Masarykova univerzita Pedagogická fakulta

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Masarykova univerzita

Pedagogická fakulta

Katedra anglického jazyka a literatury

Závěrečná práce v rámci celoživotního

vzdělávání

2015 Mgr.Ing.Leona Buzrlová

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Masaryk University

Faculty of Education

Department of English Language and Literature

Mgr. Ing. Leona Buzrlová

F I N A L W O R K

DESCRIPTION AND ANALYSIS OF A SELECTED PROFESSIONAL SLANG IN

ENGLISH AND ITS CHARACTERISTIC PROPERTIES

Supervised by: Mgr. Radek Vogel, PhD.

.

2015

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Prohlašuji tímto, že jsem závěrečnou práci na téma Description and analysis of a selected

professional slang in English and its characteristic properties vypracovala sama, pouze

s použitím literatury a pramenů v práci uvedených.

Brno, srpen 2015

…………………………………..

Leona Buzrlová

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Acknowledgement:

I would like to express my very sincere thanks to Mgr. Radek Vogel, PhD. for

providing me with many pieces of great advice, bringing me in many useful ideas, and

supporting me throughout the whole course of my writing.

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CONTENT

Introduction

1. Legal language – legal English………………………………………………6

1.1. National varieties of legal English…………………………………………….7

1.2. Short summary on development of legal English……………………………...7

1.3. What makes legal language difficult?................................................................9

1.4. The most important differences of legal English from Standard English…….11

2. Slang…………………………………………………………………………..13

2.1. Etymology of slang……………………………………………………………14

2.2 Slang, its rise and development……………………………………………….14

2.3. Features of slang………………………………………………………………15

2.4. Reasons for using slang… …………………………………………………...17

2.5. Formation of slang…………………………………………………………….18

2.6. Slang versus colloquialism/jargon……………………………………………..19

3 Professional slang…………………………………………………………….21

3.1. Legal slang as one of the professional slangs, its nature and use ……………..22

3.2. Examples of legal slang words and their meanings……………………………25

4. Conclusion……..……………………………………………………………...34

References

Abbreviations

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Introduction

Our whole existence is ruled by certain legal norms and regulations, which must be taken

into account. In everyday situations we are confronted with issues like dealing, buying and

selling, lending, discussing the procedure and solutions of various legal disputes, inheriting

property etc. All these or similar legal issues are connected with legal language, which is

based on its own principles and properties and characterized by special terminology, which is

sometimes unknown to the general public. Even the structure itself, not only in English,

sounds unusual or special to its listeners, sometimes even archaic, incomprehensible, illogical

or complicated. Not only the law itself, but also the legal language itself can be difficult to

understand, which is why people usually engage lawyers to act on their behalf. The legal

language can be considered even more difficult, if legal slang is used. But also lawyers have

sometimes problems to make themselves understood, even if legal slang is concerned. And

just legal slang as a professional slang is a center of attention in this final work.

In the first chapter of this work I pay attention to general specification of legal language

as such, and to legal English language and to national varieties of legal English. Before I am

able to start to talk about legal slang, I must specify the term “legal language”, because legal

slang is a part of it, and it is necessary to point out all important features and properties and

differences of legal English from Standard English.

The second chapter starts with the general specification of the term “slang”, with its

etymology and formation and the chapter closes with stating the essential features of slang. I

pay attention to reasons for using slang, then to difference between slang and colloquialism or

to rise of slang and its development.

In third chapter I try to give a specification of legal slang and its essential features and

properties plus I use some examples to demonstrate words of legal slang as in English as in

Czech language and to show a reader of this work how complicated use of legal slang can be

and that it is not easy to work with, because improper and unknown knowledge of legal slang

can lead to misunderstandings or eventual conflicts.

My work gives only a very short view at problem issue of legal (English) language and

legal slang, which is an essential part of legal English.

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1. Legal language - legal English

I know you lawyers can with ease

twist words and meanings as you please;

that language, by your skill made pliant,

will bend to favour every client (Books of Humorous Quotations, 72).1

All law consists of words. “Morality or custom may be embedded in human behavior, but

law- virtually by definition – comes into being through language. The law and its language

influence the daily life of virtually everyone in our society.” (Thiersma 1)

Thanks to practice and use by lawyers in English speaking countries, especially from the

United Kingdom, Ireland, United States, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and India,

which have shared the same or similar law tradition, legal English has traditionally been

preserved up to now and remained in use there. The spread of legal English is also connected

with international business and due to its increasing role in the world, legal English became a

global phenomenon referred to as legalese. Legalese is traditional language of the law and is

difficult for those who are not trained to understand. Legalese is defined in the Oxford

English Reference Dictionary (1989 : 804) as the complicated technical language of legal

document.

According to the Online Etymology Dictionary a word legalese was used first in 1914 and

means the language of legal documents (Online Etymology Dictionary). Legalese is

characterized by verbosity, embedded clauses, passive verbs, limited punctuation, Latin

expressions, improper word order, long sentences, high abstraction etc. In my opinion,

lawyers with their knowledge of Standard English/standard language daily influence

development of legalese during their work which results in fact that legal documents may

become more intelligible to the general public.

Legal English is a language, which is used by lawyers and other legal professionals

during their work. Legal language is not only the language of legal documents (legalese), but

it refers as to written as to oral part of language. It refers to:

1 From Fables (1994) – The Dog and the Fox by John Gay. Also Benjamin Franklin engaged with the same text in Poor Richard´s Almanach (1740) see Grauman, 206

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• legal documents: contracts, treaties, conventions, licences, orders, testimonies, full

powers etc.

• laws/legal acts: acts of parliament, subordinate legislation, directives, provisions,

regulations, case reports etc.

• court judgments, decisions, resolutions, arrest warrants, pleadings, summonses, civil

actions, litigations, briefs etc.

• various legal correspondence, declarations, notifications.

1.1. National varieties of legal English

There are various varieties of legal English which apparently substantiates also the below

stated paragraph. However, the varieties of legal English are different from the British legal

system due to their gradual different development and thus they created their own base for

their legal English.

"Even if the American colonists refused to accept many British things, they finally accepted

the common law system, inclusive of precedents along with the legal language, which was

connected with that system. As a consequence of it, American lawyers can understand English

and vice versa. However later the British and American legal systems started to diverge,

especially as for dialects of legal English. Unlike the United States, Canada, Australia, and

New Zealand broke away from the United Kingdom much later, and that´s why their legal

languages retained much closer to that of England." (Thiersma 43-7)

1.2. Short summary on development of legal English

Before the time of Christ, people living in England were Celtic. Since Celtic language

ranks among the branch of Indo-European languages, Celtic is ultimately related to English

but it has not left many traces in English. (Thiersma 9) The begin of common law in England

is connected with the vernacular Celtic law, which underwent changes due to conquests over

the following centuries or due to Roman legal tradition with Latin as legal language followed

by the Anglo-Saxon invasion of Britain with predominance of Anglo-Saxon law. But “the law

of the British Celts has little lasting impact on present English legal system.” (Thiersma 9)

The Roman succeeded to conquer a large Celtic territory, inclusive of England. Even if

Celts were occupied by the Romans, they population have never completely accepted Latin

and Roman law. The Romans protected the Britons against raids of invaders, especially

against the Germanic tribes. (Thiersma 10)

“The Germanic invaders used languages that came to form what we call Anglo-Saxon or

old English”. Tribes developed later into several kingdoms, including Kent, Essex, Sussex,

Wessex, East Anglia, Mercia and Northumbria. Several kingdoms then created a single

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kingdom of England. The Anglo-Saxons periods provides us with some words which survived

up to now and Thiersma states the following ones like guilt, land, murder, right, steal, swear,

thief, witness etc. (Thiersma 10)

Not only some Germanic tribes, but also Anglo-Saxons used alliteration in their

language. According to Thiersma in his Legal language “legal act were performed orally in

front of witnesses and required remembering exact verbal formulas”. (Thiersma 14)

Alliteration remained preserved mainly in coinjoined phrases or repetitive word pairs.

