Say What? - Jargon, Slang, and Regionalism, Oh My! Barbara White Daille

Barbara White Daille

Hello, Seekers, and thanks very much for inviting me back for a book birthday bash!  I love celebrating this special day with you because I know we’ll have a fun and informative day.

We’re going to be talking about techniques we can use to create complex characters.  In this case, we’ll be discussing the character’s voice.

This post isn’t about droppin’ letters from words, peppering your manuscripts with akshual phonetic spelling, or tossing in a few foreign phrases to flavor your book—though all those techniques, used sparingly, do work.  Of course, my cowboys use ma’am all the time and often drop their g’s.  Probably due to their influence, even I have been known to throw out a “y’all” or two.   

But we’re digging deeper than those surface dialogue quirks to see how to make our characters’ voices unique…by delving into the characters themselves, using their own backgrounds to help make them come alive for the reader.  This is partly accomplished through their dialogue, but also through introspection and a deep point-of-view narration.

There are many techniques to accomplish this, and here are just three: jargon, slang, and regionalism.  The definitions below are from www.dictionary.com:

Jargon

- the language, especially the vocabulary, peculiar to a particular trade, profession, or group.

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- language that is characterized by uncommon or pretentious vocabulary and convoluted syntax and is often vague in meaning.

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If you have ever felt lost in an appointment with a medical specialist or at sea after talking to the salesman in the computer department of your local office supply store, you’ve probably encountered someone using vocabulary specific to his profession.

At parties with my husband and his co-workers, who are all technicians trained to work on specialized equipment, I have sometimes felt I’ve entered a restaurant and gone through a portal to another planet.  The jargon they use is completely comprehensible , but to me it’s an alien language.

In The Texan’s Little Secret, my heroine is a barrel racer.  At one point in a scene, she thinks about “the thrill of commanding her mount, honing her skill, adding rate.”  The last phrase is a bit of jargon that means “increasing her speed.”

In a book that will be out next year, The Cowboy’s Little Surprise, one of the characters says, “You could have knocked me over with a sheet of parchment paper…”  This rounds out her character in two ways.  First, she’s a baker, which means she is using jargon specific to her profession.  Second, she is deliberately using a bit of comedic irony, as she’s a very sturdy woman who routinely hauls 50-pound bags of flour through the bakery’s kitchen.

Slang
- very informal usage in vocabulary and idiom that is characteristically more metaphorical, playful, elliptical, vivid, and ephemeral than ordinary language, as Hit the road.

The American Heritage Cultural Dictionary: defines slang as:  Expressions that do not belong to standard written English. For example, “flipping out” is slang for…“losing one's temper.” Slang expressions are usually inappropriate in formal speech or writing.
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As we probably all know, certain slang can be tied very strongly to specific age groups.  The definitions can change rapidly and repeatedly—and sometimes even have contradictory meanings.

Idioms are a form of slang.  In any language, they can be especially colorful, which is something to

Barbara at the RWA Literacy Signing in San Antonio, TX

be aware of when we’re completing questionnaires or filling out art sheets for potential overseas markets.  Just think about someone trying to translate “it was raining cats and dogs” or “he was barking up the wrong tree.”  Or worse, not knowing it’s an idiom and translating it literally!

Regionalism

- a speech form, expression, custom, or other feature peculiar to or characteristic of a particular area.

- Literature. the theory or practice of emphasizing the regional characteristics of locale or setting, as by stressing local speech.

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I’m sure we all know some of our own regionalisms—although the funny thing is, if everyone around us uses them, we might not be aware they’re local to our area!

These can be as simple as word choices for everyday objects:  “bag” vs. “sack;” “iced tea” vs. “sweet tea;” the “’L’ train” vs. “the subway.”

In some cases, it’s a matter of variation of one word in a phrase:  “all of a sudden” compared to “all of the sudden.”  (I have to confess, where I’m from, we use the first version, and the second sounds “incorrect” to me.)

Finally, there are well-used expressions that can be linked to certain areas, such as:  “bless his heart,” “frustrating as all get-out,” and—my personal favorite—“hit a lick at a snake.”

I hope this has added a few tools to your writer’s toolbox, and I would love to hear your feedback.  I’m sure we all also would love to hear some of your favorite phrases and expressions!

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Giveaways (two ways to win):

1. Leave a comment here at the blog to be entered to win an autographed copy of The Texan’s Little Secret.

2. Sign up for my newsletter (at my website) and send an e-mail through the Contact form at my website to be entered to win an autographed copy of Rancher at Risk.

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For both drawings:  U.S. and Canada addresses only, please; deadline midnight this Friday.

Thanks!

Barbara White Daille

Originally from the East Coast, award-winning author Barbara White Daille now lives with her husband in the warm, sunny Southwest, where they love the lizards in the front yard but could do without the scorpions in the bathroom.  Barbara writes romances—usually with cowboys, kids, and a touch of humor.  Her previous title is Rancher at Risk, and she’s excited to share that her current title, The Texan’s Little Secret, has just been released. 

She would love to have you drop by her website:  www.barbarawhitedaille.com

and to see you on Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/BarbaraWhiteDaille
and Twitter:  https://twitter.com/BarbaraWDaille

The Texan’s Little Secret can be found at: 
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