: Re: Avoiding Slang whilst Writing I sometime express my personality too much in my more creative fiction. When I get going, I include slang words and phrases that sound fascinating and are comprehensible

@Mendez196

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I don't think you need any resource other than your own intelligence and self-awareness. We know when our slang is not "standard", just don't use it.

Plus, it is ephemeral anyway, the 1920's "bees knees" and "flappers" are unintelligible to us now; "copacetic" is a real word made popular in the 1970's but few today would recognize it. (like one meaning of "cool" it means "in excellent order", like "It's all copacetic, dude.")

Slang ages quickly. Never use it in exposition, in fact I personally avoid any word in exposition if I think a typical reader of fiction would have to look it up.

In dialogue; characters can use slang, although I'd encourage you to study the mechanics of slang development (See Development of Slang and 15 Reasons People Use Slang.)

In particular, slang is generally short to say, a few syllables, and produced by a sub-culture to reflect something unique to that sub-culture, or if it is an insult, coined by outsiders to denigrate that sub-culture, and for the purposes of diffusion, not difficult to pronounce or recall; slang words and expressions are easily learned and understood upon first hearing, and easily explained in a short sentence.

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