(Thiersma 15) 2

Latin as a legal language enriched English with Latin terms like client, conviction, admit,

mediate, clerk, and legitimate. (Thiersma 15)

Since 8th century Vikings from Scandinavia began raiding the English coast and one

century later they brought Scandinavian law to eastern part of England. (Thiersma 17)

According to Thiersma in his book Legal language - “the language of the Anglo-Saxons and

Scandinavians were fairly close at the time.” Lots of words in English have Scandinavian

origin - they, their, skin, sky, take, trust, sale a law. (Thiersma 17)

“A different group of Scandinavians had a far more profound and lasting impact on the

legal language of England. These were the Normans who were originally Vikings”. They

succeeded to conquer the Normandy in the 9th and 10th century. (Thiersma 19)

In 1066 the Norman under William, Norman Duke, invaded England in order to get the

English throne and to introduced Anglo-Norman French as “an official legal language which

remained preserved for the following three centuries.” By way of contract - Latin remained in

use for written records almost for seven following centuries. (Butt 19-20) Thiersma in his

Legal language described “Norman French as the language of power”. Before the conquest,

both English and Latin were used, but the Norman conquest resulted in replacing English with

Latin. (Thiersma 20)

Later Anglo-Norman French turned into Law French. According to Thiersma the adoption

of French as a legal language might be viewed as a progressive measure.” (Thiersma 23)

Modern legal English use lots of words from Anglo-Norman French like estate, lease,

executor etc.

Anglo-French died out as a living language and Law French used by lawyers and judges

became an exclusive legal language which was generally incomprehensible. (Thiersma 28)

2 A coinjoined phrase in some where two parallel elements are connected by a coinjuction such as AND or OR. Most examples consist pf two or perhaps three adjectives, nouns, or verbs. (Thiersma 15)

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Law French was considered by lawyers for much more precise than English and simplified.

(Thiersma 29) 3

The history of legal English was trilingual for a certain period of time - English, French and

Latin. “Lawyers engaged in what linguists call “code switching”. People were forced to

switch from one language to another. (Thiersma 33)

Since 1750 Latin was completely replaced by English in the Proceedings in Court of

Justice. (Butt, 19-20) Nevertheless, Latin language enriched legal English with lots of its

expressions, sayings, vocabulary such as ex offo, persona non grata, ad hoc, pacta sunt

servanda, de facto, de iura, contra legem, bona fide, inter alia, vis maior which are used even

now.

However, modern English vocabulary is particularly based on Germanic languages,

French and Latin mostly survived for special expressions.

1. 3. What makes legal language difficult?

Language has an important function in every society, because persons interact one to

another mutually by means of language and they can identify themselves by means of

language. The same importantance has the legal language in communication as well.

As David Mellinkoff has noted, legal English includes "distinctive words, meanings,

phrases, and modes of expression." (Mellinkoff 61-62)

"One of the main reasons why legal language is sometimes difficult to understand is that it is

often very different from ordinary English. This comprises two issues:

1. The writing conventions are different: sentences often with apparently unusual

structures, punctuation is missing or used insufficiently, foreign phrases sometimes

prevail (e.g. inter alia instead of among others), use of peculiar pronouns (null and void,

all and sundry). (Haigh 4)

2. A large number of difficult words and phrases occur. (Haigh 4)

Standard English has two kinds of variant – formal and informal English. Informal

English includes conversational language. It is known as colloquialism. Informal English

sometimes includes also slang. Formal English is carefully worded as in academic or

professional writing and used in discourse and formal speech. Word choice is important in

3 Lawyers pronounced Law French as though it were English (Thiersma 30)

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formal English. One mark of non-standard English which is used in informal style, is just

slang.

But let´s return to legal English for a while. What is typical for legal English, is the use of

special collocations and phrases, for example as the case may be, signed, sealed and

delivered, as amended, except as provided in, unless otherwise provided etc. This special and

unique terminology and collocations make the style of written legal documents and also of

oral legal formulations. Many expressions or structures which have preserved in legal English

are otherwise considered for rather archaic, in spite of the fact that legal language is not

isolated from ordinary language, which is used in everyday life, it undergoes changes as well.

Legal language uses a number of borrowings and internationalisms, e.g. loan words from

Latin and French like bona fide, ex parte, force majeure etc., including collocations of nouns

followed by adjectives, such as decree nisi, attorney general, notary public. (Bázlik 17)

Shall is often used in formal written legal acts and regulations. Shall has a special legal

usage for stating rules, laws, legal provisions etc. (Bázlik 22) “Shall often expresses

obligation in the positive form and prohibition in the negative form, roughly corresponding to

the meanings of must (obligation) and must not (prohibition), which, though synonymous with

shall, are not very common in legal English.” One of the reason for the use of shall rather

than must is the fact that “must is associated with the meaning of logical necessity” (belonging

to deontic modality), which “shall does not express.” (Bázlik 65)

In legal English, “finite and nonfinite clauses have a frequent use of the passive voice.” It

is used even with verbs which otherwise occur in the passive only sporadically, e.g. verbs

enter or have. (Bázlik 73) “The frequent use of the passive together with the preposition by

explains (among other factors) why it is the second most frequent preposition (after of) in the

legal English.” (Bázlik 75)

The meanings of Czech terms do not overlap completely with English ones or the forms

are less similar than we might expect (false friends – faux amis), e.g. collect – inkasovat,

commission – spáchání, provize, service – doručení, title – funkce, nárok, provision –

ustanovení, zajištění We must keep in mind that “legal meaning may differ from the general

meaning of a word”. (Bázlik 146)

According to T. Hrehovčík “the most significant features of English legal style are

special:

• lay-outs and the use of capital letters;

• large occurrence of abstract words, such as provision, authority, condition, request

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etc.;

• the function of modal verbs, e.g. shall implies an obligatory consequence of a legal

decision; extensive use of archaism, such as hereby, aforesaid, hereinbefore, etc.

• the use of pair synonyms, e.g. terms and conditions, use and exercise, conditions

and provisions.” (Bázlik 22)

1.4. The most important differences of legal English from Standard English

As it was said before, modern legal English is based on Standard English. However, it

contains a number of peculiar features in comparison to Standard English referring to such

things like terminology, linguistic structure and meaning of words/phrases, punctuation etc.

The biggest differences of legal English from Standard English are:

• a great deal of terminology of Legal English is unknown to layman (e.g. waiver, restraint of

trade, restrictive covenant, promissory estoppel), mostly with origin in French or Latin

language. “Latin and French words are sometimes used in written legal texts but are

pronounced only sporadically.” (Bázlik 141)

• - er, -or, and –ee name endings. Words like employer and employee; lessor and lessee,

trustor and trustee expressing the opposite of the relationship by special endings.

• Legal English uses words with special meanings. An example for it is a well-known term

consideration, which refers to contracts in legal English, and means an act, forbearance or

promise by one party to a contract that constitutes the price for which the promise of the other

party is bought (Oxford Dictionary of Law). Other examples are construction, prefer,

redemption, furnish, exhibit, affirmation, hold and find. (Bázlik 142) We must take into

account that legal meaning may differ from the general meaning of a word.

• occurrence of doublets and triplets - Two or three words are linked together carrying a

special meaning. Examples are: fit and proper, care and attention, terms and conditions,

dispute, controversy or claim.

