Slang Slang facts

While investigating facts about Slang Slang, I found out little known, but curios details like:

In Elizabethan England, the word 'Nothing' was slang for female genitalia. The title of the Shakespeare play 'Much Ado About Nothing' is a double entendre.

When Coke marketed their Dasani brand of water in the UK in 2004 it was a PR disaster because they referred to it as "bottled spunk" and used the slogan "can't live without spunk" not realizing "spunk" was a slang word for semen

In my opinion, it is useful to put together a list of the most interesting details from trusted sources that I've come across. Here are 50 of the best facts about Slang Slang I managed to collect.

In Norway, people use the term "texas" as slang for "crazy". It doesn't refer to a person, but a chaotic atmosphere or state of mind, so saying a party "was totally crazy!" in Norwegian would be "det var helt texas!", which literally means "it was texas!"
Jelly Roll Morton, at the age of 14 tricked his great-grandmother into believing he was a night watchman at a barrel house when in fact he was working as a piano player in a brothel. In that atmosphere, he often sang smutty lyrics; he took the nickname "Jelly Roll", which was slang for vagina.
The animated Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series had to be heavily censored in the UK due to controversy over "Ninja" weapons and the the catch phrase "Bummer" being slang for anal sex.
Urban Dictionary has been used in many court cases to define slang terms that are not found in dictionaries and that some states' DMVs refer to it to determine if certain license plates are appropriate or not
During a battle of the Korean War, a mortar section was running out of mortar rounds. Instead of ordering more rounds, they accidentally ordered hundreds of crates of Tootsie Rolls, having not specified that "tootsie rolls" was a slang term for mortar rounds.
In 1986, the store chain Silo advertised a stereo as costing "299 bananas", with "bananas" being a slang word for "dollars". However, 32 people legally bought the stereos with 299 banana fruits.
About the American town 'Merrymount', founded 1624. Named from slang at the time for 'illicit' forms of sex - the town rejected Puritan values welcoming non-Heterosexuals, freeing indentured servants and intermarrying Native Americans. Five years later it was invaded and razed to the ground.
The website UrbanDictionary.com has been used in court cases to define slang words that are not found in dictionaries.
A popular slang in French for having your period is "Les Anglais ont debarqué", or, "The English have landed".
The term "hipster" originated in the 1940s, and was used to describe jazz afficionados, characterized by their "dress, slang, use of cannabis and other drugs, relaxed attitude, sarcastic humor, self-imposed poverty and relaxed sexual codes."

slang slang facts — What are the best facts about Slang Slang?

Slang Slang data charts

For your convenience take a look at Slang Slang figures with stats and charts presented as graphic.

slang slang fact data chart about Only 3 more Karmas needed (Insert Gender Neutral slang here) — Only 3 more Karmas needed (Insert Gender Neutral slang here)

What is true about slang slang?

You can easily fact check it by examining the linked well-known sources.

The British slang for sausages is "Banger" because of WWI food shortages. Meat shortages forced sausages to be made with high water content, causing them to burst when being cooked, hence the name.

The pen name, Mark Twain, is steamboat slang for 12 feet of water. - source

'scumbag' was originally a slang word for condom. - source

The words "something" and "nothing" were Elzabethan slang for "penis" and "vagina," respectively. Thus, the title of Shakespeare's "Much Ado About Nothing" is actually a dirty pun

In the 1980s, when the Navy found out about the slang term "Friend of Dorothy", which gay men used for secretly identifying each other, they launched an enormous witch hunt, as they thought there was actually a woman named Dorothy who ran a massive underground homosexual military personnel - source

Hit Me Baby (One More Time)" is mistranslated. The swedish writer for the Britney Spears song thought that "hit me" was American slang for "call me".

Norwegians are using 'Texas' as a slang term for 'crazy'

Mountain Dew was created to be used as a mixer for Whiskey and the name was slang for Moonshine!

