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cool (relaxed), and pot (marijuana [ mær 'w nə]
марихуана). Of course, the words cabbage, cool, and pot sound
alike in their ordinary standard use and in their slang use.
H.W. Fowler states that as style is the great antiseptic, so
slang is the great corrupting matter, it is perishable, and infects
what is round it.
People use slang for a number of reasons: to be picturesque,
arresting, striking and above all, different from others; to avoid the
tedium of outmoded hackneyed words; to demonstrate one’s
spiritual independence and daring, to sound modern and up-to-
date. The circle of users of slang is more narrow than that of
colloquialisms. It is used by the young and uneducated. Yet,
slang’s colourful and humorous quality makes it catching, so that a
considerable part of slang may become accepted by nearly all the
groups of speakers.
Slang can be contrasted with jargon (technical language of
occupational or other groups) and with argot or cant (secret
vocabulary of underworld groups), but the borderlines separating
these categories from slang are greatly blurred, and some writers
use the terms cant, argot, and jargon in a general way to include all
the foregoing meanings
"Cant" comprises the restricted, non-technical words and
expressions of any particular group, as an occupational, age,
ethnic, hobby, or special-interest group. (Cool, uptight,) "Jargon"
is defined as the restricted, technical, or shoptalk words and
expressions of any particular group, as an occupational, trade,
scientific, artistic, criminal, or other group. (Finals used by
printers and by students, Fannie May FNMA certificate by money
men). "Argot" is merely the combined cant and jargon of thieves,
criminals, or any other underworld group. (Hit used by armed
robbers; scam by corporate confidence men.)
H. W. Fowler defines a dialect as a variety of a language
which prevails in a district, with local peculiarities of vocabulary,
pronunciation and phrase. England is a small country, yet it has

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