• Unusual word order. Word order in legal texts is sometimes peculiar in comparison to non-

legal ones. There are several possibilities for change of word order, particularly by use of the

passive voice. (Bázlik 108)

• no punctuation or use of limited punctuation. Legal documents omit commas where they

usually are used, which may cause problems, for example in cases where several nouns follow

each other in enumeration. “If the commas are missing, it may be difficult to decide whether

some of the adjacent nouns form a phrase or simply represent two enumerated items.” (Bázlik

151) Normally punctuation is used to make meaning clearer.

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• Use of adverbs. Adverbs used at “time, place, and specially manner adjuncts have their

place in legal English” although each of these types is “replaceable by alternative structures

expressing the same meaning, especially prepositional phrases”. The most typical adverbs

used in legal English – forthwith (without delay), subsequently, furthermore, promptly etc.

(Bázlik 50)

• Use of unfamiliar pro-forms. For example, the same, the said, the aforementioned etc. A

special class of pro-forms is used in legal English “mainly instead of adverbs or prepositional

phrases”. They are the forms combining here-, there- and where- with prepositions forming

the second part of these words (hereafter, hereby, thereby. (Bázlik 44-45)

• use of phrasal verbs. Legal English used more phrasal verbs than Standard English. Phrasal

verbs are “usually polysemantic”, i.e. they have several meanings each, However, legal

English should use words (not only verbs) whose meaning is unambiguous even without

context. (Bázlik 52) For example, parties write off debts, enter into contracts and so on.

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2. Slang

Slang is the poetry of everyday life.

-S. I. Hayakawa, Language in Action, 1941

Slang is humanity's first play toy.

-John Algeo, University of Georgia professor

Slang, at its worst, it is stupidly coarse and provocative. At its best, it makes standard

English seem pallid.

-J. E. Lighter, chief editor of Random House Historical Dictionary of

American Slang (Fox, K.in Some thought on slang)

Slang is a complicated term to be defined because it has a tendency to change over time

even more quickly than language itself. Not only one definition for slang is possible, but

definitions would certainly vary from one to another. each dictionary namely defines the term

of slang differently. Moreover slang is mostly used in informal conversation situations so that

linguistics do not have a possibility to study it as formal types of language kept in writing

First of all, slang as a cultural phenomenon is a part of every culture. Slang existed in the

Antiquity, in the Middle Ages, and it exists also in the modern era. Slang is as old as

language itself. Even Shakespeare used the slang of his time, and by doing so gave us such

words as “hubhub”4, “fretful”5, “fireworks” and “dwindle.” 6 (Johnson 17)

Slang is based on vocabulary of non-standard words and phrases in language. Users of

slang usually refuse or avoid standard variety of language and choose such words and phrases,

which may represent prestige, imply membership in a particular group or distinguish group

members from non-members. Slang is escape from the use of standard language. Slang is

sometimes vivid, funny and expressive. Sometimes it is used with aim to attract attention of

other people, namely listeners by special making accompanying sounds. Slang introduces

new words into the language by recombining/putting words into new meanings, which can

even cause problems.

As it was stated before, slang follows the rules of the rest of the language. It does not have

its specific grammar. The specificity of slang is expressed in pronunciation and in intonation,

lexicon, word formation, and in some peculiar rhetorical devices used to construct discourse.

4 a loud mixture of sound or voices. : a situation in which there is much noise, confusion, excitement, and

activity. 5 upset and fidgety 6 to become smaller and smaller; shrink; waste away

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According to Yelistratov in Slang and culture it is important to point out that “images are

created in the slang culture only on a verbal level”. “Gestures and graphics play also an

important role” in it. In slang, images are “knowledge of cultural background.” (Yelistratov)

2.1. Etymology of the word slang

In its earliest attested use (1756) the word slang referred to the vocabulary of "low or

disreputable" people. By the early 19th century, it was “no longer only connected with

disreputable people, but remained to be used for language use below the level of standard

educated speech.” 7

Another opinion stated in the first volume of Marquette Law Review (1917) which explains

the origin of a word “slang” is the following : Slang described as “low or vulgar language”

or “such language that is not recognized in polite or serious literature.” Originally “the gypsy

word for the secret language of Gypsies, thieves and tramps, though some etymologists

connect it with the verb “ to sling”, as being abusive language “slung” at a person. “Slang

permeates all classes and belongs to all trades and professions through custom and usage

some slang words have become recognized as properly good English “as she is spoke.”

2.2. Slang and its rise, development

Which processes led to a rise of a slang word, is very hard to say. Every situation is

different and requires something else. But some legal slang words have even its history and its

own story of rise.

According to Italian researcher Winona Bullard in her History of slang - slang was “the

main reason for the development of prescriptive language in an attempt to slow down the rate

of change in both spoken and written language.” In her opinion, Latin and French were “the

only two languages that retained the use of prescriptive language” in the 14th

century. Around 15th century scholars began to enforce Standard English language.

(Bullard)

Bullard states in the same work that later regional differences in pronunciation and

dialects started to appear with literary activity of some authors like Chaucer, William Caxton,

and William of Malmesbury. “The different dialects and the different pronunciations”

represented the first meaning for the term “slang.” (Bullard)

7 The origin of the word is uncertain, although it occurs to be connected with Thieves' cant. Cant means a

specialized jargon of a particular group . See more details at www.worldheritage.org

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The slang in today´s meaning began to form after the turn of 16th - 17th century and is

mostly connected with so called English Criminal Cant as a “speech used by criminals and

cheats resulting from their activities mostly in saloons and gambling houses.” The English

Criminal Cant was slowly developing. In fact, out of the four million people who spoke

English, only about ten thousand spoke the English Criminal Cant. (Bullard) By the end of

the 16th century this new style of speaking was considered to be a language “without reason

or order.” (Peer 35-36) According to Bullard in History of slang in the 18th century

schoolmasters taught pupils to believe that the English Criminal Cant (which by this time had

developed into slang) was not the just correct usage of English and “slang was considered to

be taboo.” (Bullard) By the 1700’s the cultural differences and developing business had

begun to influence the English-speaking population, and slang had the tendency to expand.

After 1800 slang was not connected only with criminals or cheats anymore. After early

1920’s also popular writers started to pay their attention to slang. After the WW I people

had new attitudes to slang which related to a demand for entertainment, mass media, and

slang fiction. (Bullard)

Today modern slang has been created and influenced by the different cultures and

especially by the occurrence of technology and technique, which resulted in various varieties

of slang from street slang, police slang, drug slang, gang slang or medical slang to African-

American Slang, Italian-American slang and so on.

2.3. Features of slang

According to the American poet Carl Sandburg (1878-1967), slang is "language which

takes off its coat, spits on its hands - and goes to work.” (Sandburg)

Slang consists of words and expressions that are special to a particular group or generation.

Slang is language that is often humorous, lively and unique. It may even be offensive and

exaggerated. Each generation is said to have its own slang. Some slang lasts for generations

and becomes part of Standard English. Slang is not appropriate for most formal writing and

presentations.

Various subcultures create slang which is used by their members in order to associate

themselves with the group, or exclude those who are not its members.

Slang is something which is only connected to a particular job, profession, business or

some other work. Slang word has a certain meaning which cannot be used everywhere. Slang

is not a particular word, is not a particular language, but it is just a part of language, which

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tries to exist out of standard conventions of the society. It is something like runaway from

society, disassociation from the society.

Slang is a kind of language consisting of very informal words and phrases. Slang is more

common in speech than in writing and slang words are often used in a particular context or by

a particular group of people.

