I SPREAK ENGRISH! Really! I is do speak English..

DIALECT

NOUN:

1.
1. A regional or social variety of a language distinguished by pronunciation, grammar, or vocabulary, especially a variety of speech differing from the standard literary language or speech pattern of the culture in which it exists: Cockney is a dialect of English.
2. A variety of language that with other varieties constitutes a single language of which no single variety is standard: the dialects of Ancient Greek.
2. The language peculiar to the members of a group, especially in an occupation; jargon: the dialect of science.
3. The manner or style of expressing oneself in language or the arts.
4. A language considered as part of a larger family of languages or a linguistic branch. Not in scientific use: Spanish and French are Romance dialects.

SLANG

NOUN:

1. A kind of language occurring chiefly in casual and playful speech, made up typically of short-lived coinages and figures of speech that are deliberately used in place of standard terms for added raciness, humor, irreverence, or other effect.
2. Language peculiar to a group; argot or jargon: thieves' slang.


I went hunting for the meanings because I was trying to distinguish the difference between slang and dialect. Lo and behold! Thanks to modern technology and the American Heritage dictionary I could pull both rabbits out of the hat.


So? Besides aimless banter and just being the WRITE-O-HOLIC that I am, I'm glad I got to know the difference and can share it with my readers. :)

One good example would be my home base. Sabah. We host a variety of dialects that root from the Malay language. With each area, there is a specific dialect.

SITUATION A

Let's say we're going to get someone a gift and we want to share the costs of the gift. (Cheap people we are..lol I'm kidding!)

In Kota Kinabalu we would say, Bah! Kongsi-kongsi (literal translation, Bah! (there is no translation for this word) Share-share.

The Jesseltonites or people from Sandakan would say Bah! Patak-patak kita. (literal translation, Bah! Share-share us)

LOL I hope I'm not losing you yet.

Next would be slang. I think this is quite easy to understand because we come across slang words all the time, don't we? At least my friends and I do.


Courtesy of slangsite.com, I've found some funny ones:

Adorkable: Adorable in a dorky sort of way. :)

In a sentence: I love the way he dances! it's so adorkable!


Airbiscuit: Foul stench emitted as by-product of digestion

Example: Better hold your nose. I've just floated an airbiscuit your way.


Many more where that came from.

FLASHBACK!!!!!!!!!!!

I remembered back in the day when I was in uni, being a Mass Communication student it was quote "Imperative" unquote according to my lecturer, to speak proper English.

No pressure there.

We even had badges on our lecturers that say Speak English!

Can I say it again? NO PRESSURE THERE.

My uni mates and I had this habit of verbal suicide. Not only would we speak in our own dialects, we would also add in slangs as well. We had the habit of innovating was the word I would like to call it, as we went along.


In other words, we would, basically KILL THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE.


An example of a typical conversation would be:-


A: Eh.......where is you goin'?

B: I is having classes (mind you it was only one class but to add in spice we would pluraficy <--another slang word for plural). I is seeing you later wokay?

A: Making sure you do! I is missing you long time. Why not we go to toilet first
then prettify our faces?

B: Okay...But the hurrying (but hurry up). I know that monster will kill me if I is
come in late to class.

A: Okay.,..okay! I is hurrying...!


Disclaimer: A,B and monster are only fictional characters and any coincidences are sincerely regretted.

:P

Mind you we all came from English speaking backgrounds therefore we could play around with the language and maintain our eloquence at the same time.

Or so we thought.

One fine day, I went to see my lecturer to ask her for some tips on how to do my assignment. Here I was in my polo shirt, nicely pressed jeans, absolutely clean sneakers and cap. Preppy equaled to intelligent so I was dressed to impress. I called her on her extension with perfect English. Then she came out and I knew from the look on her face she was impressed too.

That was until I opened my mouth.

The dreaded slanguishes and dialect diarrhea started foaming in my mouth and I spurted out gibberish that shot her in horror and made her jaw drop.
Metaphorically I was sh*tting through my gab hole(mouth).

Being quite close to her (Yea so I'm a nerd :P) I cringed, expecting obscenities.But being the calm and collected person that she was.....

"Ari, do you need to re-learn your English? I'll tell Mr.X from IH (International House was where you go to learn english) to attend to you...IMMEDIATELY."


>.<