Colloquialism — Definition and Examples
What is colloquialism?
Colloquialism is a word or phrase used in informal speech within a specific language, geographic region, culture, or historical era. Colloquial language develops through the use of casual interactions between like-minded speakers.
Colloquialism helps authors create authentic characters and genuine settings through their dialogue:
Characters: Colloquial expressions allow an author to create authentic characters through their speech. By including language specific to a time, place, culture, or socioeconomic status, they can develop characters that accurately reflect the real world.
Setting: Colloquialisms allow authors to indicate the time and place by incorporating dialogue that helps identify the setting.
Differences between colloquialism, slang, jargon, and idiom
Colloquialism differs from other types of informal words like slang, jargon, and idioms.
Slang: Slang consists of words created by a culture or social group that becomes somewhat mainstream in everyday speech. They can be new words or current ones the group modifies by shortening them or removing letters, taking on a meaning that differs from its original. Slang words can appear and disappear from language; therefore, they often indicate specific time periods. Examples of slang words include the following:
| Slang | Meaning |
|---|---|
| GOAT | greatest of all time |
| salty | bitter; agitated |
| far out | cool |
| square | someone old-fashioned |
| YOLO | you only live once |
Jargon: Jargon references words or expressions used by a particular profession or group. Unlike colloquial language, jargon is mainly used within formal writing. Examples include the following:
| Profession/Group | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Medicine | idiopathic | condition with no clear cause |
| Business | 9-5 | standard workday |
| Political | earmark | set money aside |
| Law Enforcement | 10-4 | okay; I understand |
| Military | AWOL | absent without leave |
Idiom: An idiom is a phrase not meant to be taken literally. They are only understood by native speakers or someone who understands the language and culture from where it originates. Examples of idioms include the following:
| Idiom | Meaning |
|---|---|
| a dime a dozen | something common |
| break a leg | good luck |
| easy does it | slow down |
| hit the sack | go to sleep |
| pull someone's leg | to joke with someone |
Colloquialism examples
Colloquial words and phrases are either regional, modified contractions, or altered names of objects and family members.
Examples within these categories include the following:
| Word/Phrase | Regions |
|---|---|
| wicked | northeast |
| soda; pop; Coke | east and west; mid-west; south |
| sneakers; gym shoes; tennis shoes | east and northeast; mid-west; south, central |
| jimmies; sprinkles | northeast and mid-Atlantic; central, south, west |
| cookies; biscuits | America; UK (American English; British English) |
| Word/Phrase | Meaning |
|---|---|
| ain't | am not, are not, is not |
| dunno | do not know |
| gonna | going to |
| gotta | have got to |
| kinda | kind of |
| lemme | let me |
| wanna | want to |
| whatcha | what are you |
| y’all | you all |
| yinz | you (plural) |
| Colloquial Name | Common Name |
|---|---|
| binky | pacifier |
| buggy | shopping cart |
| crick | creek |
| lift | elevator |
| nappies | diapers |
| sweeper | vacuum |
| Colloquial Name | Common Name |
|---|---|
| auntie | aunt |
| bestie | best friend |
| fam | family |
| kin | blood relatives |
| memaw | grandma |
Examples of colloquialism incorporated into literature include the following:
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger:
If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you’ll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don’t feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth.
Protagonist Holden Caulfield uses colloquial language that helps identify his attitude as an American teenager, which helps to describe his defiant nature.
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain:
The Widow Douglas, she took me for her son, and allowed she would sivilize me; but it was rough living in the house all the time, considering how dismal regular and decent the widow was in all her ways; and so when I couldn’t stand it no longer, I lit out.
As an author who incorporates colloquial style in the majority of his works, in Huckleberry Finn, Twain includes the use of "allowed," "sivilize," "dismal regular," and "lit out" to highlight Huck's lack of formal education.
Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe:
If I must be sold, or all the people on the place, and everything go to rack, why, let me be sold. I s’pose I can b’ar it as well as any on ’em.
Stowe utilized colloquial language ("go to rack," "s'pse," and "b'ar") to highlight how social status influences the way people speak; therefore, she was able to accurately reflect what was happening in the south leading up to the Civil War.