Slang is the use of words which are not considered for Standard English. In my opinion, it

should never be used in academic or professional writing. Sometimes slang is used by a

certain group and outsiders of such a group do not understand it. Outsiders of the group can

consider slang for rough and pejorative. Slang is created and produced by living languages.

Slang has become so common that when we use it, we sometimes forgot that it is just slang.

Some slang is also connected with certain time periods.

According Russian linguist Yelistratov “aesthetical slang characteristics are

superaesthetism, the absurd, and simplification.” (Yelistratov)

As it was said before, slang can be offensive, pejorative. Offensive slang words should be

used with care. The same it is with vulgar slang. Such slang words can shock and it is better to

avoid such words from common conversation. Also taboo slang words can cause outrage,

indignation and anger, at least embarrassments and therefore it is better not to use them.

As stated before, Russian linguist Yelistratov also speaks about a verbal image in slang. In

his opinion “images are created in the slang culture only on a verbal level”. Simultaneously he

emphasizes that an important role is also played by gesture and graphics. According to him

“the verbal image itself is very specific in slang.” One can distinguish “expressive images”

with an “onomaciological tendency” (from an onomatopoeic word to an image), and “images”

with a “semaciological tendency” (from an image meaning to a word). These tendencies are

intimately interconnected. Slang shows a clear tendency to the creation of oxymorons and

euphemisms.” (Yelistratov)

Slang is a type of language consisting of words and phrases that:

• are considered to be very informal

• are more common in speech than in writing

• are typically restricted to a particular group of people or context

• are connected to a particular job, profession, business, hobby or other work

• are associated with certain time period

• are not considered to be Standard English

• indicate speaker´s membership to a certain age group, reinforce connection to speaker´s

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group and exclude outsiders from the group

• imply that the user is familiar with whatever is referred to, or with a group of people who

are familiar with it and use the term.

• are taboo terms in ordinary discourse with people of a higher social status or greater

responsibility

2.4. Reason for using slang:

Below are the example for using slang from Eric Partridge's book - Slang, Today and

Yesterday, which illustrates the many uses of slang. Partridge found fifteen important

impulses behind the use of slang. (Partridge 6)

"According to the British lexicographer, Eric Partridge (1894-1979), people use slang for

any of at least 15 reasons:

1. In sheer high spirits, by the young in heart as well as by the young in years; 'just for the fun

of the thing'; in playfulness or waggishness.

2. As an exercise either in wit and ingenuity or in humour.

3. To be 'different', to be novel.

4. To be picturesque (either positively or - as in the wish to avoid insipidity - negatively).

5. To be unmistakeably arresting, even startling.

6. To escape from clichés, or to be brief and concise.

7. To enrich the language.

8. To lend an air of solidity, concreteness, to the abstract; of earthiness to the idealistic; of

immediacy and appositeness to the remote.

9a. To lesson the sting of, or on the other hand to give additional point to, a refusal, a

rejection, a recantation;

9b. To reduce, perhaps also to disperse, the solemnity, the pomposity, the excessive

seriousness of a conversation (or of a piece of writing);

9c. To soften the tragedy, to lighten or to 'prettify' the inevitability of death or

madness, or to mask the ugliness or the pity of profound turpitude (e.g. treachery,

ingratitude); and/or thus to enable the speaker or his auditor or both to endure, to

'carry on'. 10. To speak or write down to an inferior, or to amuse a superior public; or merely to be on a

colloquial level with either one's audience or one's subject matter.

11. For ease of social intercourse.

12. To induce either friendliness or intimacy of a deep or a durable kind.

13. To show that one belongs to a certain school, trade, or profession, artistic or intellectual

set, or social class; in brief, to be 'in the swim' or to establish contact.

14. Hence, to show or prove that someone is not 'in the swim'.

15. To be secret - not understood by those around one (Partridge, 6).

The Historical Dictionary of American Slang points out that many groups "use slang

largely because they lack political power." It is simply a safe and effective way that people

rebel against the establishment.

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2.5. Formation of slang

Slang expressions are created basically in the same way as standard speech. As stated in

Microsoft Encarta, "expressions may take form as metaphors, similes, and other figures of

speech." In addition, it is noted that „the words used as slang may be new coinages, existing

words may acquire new meanings, narrow meanings of words may become generalized,

words may be abbreviated, etc. However, in order for the expression to survive, it must be

widely adopted by the group who uses it. Slang is a way in which languages change and are

renewed“.

According to Russian linguist Yelistratov in Slang and culture - formation of slang

happens in certain phases. Phase one is such a phase when slang builds a “closed formation”.

This closed formation refers to “a closed, secret language of a social group. The variety of

social groups and of their languages (stylistic systems) is very wide, ranging from

philosophers, priests through revolutionaries to thieves and businessmen. The characteristics

of their slang varies, just like the social functions of the groups vary.” However, the inner

structures of their languages are similar: they are naturally enclosed, or hermetic.”

(Yelistratov)

Yelistratov in his Slang and Culture “distinguishes also three types of hermetic slang:

"logosic" (derived from the Greek word logos = thought"), “professional” and “playful”. In

his opinion, “the hermetic nature is especially strong in the first type. The members of such a

hermetical community typically believe that they are "chosen by God" and “they know the

Supreme Truth (The secret). Their goal is to hide their secret from others who are not

involved.” (Yelistratov)

Yelistratov examined the professional slang and came in his Slang and culture to

conclusion that “hermetical pathos is weaker in professional slang.. Professionals namely

keep their secrets from others, but their motivations seem to be more pragmatic than

spiritual”. According to him, the professional slang differ from the logosic slang, because

“logosic hermetics does not reflect the real world by means of its symbolic or conventional

language (for example, alchemists' language), while the professional languages reflect some

details of everyday life.” (Yelistratov) With help of professional language “we can study the

age and its everyday life, and in this sense they are historical." (Yelistratov)

As for the third type of hermetics by Yelistratov stated in his Slang and culture, “it is

playful hermetics.” “This hermetics is often cultivated in families or in youth groups.”

“Hermetical slang” always contains a “play element” and “playful slang has a very important

19

function in cultural history. A playful stage of slang often creates the particularities of entire

generations or of remarkable persons.” (Yelistratov)

According to Yelistratov “the hermetical stage of slang tends to gradually open and then

to weaken.” Such slang words go out to the world, where they are parodied, scorned and

mocked. “This stage of an ontological cycle is figuratively called cynical.” Cynics is a very

typical nature for slang, which has its “dynamism and becomes particularly strong during

unstable periods.” ….”Cynics are “wise fools”, who try to ridicule themselves or others. A

cynical orientation presupposes a cynical system of behavior, too (for example hippies etc.).”

(Yelistratov)

Yelistratov speaks about “the third stage of opening of the slang system as about the

"Rabelais" stage, which is a cultural and philosophical phenomenon”. Slang in the "Rabelais

stage " is namely the most open and democratic slang. (Yelistratov)

According to Yelistratov who engaged in this matter in his work Slang and culture “the

connection between the hermetic, cynical and "Rabelais" stages” is “dialectical”. In his

opinion, “the elements of practically any slang pass through typologically similar stages from

hermetism (with maximal closure) to cynicism (the opening of the system) and finally to the

"Rabelais" stage (the maximal opening). Then in the depth of "Rabelais" stage the seeds of a

new hermetical system appear.” (Yelistratov)

Generally as it was already mentioned in the description of all phases, slang as a cultural

and linguistic system shifts in its development from a closed hermetism (superesthetism) to

an open parodying system of cynicism, and finally to a completely open and primitive

"Rabelais" stage, where a formation of a new hermetical system begins. (Yelistratov) It is a

continual cycle.

