Slang Mangling

'Blow them away Officer Huxley! We blow them away!'

Demolition Man

Basic Information

This characterization trope applies to a character who is using a specific slang, argot or patois wrongly - either out of ignorance or a deliberate desire to offend¹.

The "out of ignorance" use is probably the most common and indicates a character who is trying (or pretending) to be streetwise … and failing. Often applied to middle class suburbanites trying to 'slum it', parents trying to communicate with teenage children or people pretending to competency in a foreign language. For time travellers, ye olde mangled englysh is a directly related phenomenon.

Deliberate use would smack of either extreme, belligerent confidence (as in someone prepared to insult a street gang to their faces) or bullying (if mocking a harmless group).

Sources

Bibliography

1. full source reference

Game and Story Use

• In games where there is a skill related to being "streetwise", this is an easy way to characterise a failed roll … in the case of a botch the mistake becomes hilarious or offensive.

Footnotes

1. As, possibly, in the case of someone suggesting a "gangsta" and his homos might intend sticking a plug in someone's butt (compare him and his homies popping a cap in someone's ass) - a fairly direct insult, especially if delivered in the correct tone of voice.