[Myra]

I love using exclamations in my stories. (Okay, in real life too.) I think they're such a fun way to add in a little life and humor.

How about youse guys? What are your favorites? (Of course, these would depend on your characters and voice...

My all-time favorite (at least right now) is the one in the subject line, but here are a few others:

Zounds!
Bless my soul!
Holy__________! (insert random object here)
Crikey!

(Dear me, are all of those related to God/Christ/religion in some way? Shucks. Anyone have some nice colorful exclamations that don't have anything to do with God?)

[Emily]

"Well paint me green and call me a pickle!"

okay I know that's dorky...but I find it strangely amusing

[Lilli]

Ahem!!!

tapping foot at above remark

(It's okay Emily---just having a bit of fun--and I haven't been much of a presence on this board lately)

[Myra]

I wondered if you'd speak up there, Lill Pickles! Good to see you here.

And Emily, I find that pretty amusing myself.

[Lilli]

I figured I was falling for a trap!

Gack! and Cool Beans ! are my favorites

[MamaG]

Groovy!
Radical!
Far out!
Outta site!

(am I a throw-back to the radical 60's hippies that raised me or what?)
 

[MamaG]

Oh yeah...
peace, love and beads!

[Agy]

Aaacccccckkkkkk! Jeesh,or Sheesh! I swear! Cool Beans! Yeppers!  Truthfully, I'm drawing  a blank (get it? Get it?), so I'll have to think about it. Frilled from Far Scape was a happy snooky word for awhile. Oh and I call my kids names like Boobleschnapp and Dibbledop. :x

[Emily]

Pickles...of course "paint me green and call me a pickle" is a very reverent phrase...lol....I mean who doesn't want to be a green pickle?  Especially a green DANCING pickle...

[Stephanie Ruble Posts: 1,996 Status: Offline author/illustrator WWW]

I used to love cool beans man! (we always added man)

Totally Rad

Buz Wrecker!

defenestrate - just a word, but such a great one, that can be used in lots of phrases, such as- "You better be nice to me, or I'll defenestrate you!" (I would never actually defenestrate anyone, but it's fun to say.)

Out gallivanting around - as in "You didn't get home by curfew last night because you were out gallivanting around!" (My dad used to use this all the time on me in h.s. I didn't know what it meant the first time, but I got the gist...now he denies saying it, but since he said it to me constantly from 16-18yrs old, my mom backs me up!)

[Chris Mandelski]

It's amazing how many of these you come up with when you have kids and can't swear...

I always say,
"Good Golly Miss Molly"
"Jeee-hosophat!"
"Holy Moses!"
"Jiminy Crickets"
"Criminitly"  -- my sis and I used to say
"Criminitly Trigger, put that pea-shooter down" that's from the Disney cartoon version of Robin Hood

and now, of course, "paint me green and call me a pickle"
that's guaranteed a good ten minute giggle from my girls...

Thanks,
Chris

[Kimberly]

I don't ususally use this word, but I heard it the other day on the radio and it cracked me up.
Dagnabbit!!

[Myra]

Oh, Kimberly, there are a bunch of words like that--I forgot! I used to use them all the time.

Some more: dagblasit, dadgummit, and consarnit.

I know many of you love the movie A Christmas Story. The father character used all these words and many more--one of my favorite parts of the movie!

[Emily]

Dystar just came up with a really good phrase on another thread of a different topic board...it really struck my fancy....

"Excuse me I just tossed the frog"  Hmm...that almost trumps, "Well paint me green and call me a pickle"....(Sorry Pickles)

[Jaina]

From my new favorite PBS Kids show:

"Jakers!"
"Janey Mack!"

Both Irish slang for "Gosh!" apparently.  I didn't hear anyone use these when I was in Ireland (the language I heard was a tad more colorful), but I wish I had.  Too funny!

The show is "Jakers!  The Adventures of Piggly Winks" by the way--a computer-animated program about a anthropomorphic pig who lives on a farm in Ireland.  Adorable!

[Cana]

Kimberly, you won't believe this!  There's a woman who sits behind us at Jaguar games and constantly screams "Dagnabit!"  It seems very out of place in a football game.  We have a few chuckles at her expense every game.

My daughter loves "Oh poppycock!" and "Pashaw!" which her grampa taught her.

My 8th graders remind me that "Cool beans!" is no longer cool. LOL.  Then there's "Dude!" and "Coolie!" or "Coolio!".

[doda]

Howabout this one

Och Aye , Jock Mackay!

Hoots mon!

Not ones you're familiar with?  Wonder why

From Heeland Lassie
Doda

[AnnH Posts: 1,516 Status: Offline I love to read and write! WWW]

Maybe in the Craft of Writing Section.? Then the title of each thread under Slang could be whatever phrases/terms/situations writers are looking for current ways of expressing, and we find them more easily that way?