Moreover, slang terms undergo the same processes of semantic change that words in the

regular lexicon usually do. A term can be in circulation for years or decades before it would

be written down. And it is necessary to point out that they also die out. It is not easy to collect

etymologies for slang terms, the reason for it is, that slang is a phenomenon of speech, rather

than written language, and etymologies are kept in dictionaries or corpuses, which is not the

regular case of slangs terms.

2.6. Slang versus colloquialism/jargon

Slang has a specific social context and differs from colloquial expressions and jargon

terms. Use of slang is not considered to be appropriate in formal writing. While colloquial

terms are acceptable in speech in many contexts, slang is not acceptable in many of them. As

20

jargon as slang can be both used to exclude non-members of the group from the conversation,

jargon is mostly used in order to optimize conversation by means of terms, which imply

technical understanding. Slang has a tendency to stress, emphasize social and contextual

understanding.

Since both colloquialism and jargon refer to a special group, though their definitions differ

from each other, because their aim is not to replace standard language, they may seem to be

something like slang. Even if colloquial terms are considered more standard than slang, and

jargon is often formed to give specifications of a particular field, they are not accounted for in

the standard lexicon.

It is often difficult to differentiate slang from colloquialisms and even more from standard

language, because slang generally becomes accepted into the standard lexicon over time. The

rule how to recognize if a word is slang or not, is the fact, if it is accepted in an academic or

legal environment, or if academic dictionaries involve it, for example the Oxford English

Dictionary.

21

3. Professional slang

Language of every field, no matter if scientific or practical, has its particularities.

According to linguist Georges Mounin, “legal language is only an ordinary tool how to

express legal information.” (Tomášek 13) and according to Marcel de K in his article called

Právo a jazyk (Prologoména k vlastním interdisciplinárním študiám) “language is a key tool

for lawyers in the course of their work.” (Marcel de K) As it was said before, the base of legal

English is always represented by Standard English. But it is obvious, that every field selects

its language means in different way, mostly with respect to its requirements and needs. A

long-term stability in use of single language means is typical for language of legal regulations

and documents.

Legal English language, which is based on Standard English, has specific lexical

vocabulary and style. Some authors (e.g. Bronislaw Wróblewski, Michal Tomášek),

especially Czech and Polish ones, make a difference between “legal language”, which is

understood as a “subsystem of the general language” and “legal style, which occurs with

concrete realization of legal subsystem on the basis of the choice of language means”. It is

also necessary to distinguish “the lawyers´ language” (language of lawyers, in which they talk

on law) from “the legal language, which expresses law itself. Legal language includes sources

of law and acts of their application.” (Tomášek, 15,18) “It is a language of valid positive law.

Its features are conceptual integrity, semantic congruency and exactness, limited amount of

applied terms, conciseness, clarity and subordinated expressivity.” (Marcel de K) To tell the

truth, I did not find such a division in English legal language, findings refer only to legal

language or legal slang, but not to lawyers´ language or lawyers´ slang.

According to Pavel Holländer 8 “lawyers´ language is a language of legal science,

application practice (e.g. advocate practice) and legal slang used by persons who use and

interpret law, in this case as a natural language (in contrast to legal language).” (Hollander,

215) These two styles are not possible to be exactly separated from each other, because they

influence each other mutually. Michal Tomášek states in Překlad v právní praxi that a term

“legal style” is more general and can be used as hyperonym for lawyers´ style.” (Tomášek 26)

A written form is typical for style of legal language, while style of lawyers´ language rests on

both of them (written and oral). Just within this style, the occurrence of lawyers slang can be

traced.

8 the judge of the Constitutional Court in Czech Republic in 1993-2013 and philosopher

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Style of legal language can be divided into many substyles. It results from the fact that

even substyles of single legal branches differ from each other. The style of private law is

different from the style of public law. The differences are caused mostly by extra-linguistic

circumstances and are influenced by a relative closure or openness of single branches of law.

Like every other branch, also legal English uses slang which has already been said. The

existence of this type of lexis in this kind of language is possibly as old as legal language

itself, for slang appears to be part of the everyday interaction within a lawyers´ community to

a certain extent. Slang is employed for a variety of purposes, but primarily it is used to convey

a certain attitude, opinion and notification, as emotional as psychological.

3.1. Legal slang as one of the professional slangs, its nature and use

Before I start to talk on legal slang, I should point out that there are also some other

slangs, not only legal slang. Eric Partridge writes on many British slangs with some oddities

like rhyming, back, centre, spoonenisms and blend slang in his book Slang to-day and

yesterday. (Partridge 12) Besides these slangs, we can talk on society slang, workmen´s

slang, public house slang, cockney slang, drug slang, gang slang, street slang, medical slang,

prison slang, railway slang, school slang, military slang and many more.

Legal slang can also be subdivided into further groups. We can talk about criminal law

slang, administrative law slang, civil law slang, family law slang, commercial law slang etc.

Though professional slangs are acceptable, they should be used with care and their use

should be eliminated in formal language, because they can lead to misunderstandings.

Occurrence of these words, unless necessary, do not give a positive impression.

But let´s return to legal slang, which is also a professional slang. Legal slang is sometimes

derived from the group itself, satirizing, ridiculing or scorning its own attitudes, values,

opinions and behavior. It is very difficult to determine the origin of slang terms at all, no

matter if in Czech or English language, if there are no data traced.

Legal slang includes words and expressions, which mostly refer to a particular group.

Legal slang is used by lawyers in order to identify themselves with their group, or to exclude

those from the group, who are not lawyers, alternatively its members. Legal slang is

connected with legal profession, occupation, business or legal activity. Legal slang word has a

certain meaning which cannot be used everywhere, only in a certain and special context or by

a special group of people. Legal slang is a kind of legal language consisting of very informal

legal words and legal phrases. It is more common in speech than in writing. It represents the

use of words which are not considered for Standard English because legal slang breaks that

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what is regarded as standard. It is also connected with a certain time period. Legal slang can

be humorous, lively, unique, mocking, direct affecting, but even offensive or pejorative. The

power to shock is another important feature of legal slang. Slang may seem to us irrelevant,

illogical and sometimes shocking, but also direct or seemingly kind and surprising.

Legal slang involves a certain characteristics of metaphor in order to evoke images,

impressions and symbols which is often achieved by the imposition of images, impressions

and symbols which are not in harmony with images, or even with values of other concerned

persons.

Legal slang is not a unique or isolated type of lexis. It is a part of standard language. It

serves also the social and interpersonal functions of language. Since legal slang is not isolated

it has a tendency to penetrate or leak through various strata of culture and society and to

influence also non-lawyers with its use. Thus even laymen are confronted with legal slang.

Also, legal slang is employed for a variety of purposes, but primarily it is used to convey a

certain emotional or psychological attitude. Slang can also be a mean to form or promote,

alternatively deepen identification with a certain class or social (sub)group and this is also a

case of legal slang or slang of lawyers. Some from the fifteen important mentioned impulses,

why to use slang, which were written down by Eric Partridge in his Slang-to-day and

yesterday, can be applied to legal slang as well. I assume that legal slang is used in order to be

different, to escape from clichés or to be brief and concise, to reduce excessive seriousness of

the case or conversation, to soften the tragedy of the situation or to prettify the fact or to mask

the fact, to amuse a public or other colleagues (lawyers), to induce either friendliness or

intimacy or to be secret and not to be revealed. (Partridge 6)

Since most legal slang words are used mostly at oral level, the choice of terms naturally

conforms to a great amount of unaware habits of thinking. Most creators of legal slang words

are probably not fully aware or conscious of the fact or situation when they create legal slang

words. These ones can also appear sporadically.

Slang is used to identify an attitude, opinion, values and connected with qualities which

are adaptable to human social and aesthetic needs, requirements, wishes and desires and it is

also in the case of legal slang.