Despite actually being a boxing slang, there is a widespread notion that the phrase 'Saved by the bell' originated as an expression that relates to people being buried alive having a bell that was attached to the coffin, thus ringing it and be saved.

The slang "Eskimo Brothers" - meaning friends have slept with the same girl - derives from the old tradition of Eskimos gifting their wives to their guests for the night

British audiences for The Last Airbender fell into laughing fits because of the constant use of the word "bender", a slang term for gay people.

Interesting facts about slang slang

The term 'winging it' was originally a theatrical slang term for actors who didn't know their lines, and reviewed scripts in between scenes or received prompts from off stage in the 'wings'.

A 1992 issue of The New York Times reported on a list of grunge slang words. It was later revealed that these were made up on the spot by a 25 year-old receptionist for Sub Pop records while talking to the reporter.

Anthony Burgess, author of A Clockwork Orange, was so fascinated by the imagined slang language he created, he compiled a dictionary of all its words. Thought to be lost, the dictionary of Burgesses' slang was rediscovered in 2017

The Word 'Nothing' in the title of Shakespeare's 'Much Ado About Nothing' was Elizabethan Slang for 'Pussy.'

My name is Haines" was a famous 1800s catchphrase, dropped in conversation when someone needed to leave somewhere quickly. It was inspired by a man's awkward encounter with Thomas Jefferson. In 1840 a newspaper said it had "a popularity which no other slang phrase has ever attained."

"Mountain Dew" was originally slang for mountain-brewed moonshine. And the soda was originally sold as a whiskey chaser.

Courts are increasingly turning to website Urban Dictionary to clarify modern slang language. It has notably been used in a supreme court sexual harrassment case in Tennessee in 2013.

Goldman Sachs maintains its own proprietary programming language (Slang) that is known only to its employees.

The word "dude" was 19th century slang for a dandy and was likely shortened from "doodle" as in Yankee Doodle Dandy.

The Teton mountains were named by French trappers who thought they resembled breasts (teton is French slang for breast) so Grand Teton National Park translates to Big Tits National Park.

Modern Romance languages come from a "non-classical" version of Latin called "Vulgar Latin" that had no orthography, was written in graffiti, and spoken by the lower-class. Basically, Romance languages evolved from Latin slang.

"jay" was slang for an inexperienced fool in the early 1900s, hence the origin of the term "jaywalking".

The modern use of gay comes from gaycat, a slang term among hobos meaning a boy who accomapnies an older, more experienced tramp, with the implication of sexual favors being exchanged for protection.

During the Korean War, the U.S Military ran out of mortar rounds and as a result accidentally ordered thousands of crates of 'Tootsie Rolls' candy. This is because the U.S Army used 'Tootsie Roll' as a slang code for mortar shells.

The DC supervillain Brainiac was not named after the slang term for "an intellectual". It was the other way around; the term originated with the supervillain's name.

Snozzberry" was coined by Roald Dahl as a slang term for a penis. So in Willy Wonka, the kids are licking wallpaper that tastes like dicks.

The slang term for a detective - a “gum shoe” originated as a term for gum-rubber, used at the bottom of shoes which helped walk more quietly, fantastic for catching thieves.

"duckies" ("duckys") was a medieval English slang term for a woman's breasts, used by (among others) Henry VIII in letters to Anne Boleyn.

In the Middle Ages the word "poop" meant to blast a horn. By the 1600s it was slang for farting.

The Traveling Wilburys are named after a slang term that George Harrison and Jeff Lynne gave to studio equipment. They referred to equalizers and limiters as "wilburys", as in "we'll bury that mistake in the mix".

This is our collection of basic interesting facts about Slang Slang. The fact lists are intended for research in school, for college students or just to feed your brain with new realities. Possible use cases are in quizzes, differences, riddles, homework facts legend, cover facts, and many more. Whatever your case, learn the truth of the matter why is Slang Slang so important!

Slang Slang facts

Slang Slang data charts

What is true about slang slang?

Interesting facts about slang slang

Trending Facts