Sket is a new film about girl gangs. Sket means the same as ho or whore. The film maker contacted former gang members in south London to help make sure the language in the film was authentic and completely up to date.
Examples of slang used by this group include stralley, tool, or bucky, all words for a gun. Yeah wassup wagwan means 'hi, what's up?' Gyaldem is a group of girls, and shan means unfair.
One problem faced by film-makers and scriptwriters is that slang is different in different towns, and words can have different meanings depending on location. However, thanks to mobile phones and social networking sites, regional slang spreads quickly. Even within one area there can be preferences for one word over another. One of the consultants to Sket wanted the word 'busted', meaning 'ugly', to be used, but another local slang word with the same meaning - butters - was used instead.
For an article on this on the BBC website, see here.
Sket's a film, but I wonder how prevalent this kind of 'dialog' may be in western society? Language evolves but when you have gang-slang that takes meaning of certain words to a city-by-city definition/interpretation, then we are finished as a civilization. Language is supposed to be a uniting feature of advanced societies. Are we back to Babble?
Posted by: Mike_in_Kyiv (Mike Lynn) | October 21, 2011 at 09:25 PM
Thanks for dropping by and reading, Mike, and particularly for commenting. I suppose these words are used by young girl gangs in urban areas when talking among themselves and their peers. The same girls will probably talk to teachers, employers, shop staff etc in a completely different - more standard - way. Slang - like dialect and accent - is used to show solidarity within a group.
Posted by: Virtual Linguist | October 21, 2011 at 11:31 PM
Susan,
To your final point, I'd offer my Barbadian high school's alumnae/ii websites. We all sat the same O&C "O" and "A" Levels that our counterparts in Britain and elsewhere sat. We could all write and speak flawless, albeit accented English, yet on the Facebook sites, many write in phonetic Bajan. An outsider might wonder if we ever went to school at all, but the reality is that it's all in fun among friends.
Posted by: John | October 22, 2011 at 01:04 AM
Yes, thanks John. I agree with you.
Posted by: Virtual Linguist | October 23, 2011 at 07:23 PM
Sket is totally different point of view showing the reality for so many girls in our modern society. Of course in most of the case all is a matter of own choice.
Posted by: holiday rentals london | October 24, 2011 at 11:58 AM
Sket, I heard this for the first time ever the other week when my local landlady had it written on her pub, she is married with kids and has never ever cheated so she had no clue what it even meant.
Posted by: sophie | November 21, 2011 at 09:53 AM
Innit is annoying and Sket is also annoying it isn't even a word.
Posted by: ella | November 28, 2011 at 04:17 PM
Girl gang phraseology will carry on for as long as we let it, however, once they grow up they will be embarrassed about how they used to talk.
Posted by: mia | November 29, 2011 at 07:14 AM
Every generation has it's slangs and terms that the 'grown ups' think is crazy nonsense.
Right of passage I think, and nothing else. We've all done variations of this.
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