Of course it is unquestionable that legal slang enriches legal language and brings

diversification into terse formality. In my opinion, legal slang should not be use in academic

or professional writing.

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Legal slang differs from jargon and the difference is in it that legal slang is the language

of a group or (sub)group (alternatively subculture, community) with shared interests, needs,

desires, wishes, values and attitudes, but does not have to share a purpose and intention. It is

important to point out that jargon does not represent only the language of work, but it is also

the language of hobbies, entertainment, amusement, distraction, sports etc. Both slang and

jargon are sometimes so closely connected to each other that it is hard to distinguish the

borderline between them.

I assume that there is the lack of grammar in legal slang. Usual rules for word formation

are not followed. Sornig discovers entitled reasons for the lack of grammar in slang.

According to his opinion stated in his work Lexical innovation: A study of Slang,

Coloquialisms and Casual Speech, grammer abides arbitrary rules and is not thus

approachable to innovative modifications, which vocabulary is. Karl Sornig points out that

function words, such as prepositions and auxiliary verbs, are subject to restriction, namely

they cannot be modified at all. Sornig does not forget to conclude that “lexicon is where the

speaker´s freedom lies.” (Sornig 23)

According to Andersson and Trudgill in their work Bad language, new words are created,

existing lexical items are used in different, rather new senses or loaned either directly or by

translation from other languages. (Anderson, Trudgill 82) And this is also the case of legal

slang. Some expression are used from other languages and modified to own purpose and use.

Also Karl Sornig further emphasizes in his Lexical innovation: A study of slang,

coloquialisms and casual speech that slang expressions are often invented in situations in

which the speakers feel somehow ill at ease “New experiences demand new expressive

means”, he concludes. (Sornig 62) Also legal slang, in my opinion, is invented in such

situations based on new experiences. Mostly in situations, when an exact and short denotation

is missing and there is a need to express oneself quickly and to shorten or to simplify a long

original denotation in order to save time.

According to Marcel de K in its article called Právo a jazyk (Prologoména k vlastním

interdisciplinárnym študiám) sooner or later, almost every lawyer mostly “becomes a slave of

his language” (Marcel de K), it means that on the basis of his education he gets a new view of

things and he learns to work with “a new language”, but slowly he loses his ability to return to

his previous view or language. He is dependent on the language he has learnt. As it was said,

before, language is then a working tool for him. Legal slang gives him possibility to make his

work easier and quicker or to conceal a true meaning of his speech/record from other persons

25

who should not get proper information about the case, should not be familiar with certain

matter.

As for spoken language, also lawyers´ language/legal language is determined by factors,

which determine a spoken language at all, and with regard to the fact that mostly unofficial

private talks are concerned in this case (with exception of forensic and other similar

speeches), elements of present spoken language enter into this lawyers´ language which

particularly differ according to their origin (or area).

Also generation factor plays an important role in creating of legal slang. According to

Hladiš younger lawyers have sometimes “negligent pronunciation or quick pace of speech”,

use modern legal slang terms much more and frequently, whereas “lawyers of older

generations are particular about proper, even extra correct pronunciation, with frequent use of

common special terms” (Hladiš 83-84) and Latin expressions. They tend to learn new

expression, slang words slowly and sometimes they even refuse to use them and found them

vulgar, not adequate for legal environment. If we want to find out, how the present legal

speech looks, we must examine the language within the bigger communities, like courts,

notaries public, executors, prosecutors, bankruptcy administrators or other legal public and to

collect slang words from them. To question only one or several lawyers would be very

subjective.

Speaking and writing well is a sign of professionalism. Therefore, avoid using slang

words at a workplace or professional atmosphere, unless necessary. Avoid slang in these cases

then. Slang is a way which offers an excessive informality and lack of understanding out of

workplace setting for non-lawyers, for laymen. What to avoid in the language further? –

Sexist language, ambiguity, constantly litigated, pejorative, vulgar and problem words and

false word pairs.

3.2. Examples of legal slang words and their meanings

In my practice I have familiarized myself mostly only with some Czech legal slang words

and seldom with English ones. Legal texts and documents written in English, which I had a

possibility to have a look at and had at my disposal, were namely mostly written in formal

language and included no legal slang words. Simply official business contracts, purchase

contracts, last wills, certificates, declarations, legal actions, petitions, warrants of arrest etc.

contain mostly only formal language without possibility to diverge. Divergence from

formality would mean a loss of professionalism.

26

I assume that legal slang words (not only legal) and other colloquial words can be only

used in legal documents and proceedings, if they are to emphasize the necessity of the

authenticity of the used expressions, i.e. in a minutes, testimony, in giving the evidence etc.

Sometimes it is very important to use an exact language means inclusive of (legal) slang

words or colloquialism, especially as for consideration of punishment, proof of the guilt. Even

such things must be considered and taken into account. Even authentic vulgar words,

offensive slang, colloquial words of a suspicious offender or of an accused person are taken

in a minutes by police, prosecutors and court clerks and play an important role in founding

out the facts in the case detection.

When I started to look up the slang words in English, I was surprised by a big variety of

expressions which refer to a word „lawyer“. I found many of them. Most refer either to the

lawyer's verbosity, their corruption, greed for fees or incompetence.

There are some of them stated in internet reference called What is a slang word for lawyer?:

Ambidexter, ambulance-chaser, black box, cop-a-plea, councillor of the piepowder court,

dirty shirt, fee-chaser, fire-burner, gabber, green bag, hapus-capus, jackleg, jaw-cove, jet,

kyfer, latitat, leg of the law, limb of the law, legal beagle, legal eagle, legal fleagle,

loudmouth, mangsman, mouth, mouthpiece, needlenose, penitentiary agent / dispatcher,

puzzle-cause/cove, shark, shingle, shyster, slicker, snipe, son of prattlement, spieler, split-

cause, stammer-hankey, steerer, sublime rascal, Tom Sawyer, tongue, yeller.

If we examine these denotations of the slang word „lawyer“ in English language closely,

we will come to conclusion that most of them have double meaning, some expression are

funny and ridiculous (green bag, black box), but some of them really offensive and pejorative

(shyster = podvodný právník, hochštapler, podvodník). Some of these expressions are

connected with special attribute and features – lawyers´ interest in money, their

abilities/disabilities, swiftness, attitude.

If we compare Czech language with English as for a slang word „lawyer“, we will be

disappointed, because in Czech language there is no legal slang word for a lawyer.

Unfortunately, I have not found any yet, though I have tried, but there are many expressions

for judges like civilista (deals with civil cases), krajánek (employed by the regional court),

obchodňák (deals with business cases), prackař (deals with labour cases), trestňák (deals with

criminal cases), vrchňák (employed by the superior court), péčkač (deals with family law

case) which were stated by František Hladiš in his article K charakteristice profesní a slangové

27

mluvy v právnické komunikaci. (Hladiš 84-85). While Czech legal slang language has so many

slang terms for a word „judge“, on the contrary I have found only these slang expressions in

English. The first one is a word „jay“, the second one is a word „beak“, which means

magistrate, or trial judge still current in British slang (Collins Dictionary).9 Another

expression – „judge Dredd, judge Dread“ can be found in the dictionary called The concise

new partridge dictionary of slang and unconventional English by Terry Victor and Tom

Datzel representing rhyming slang formed from the title of series of graphic comic-strip

adventures and a 1995 film. (Victor, Datzel 373) This example just shows that some of slang

words have a real history or a real own story in the background.

As for a word „prosecutor“, Czech language uses a slang word „prokouš“ or offensive

„prokurvátor” (Hladiš, 85), while English language uses only two expressions for it, first a

„scumbag“, which is used in context when a prosecutor became unpopular to police.

