are:
* Colloquialism is considered standard language, but slang is not
* Colloquialism is geographically restricted, whereas slang may be used in any culture or class of society
* Colloquialism enriches a language, while slang waters it down.

Colloquial (adjective) means pertaining to common/ordinary/everyday or familiar conversation,


not formal, academic or literary. It can be used to describe terms used in normal discourse between
people of a particular language group. In many languages there are colloquial phrases and
expressions, and many of these may not be listed in standard dictionaries. However, they are often
used, and everyone knows what they mean. [Etymology: Colloquial is from colluquy, Latin
colloquium, from con, with, + loquor, to speak] Examples of colloquial language: 'We must get
someone in to help us balance the books. Do you know a good accountant?" "It's no good leaving
her a message to phone you back. You can wait until the cows come home and she'll never call!"
Slang (noun) refers to words, phrases and uses of language that are considered to be very
informal and the usage is often restricted to special contexts or is only used by a particular class,
profession, social group, etc. e.g. prison slang, or in speech by people who know each other well.
Some slang includes abusive, offensive or vulgar langauge and 'taboo' words. Most slang
expressions are spoken, not written and would be considered inappropriate in formal types of
communication. Examples of slang "We get smashed (drunk) every Friday night." "We've all had this
bug (illness) for a week."Colloquialisms are the broad category of informal speech which includes
slang. Slang is a sub-category of Colloquial expressions.No, there is a slight difference.
Colloquialism is when a word is used in informal or relaxed use. Most native speakers will know what
a colloquial word means. Slang is when a word is used by a small group of people, e.g. teenagers,
which is not used by most people. A common example of colloquialism is the word "cool''. Cool can
be found in the dictionary and everyone knows what it means. However, a person would not use
"cool" when writing an article or a paper. The ironic thing is that in the 1960's, cool was slang only
hippies knew what the word meant.
Difference between Colloquialism and Slang

Colloquial - means pertaining to common/ordinary/everyday or familiar conversation, not


formal, academic or literary.
- it can be used to describe terms used in normal discourse between people of a
particular language group. Its form is distinct to certain people and lends them their
identity.

Colloquial language is the informal language used by people in every day speech.
This is the level used in ordinary conversations, in speaking with classmates,
teachers, visitors, etc.

Colloquialism may be words, phrases, or complete aphorisms. For example:


Word – gonna
Phrase – what’s up?
Aphorism – the rich get richer and the poor get poorer
'We must get someone in to help us balance the books.
Do you know a good accountant?"
"It's no good leaving her a message to phone you back.

Slang - refers to words, phrases and uses of language that are considered to be very informal
- the usage is often restricted to special contexts or is only used by a particular class,
profession, social group, etc. e.g. prison slang, teenagers, or in speech by people who know
each other well.

Some slang includes abusive, offensive or vulgar language and 'taboo' words. Most slang
expressions are spoken, not written and would be considered inappropriate in formal types of
communication
 For example:
Stinks – for “is bad”
Buzz off – for “go away”
Salad dodger – an obese person
"We get smashed (drunk) every Friday night."
"We've all had this bug (illness) for a week."

Other differences are:


* Colloquialism is considered standard language, but slang is not.
* Colloquialism is geographically restricted, whereas slang may be used in any culture or class
of society
* Colloquialism enriches a language, while slang waters it down.

People often use the word colloquialism for slang, and slang for colloquialism. The reason for


this is that quite often people take them to mean the same thing.Colloquialism and slang do
overlap to a certain extent, but they are actually two distinct forms of language.
How do colloquialism and slang overlap? In other words, how are they alike? The answer to this
is – they are both informal, and they are both spoken forms of language.

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