UCLA Occasional Papers in Linguistics Vol. 22:
U.C.L.A. Slang 4

A dictionary of over 1100 slang expressions in current use by UCLA undergraduate students

This new dictionary of college slang was compiled by a team of ten students under the direction of Prof. Pamela Munro. Work on the dictionary began in a lower-division honors linguistics seminar in Fall, 2000, with five of the students continuing to edit and add to the dictionary in Winter 2001; final editorial work was completed in Spring 2001.

U.C.L.A. Slang 4 is the fourth in a quadrennial series of undergraduate slang dictionaries compiled by students working with Munro (U.C.L.A. Slang - later published commercially as Slang U, and excerpted in Rolling Stone - appeared in 1989, U.C.L.A. Slang 2 in 1993, and U.C.L.A. Slang 3 in 1997). U.C.L.A. Slang 4 is not a revision, but a completely new undertaking, in which the student authors present current vocabulary specifically associated with UCLA.

The new dictionary includes definitions, example sentences, explanations of grammatical usage, notes relating the new words to slang expressions previously at UCLA and elsewhere, and a general range of terms, from words for people (such as scud 'female who looks good from far away but not close up'), to adjectives expressing praise (such as tight 'really good, really unusual, really impressive') or condemnation (such as weak sauce 'bad'), to verbs for qualities (such as have a great personality 'be ugly') or actions (such as mash 'go' or hork 'vomit') to interjections (such as dirted! (that's too bad!) or bling bling! (used to draw someone's attention to one's new expensive or flashy possession)). (Warning: the book contains language that may be offensive to some readers, though the student authors have carefully marked such potential offensiveness.) An introduction by Munro discusses the history of the UCLA slang projects, origins of slang expressions, the offensiveness issue, and the grammar of slang words.

The student authors of U.C.L.A. Slang 4 included sophomores to graduate students, representing a variety of majors. They were Ashlee M. Bonds, David K. Chene, Christopher Fromm, Jason R. Miller, David A. Sedrak, Mary Darin, Heather Riggs, Natalie Ching-Yu Siu, Maria C. Galli-Terra, and Shari Able.