Some slang words are in use so long that they are not considered for slang anymore. Adam

Freedman explains such an example with the help of the word „culprit“ (in his work called

The party of the first part: the curious world of legalese) which is a very old slang word coming

from the Middle Ages, where the official records of criminal cases used to begin with the

words „culpambis prest“ (in French prèt, or „ready“), which simply means: the prosecution

says he is guilty and is ready to prove it. However, in the course of time court clerks had a

tendency to abbreviate the phrase as culp prest and then later culp prit. Nowadays it used as

„culprit“. (Freedman 11-13)

“The use of criminal law slang often developed or even degenerates into a special process

and procedure what legal linguists usually call telegraph speech, which is language of

toddlers or of newspaper headlines”. Language of telegraph speech is mostly

incomprehensible und misunderstandable without knowing the relevant background.

Examples for telegraph speech are following: „Bulls Smash Pistons“ or „Madonna and Child

in Car Chase.“ (Freedman 13-15)

Such a telegraphic speech can be just heard outside the courtroom as “prosecutor and

defence lawyer try to cut deals/shorten their speech and negotiation. New York lawyers Glen

Murray and Gary Muldon have taken down this sort of language in their book called

9 Word Beak means a magistrate, or trial judge

28

Criminal Slanguage of New York. Using Murray and Muldon´s vocabulary, a telegraph

exchange in Ney York outside of the courthouse might sound something like this”:

SLANG TRANSLATION

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Prosecutor: Your client is charged with issuing bad checks,

WE´VE GOT YOUR CLIENT ON and has a previous conviction for malicious

IBC WITH A PRIOR MAL MISH mischief

Defence lawyer: The defendant would plead guilty to Second

HOW ABOUT A PLEA? WE´D Degree Grand Larceny, if the prosecutor will

TAKÉ GL2 WITH A TWO BULLET agree to a 2-year maximum sentence

CAP

Prosecutor: First Degree Manslaughter!

MAN. ONE!

Defence lawyer:

What the hell are you talking about?

Prosecutor:

I don´t know, I just like the sound of that (Freedman 14-16).

If we have a look at this example, we must notice that prosecutor and lawyer try to reduce

words to minimum, they have a tendency to shorten their speech with lots of abbreviations

and simple shortening of legal words.

Many other legal slang words can be found in English language also for a word

„policeman“, even if the borderline between legal slang category or police slang category

seem to be blurred. As legal slang as police slang namely includes it.

People in the United States use lots of slang words for persons enforcing the law. Some

expressions are funny, but most of them are even rude. Here are some examples:

Slang word for a word “policeman” from cartoons and television

Five-O – taken from the most famous television police shows from the 1960s was “Hawaii

Five-O, a detective program set in Hawaii. Since then, it has become common to warn fellow

29

travelers of speed traps by saying to “watch out for Five-O”, using “Five-O” as a slang for the

police. (Your Dictionary)

Smokey - The “Smokey” in the movie title is slang for police. The word comes from the

Smokey the Bear character, who wears a hat similar to the one worn by state troopers. (Your

Dictionary)

Dick - Another popular cartoon term for cops, particularly detectives, is to call them a “dick.”

That term comes from the Dick Tracy cartoons where the title character of the long-running

cartoon is a detective. (Your Dictionary)

Slang from the citizens for a word “policeman” contained in the internet reference Slang

words for police

Pig - This negative slang word was popular during the 19th century and then regained its

popularity in the 20th century. (Your dictionary)

Cop - This slang word started in the 18th century when policemen were called "coppers,"

probably due to the copper content in the early badges. The word was shortened to "cop" in

the U.S. (Your Dictionary)

Gumshoe - This slang word is used in the U.S. for a “detective who spends a lot of time on the

city streets, potentially stepping on gum, looking for the suspect in order to solve the case.”

(Your Dictionary)

Examples from Britain - slang for London’s “Bobbies” (policeman) - The familiar

bobbies in Britain, with their tall rounded hats are well known in the fiction and movies.

There are two theories for the origin of a word “bobby”:

- “Sir Robert Peel, the founder of the London police in 1829, was the source of the bobby

nickname. The London police were called “bobbies” after Peel”; the diminutive for his first

name, Robert, is “Bob,” hence the nickname for the London police.10

- Another story stated in the internet reference Some slang words for police tells that the cops

of that time were paid a “bob” in salary each week (a bob being slang for a shilling, a form of

British currency. (Your dictionary)

In Great Britain there are so some other slang words for police:

- Blue Bottle - A Cockney mixture of “bottle and glass”

- Rozz - An abbreviation for “report on summons”

10 In Britain all policemen are commonly referred to as ‘Bobbies’ Originally though, they were known as

‘Peelers’ in reference to one Sir Robert Peel (1788 - 1850)

30

- Nicker - Slang for when a cop “nicks,” or arrests, a suspect. (Your Dictionary)

- Plodder - An extension of the name of the village policeman in a popular children’s book.

(Your dictionary)

Examples from Canada - Canadian slang terms for policeman contained in the reference

Some slang words for police

Even in Canada (not only in Great Britain) The Royal Canadian Mounted Police is known

worldwide for their horseback law enforcement. The French term for Royal Canadian

Mounted Police is Gendarmerie Royale du Canada, or GRC as an abbreviation.

Jokesters used the GRC appellation to call the police the “Gravel Road Cops.” This is an

allusion to the fact that the mounted police patrol in the forests and mountains, and in rural

areas away from cities. (Your Dictionary)

In Ontario, Canada, the local gendarmes are referred to as the “O Po Po.” This is a play on

the acronym for the Ontario Provincial Police, or OPP.

In that same province of Canada, the local constables are called PC, another play on the

wording of “provincial”. (Your Dictionary)

As it was implied before in my comparisons, slang of Czech legal language uses slang

words as well. According to František Hladiš in his K charakteristice profesní a slangové

mluvy v právnické komunikaci the most widespread procedure, which is applied during the

creation of professional or slang terms in Czech language, is so called shortening - two-

words or more words term is expressed by one expression. (Hladiš 84) He states also

examples for shortening of official terms of denomination which are for example certain

peoples´ positions at court – civilista ( judge, who decides civil matters), justičák (member of

the judicial guard), prackař (judge, who decides the labor matters), trestňák (judge, who

decides the criminal matters), vrchňák (judge of the superior court or peoples´positions within

criminal police), operativec (worker of criminal service), nehodovák (worker investigating

traffic offences and crimes), sprosťák (worker investigating immoral offences and delicts),

mordýř (worker investigating murders). (Hladiš 83-84)

The second type of creation of legal slang terms in Czech language is a shift or change in

meaning (Hladiš, 84). Examples are: apelačka (appeal, withdrawal), mladej (probationer,

law clerk), mordparta (staff investigating murders), pomník (criminal act, which has not been

detected), červeňák (proposal for taking into custody), stovkař (a person sentenced according

to Section 100 ( incitement), zabijačka (murder in a family or among their relatives), žiletka

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(in legal slang = thin case file)11, ofák (advocate ox offo), espézetka (complaint due to breach

of the law), trzák (criminal cod)e, zetpéká (change of legal qualification), béesemko (joint

ownership of a married couple), tabulárka ( record in land register). (Hladiš 85) All stated

expressions concern the activity of courts and their workers, as well as other circumstances,

which are connected with these activities. These are some slang terms which are used also in

other fields of administrative or directive character.