 

[Verla Kay Posts: 5,872 Status: Offline Invite Verla Kay to speak in your area WWW]

Good idea.  Here it is.  Post your slang phrases or terms here, folks. I made this thread "sticky" so it will stay near the top of the Writing category, even when no one posts in it for a while.  Just remember that the slang you post still needs to conform to the "clean" parameters of the rest of the board.  Using slang phrases or words isn't a license to post off-color or objectionable words.  

[AnnH Posts: 1,516 Status: Offline I love to read and write! WWW]

Thanks, Verla!    


"Climbing the walls" is the phrase I'm wondering about today.  Do kids still say that?  If not, what's something more current and/or kid-teen like?

[Mandy Hubbard Posts: 241 Status: Offline A professional is an amateur who didn't quit! WWW]

My mom still gets confused if I use TOOL, as in, fool or idiot combined.

[Childrens-Book-Insider]

We have an article on our blog about this very subject.  It's called "Using Slang in Children's Books".  Have a look at:


http://www.write4kids.com/blog/2008/08/11/using-slang-in-childrens-books/

Jon Bard
Managing Editor, Children's Book Insider, the Newsletter for Children's Writers - http://write4kids.com
Children's Writing Web Journal - http://write4kids.com/blog/

[Verla Kay Posts: 5,872 Status: Offline Invite Verla Kay to speak in your area WWW]

Hmmm. And if anyone can verify that the origin of the phrase "Playing Hookey" came from a schoolhouse in the 1750's that used a wooden hook for a "bathroom pass" you would be forever in my debt -- and get a free personally autographed copy of my upcoming Hornbooks & Inkwells book, too!

[Childrens-Book-Insider]

Hmmm. And if anyone can verify that the origin of the phrase "Playing Hookey" came from a schoolhouse in the 1750's that used a wooden hook for a "bathroom pass" you would be forever in my debt -- and get a free personally autographed copy of my upcoming Hornbooks & Inkwells book, too!

Well, there's this:

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=playing+hooky

Says there its derived from the Dutch term hoekje (spelen) 'hide-and-seek'.

Here's another, less conclusive look at it:

http://ask.yahoo.com/20040218.html

Nothing in either about a bathroom hook, though.

Jon Bard
Managing Editor, Children's Book Insider, the Newsletter for Children's Writers - http://write4kids.com
Children's Writing Web Journal - http://write4kids.com/blog/

[G.R. Posts: 637 Status: Offline I love kids' books!]

We have an article on our blog about this very subject.  It's called "Using Slang in Children's Books".  Have a look at:


http://www.write4kids.com/blog/2008/08/11/using-slang-in-childrens-books/

Jon Bard
Managing Editor, Children's Book Insider, the Newsletter for Children's Writers - http://write4kids.com
Children's Writing Web Journal - http://write4kids.com/blog/

Some excellent advice, there. Thanks for sharing! (Not that my Dad and I have run into this issue yet with our series, but it's good stuff to keep in mind, anyway.)

[AnnH Posts: 1,516 Status: Offline I love to read and write! WWW]

It's not always slang per se, but just knowing if a certain phrase would jump off the page as dated to kids.

Still wondering about "climbing the walls."  Anyone? Is that still okay to use?

[Traci Dee]

I'm not trying to knock what other people like to do, but personally, I don't see the point of using slang.  I mean, unless your book takes place in the past.  You couldn't have a kid in the fifties telling someone to "get jiggy with it" for instance.  But if your story takes place in the present day, using current slang will date it--to the point that by the time the book got published, in say two years or so, all the slang will already be two years out of fashion.  So why bother?

[AnnH Posts: 1,516 Status: Offline I love to read and write! WWW]

I don't think it's necessarily about using up-to-the-minute slang, but rather staying away from phrases that kids today wouldn't "get," and using phrases they would understand.

Of course, some books are made to be uber-current and so the right slang would be useful there. 

Ann, who is still wondering about "climbing the walls."   

[Traci Dee]

I wouldn't consider "climbing the walls" slang.  It's just an expression, right?  Or an idiom like "pick me up" at eight?  It seems self-explanatory to me--don't know why a kid wouldn't get it, especially if whoever said it was pulling out her hair or something.

[AnnH Posts: 1,516 Status: Offline I love to read and write! WWW]

All I'm really looking for is a place to list expressions and get suggestions for more current ways of saying them, as we need them, not to put forth the pros and cons of slang in general.     I just want don't want to use a phrase that would "jump out" at a readers as something no one their ages would say.

For example, "I'm so sure!" might not mean the same thing to kids today as it did 20 or whatever years ago.