If I am not talking to someone in person, then there is no such thing as a conversation that does not include the constant use of slang words as well as jargon. Slang is, "language used by a group of people whose members belong to a similar subculture or other group," (Adler, Rodman & Sevigny. 101), and jargon is a, "valuable kind of shorthand for people who understand its use."(102). Using short terms for rather long phrases is a time saver in a world that is moving so fast, it has become a necessity.
Some people argue that some of these slang terms make no sense to people that have not heard them before, but that is true with any word at all. All they have to do is ask what the slang term means. Every single day, I use numerous slang terms without even thinking about it, such as saying, "Let’s bounce," instead of, "Let’s get going." The place where I, along with most kids under the age of twenty, use jargon the most is over msn messenger. When talking to my friends over this online chat site, I use a multitude of jargon terms to save time. There are widely known ones such as "LoL," (laugh out loud), "idk," (I don’t know), and "ridic," (Ridiculous). More common terms like these can be found in the UHC textbook (103). I also have terms that are unique to my group of friends, such as, "DQYDJ," (Don’t quit your day job), and "tots bruts," (Totally brutal).
Although these little short-hand terms seem pointless, when you use each of them tons of times throughout the conversation, it saves a significant amount of time. They make communicating with friends much more simple which is proof that it is a useful tool for communication.
Adler, R., Rodman, G., Sevigny, A., Understanding Human Communication. Don Mills: Oxford University Press, 2008.
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