These expressions stated in the work by František Hladiš called K charakteristice

profesní a slangové mluvy v právnické komunikaci show us the differences between

professional expressions and only slang expressions: botník (a storage place for case files

(certainly also for investigation), jednačka = (courtroom), kancelářák (office order),

neveřejko (closed cession), plaťák (payment warrant), policajt (round stamp), svodka

(summary of daily events), zasedačka (meeting room). (Hladiš 84-85) While professional

expressions are mostly units of terminological or closely determined character, slang

expressions miss this feature.

Quite different means of expression contain prison slang. Prison slang give names to

things after circumstances which refer to court, court dealings etc. Example: antonovec

(policeman from “Anton”, a special van intended for transport of the accused), beran (official

stamp), čór (theft), éčko (execution), klepačka ( murder), klifton ( investigator), krajzák

(custody within the regional court), mlejn (court), prasečkář (prisoner sentenced for sexual

abuse), žiletka (thin packed cigarette). (Hladiš 85)

According to Hladiš “professional Czech legal language has its special character in the

field of vocabulary. It is conditioned by standard language and it traces the fact, that it uses

the procedures in word more or less expressively coloured and they always have symptomatic

character.” (Hladiš 85)

All slang words can cause problems, because no everybody is able to understand it. The

evidence and example for it is the following article called. “Cop, lawyer argue street slang at

teen pimp trial”. The term in question was “M.O.B.” which is one of the slang

words/abbreviations. According to the urban dictionary, which was stated in this article as

well, M.O.B. means money over bitches, but originally Member of bloods (from the gangs of

Los Angeles). MOB is the name given to the Irish organized gangsters in America, MOB is

11 this slang word has namely double meaning. In prison slang it means thin packed cigarette

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still active and powerful in many US cities. They are like the Italian mafia well organized and

professional. (Urban Dictionary)

MEGAN GILLIS | QMI AGENCY

OTTAWA - A defence lawyer and a detective debated the meaning of street slang used by three teen

girls accused of running a prostitution ring targeting other young girls.

The term in question was "M.O.B."

Defence lawyer Trevor Brown asked Det. Carolyn Botting if she's familiar with "money over b----es"

referring to a philosophy from slain rapper Tupac Shakur that it's better to chase money than women.

But Botting testified it's used in the pimping underworld.

"It's always been related to prostitution in my investigations - that money was more important than

women," Botting said, and "women can be discarded."

Botting, who defined terms like "shawty" and "racked up," acknowledged using the Urban Dictionary

website. She agreed its definitions are provided by random users, with names, Brown noted, like "sir

monkey butt."

"I don't rely on this as much as you may think or be suggesting," Botting said, noting she prefers to use

her own knowledge and experience from past human trafficking investigations and years of working with

at-risk youth involved in prostitution.

The girls, two of whom are now 16 and the other 17, have pleaded not guilty to charges including luring,

human trafficking, sexual assault and making child pornography.

Prosecutors allege the girls used threats, violence and drugs to coerce their underage victims into

prostitution.

Two of the victims had sexual contact with johns and one was raped by a man who's been charged

separately, the Crown alleges.

The trial continues Tuesday afternoon. (Urban Dictionary)

Legal slang is also created with certain degree of playfulness and fun. The existence of

legal slang words has to do with “spontaneous, lively, innovative, inventing and creative”

speech process.

Example : My client is perfectly innocent!

Everyone knows that a Grand Jury will indict a ham sandwich (Freedman 17).

Ham sandwich means in this context the following - the ham sandwich can be invoked as

a defense for someone who feels wrongfully accused. (Urban Dictionary. If a person gets an

indictment, it needs substantial proof to get a conviction. However, when someone has been

indicted, it doesn't necessarily mean that the proof will come out showing its guilt. It must be

remembered that "presumption of innocence" is important in the law.

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Legal slang has the tendency to shorten words. Examples for these are: A slang

abbreviation for confidence, as in con man or con game. To con someone is to deceive or take

advantage of a person through FRAUD or trickery after winning the person's confidence. Con

is also used as a slang abbreviation for convict, as in ex-con to mean someone previously

incarcerated. To show the pros and cons of a particular issue means to present arguments or

evidence on both sides. Another legal slang abbreviation is T.R.O. which means temporary

restraining order.

Legal slang words can be totally strange to listeners who do not have legal education or

are not involved in this kind of business. If you as a layman hear the following expression,

you will not know what the meaning is. For example boiler room - common slang in the

securities industry for an operation in which “securities of doubtful value are sold over the

telephone to targets on a mark list by a crew of dangerously persuasive high-powered

salesmen, all gathered in a room with many telephones and no other assets or accoutrements”

(Free Online Dictionary of Law Terms and Legal Definitions). Whack - a slang word

meaning to “divide into shares; apportion; parcel out; make a division settlement; square

accounts” (Free Online Dictionary of Law Terms and Legal Definitions); Hedgie – a slang

word for a hedge fund (Free Online Dictionary of Law Terms and Legal Definitions). Blue

sky laws - A popular name for laws various states have enacted to protect the public against

securities frauds. The term is believed to have originated (Free Online Dictionary of Law

Terms and Legal Definitions). Bullet - also bullet sentence. In criminal law slang, a flat

sentence without any range, especially one year (Free Online Dictionary of Law Terms and

Legal Definitions). Legal slang can be really trechearous and tricky for someone, who does

not know it and he can easily get lost in conversation and does not understand its meaning.

I think I have provided enough examples for eventual readers of my final work to get at

least a small idea about legal language and especially about legal slang. I must remark once

again, that the work gives no complete look at the problem issue of legal slang, because it is a

very far-reaching and wide thematic scope and cannot be described and taken down to the

extent of my work.

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4. CONCLUSION

In the final work I wanted to give a short informative survey on legal English and

especially on slang in legal English. My aim was to give only a short outline of this

complicated theme, because if I would like to describe all about it, I would need more than 35

pages and I would certainly work for months or even years on it. Collecting slang words from

legal language, is not easy, because you are forced to cooperate with various institutions like

courts, authorities, prisons, police, lawyers, notaries public and ask them all the time, because

legal slang is a continual and developing process where new words appear to exist all the

time. Collecting slang words is mostly a long-term activity at all.

I live in Czech legal environment and work with Czech legal slang words and I can

receive English legal slang words only indirectly, through literature mostly on theoretical

basis, from internet, documents, dictionaries or from my friends and acquaintances who are

active as lawyers or work in the legal environment of English speaking countries, so my

access to legal slang in English was rather limited and framed mainly on the theoretical basis.

In my own experience, I must confirm that legal slang really exists and works in live

legal language or language of lawyers, who use it mostly in informal conversations and very

seldom in official dealings, proceedings, documents. Coming out from my own experience, it

is better to avoid using legal slang in official documents and proceedings, because it can lead

to misunderstandings, especially when dealing persons are not from the same legal

environment or are of different generations or come from various regions. All these aspects

play an important role in use of legal slang. Nevertheless, to understand a legal slang, a deep

cultural background knowledge of legal environment is needed.

Moreover, if you avoid using slang during the official negotiations and documents, you

can avoid getting in trouble or be forced to excuse to somebody, who can consider use of

legal slang in such situation for improper, even offensive or pejorative. Though legal slang is

acceptable, I can only recommend its use it in informal conversation within the

communication with colleague-lawyers, who know each other well and such conversation

cannot mostly lead to conflicts and misunderstandings. Other use of legal slang is appropriate

for retaining the authenticity of utterance in legal language, provided it is useful or required.

In conclusion, I will sum up the topic with these words: it is not doubtful, that (legal) slang

enriches the language at all - slang is namely a part of language, but it should be used with

care and after consideration, if it is appropriate and suitable for a given context and situation.

35

References

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Tiersma, P., Solan, L.M: A History of the Languages of Law." Language and Law,

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Abbreviations e.g. for example e.i. it means etc. and so on