Unless,
therefore, you wish your intellectual processes to be as hazy and
haphazard as those of mental shirkers and loafers, you must eschew, not
necessarily all slang, but all heedless, all habitual use of it. Now and
then a touch of slang, judiciously chosen, is effective; now and then it
fulfils a legitimate purpose of language. But normally you should express
yourself as befits one who has at his disposal the rich treasuries of the
dictionary instead of a mere stock of greasy counterfeit phrases.
EXERCISE - Slovenliness IV
Replace the following slang with acceptable English:
We pulled a new wrinkle.
He's an easy mark.
Oh, you're nutty.
Beat it.
I have all the inside dope.
You can't bamboozle me.
What a phiz the bloke has!
You're talking through your hat.
We had a long confab with the gink.
He's loony over that chicken.
The prof. told us to vamoose.
Take a squint at the girl with the specs.
Ain't it fierce the way they swipe umbrellas?
Goodnight, how she claws the ivory!
Nix on the rough stuff.
And there I got pinched by a cop for parking my Tin Lizzie.
As a precaution against tameness you should cultivate spontaneity and
daring.
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