the current slang of the street and the sensational newspaper. They
are often the result of a desire to say things in such a manner as to
reflect smartness upon the speaker, or to present things in a humorous
or picturesque way. That they are frequently very effective cannot be
gainsaid. Sometimes they are coined in the heat of political or social
discussion, and, for a time, express what everybody is talking about;
but it is impossible to tell whether they will live beyond
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the occasion that produced them. So long as their usage is doubtful it
is safer not to employ them.

SLANG

Slang is somewhat like chicken-pox or measles, very catching, and just
as inevitable in its run; and very few of us escape it. It is
severest, too, where the sanitary conditions are most favorable to its
development. Where there is least thought and culture to counteract
its influence slang words crowd out those of a more serious character,
until, in time, the young and inexperienced speaker or writer is
unable to distinguish between the counterfeit and the genuine.

While most persons condemn slang, there are very few who are entirely
free from its use. It varies greatly in its degrees of coarseness or
refinement, and adapts itself to all classes and conditions. Many know
no other language, and we are unwillingly compelled to admit that
while their speech is often ungrammatical and unrhetorical, it is
generally clear, concise, and forcible.