People often use the word colloquialism for slang, and slang for colloquialism. The reason for this is that quite often people take them to mean the same thing. Colloquialism and slang do overlap to a certain extent, but they are actually two distinct forms of language.
How do colloquialism and slang overlap? In other words, how are they alike? The answer to this is – they are both informal, and they are both spoken forms of language. Now one may ask if they are both informal and both spoken forms of the language, then how can they be different? Well, the difference is this –
Colloquial language is the informal language used by people in every day speech. Its form is distinct to certain people and lends them their identity. Colloquialism may be words, phrases, or complete aphorisms. For example:
Word – gonna
Phrase – what’s up?
Aphorism – the rich get richer and the poor get poorer
Slang, on the other hand, is more informal than colloquialism. It is used only by certain groups – like teenagers or people of certain professions. For example:
Stinks – for “is bad”
Buzz off – for “go away”
Salad dodger – an obese person
Other differences are:
* Colloquialism is considered standard language, but slang is not
* Colloquialism is geographically restricted, whereas slang may be used in any culture or class of society
* Colloquialism enriches a language, while slang waters it down.
Do you know of any other difference between colloquialism and slang?