Saturday, December 29, 2018

Dorogoy droogs, come clockwork the orange

Hello fellow toads and amphibians,


Here is Björn hosting the last prompt for the year. I have been having some free time during and have
been reading “The Clockwork Orange” by Anthony Burgess.




This gave me an idea of a prompt…


As you might know the book is written in an invented slang called Nadsat, which is a slang made of
English mixed with some anglicized Russian word as well as some cockney rhyming slang.
For examples Alex’s friends (or gang members) are droogs derived from the Russian word друг
(drug, “friend”).
The purpose of slang is often a signal of belonging, it tells we you are and were you are from, and
many times a person can switch from slang to “normal” in an instant.
In many ways slang is poetry, which is very evident in rap music.
I found it interesting that you could read the book and learn the Nadsat just by the context of the
book. Which bring me to the prompt.
Write a poem in slang, by either using slang you are versed in or create it from another language
you know (or several languages if you want), it you want to you can also include some rhyming slang
if you feel like it, you can even try to write a poem in Nadsat if you want.


Remember that slang is spoken language so you might take a look at slam poetry where slang is
often used extensively.
Make sure that you write it in such a way that it could be understood by the context of the poem.
Here is a link to Nadsat vocabulary and here is one to Cockney rhyming slang.

Have fun


11 comments:

brudberg said...

Hello all, I wrote the prompt without trying writing myself... but after some playing around I had a lot of fun with it...

Look forward to see what you come up with.

tonispencer said...

Thank you for this interesting prompt. When I was studying for my MFA one if the things I studied was Polari, the language used in the 1800s among theater people, gypsies, gay men, prostitutes, horse traders, etc. It was thought Oscar Wilde spoke Polari. I will be using this language in my poem.

Magaly Guerrero said...

Bjorn, slang and I have never really played well. I suspect slang doesn't like me. But... I tried (and, like you, had a lot of fun).

Thank you for hosting, sir. Happy poem(ing), everyone.

P.S. I'm having some issues with my WordPress site at the moment, so I'm currently using my old Bloggers blog (say that 13 times fast).

brudberg said...

@Toni I think slang might have been like a code as well... look forward to your poem.

@Magaly .. me and slang don't play well either, that's why I invented my own slang... a bit like nadsat actually

Jim said...

Well, I tried and it was fun. It would have been easier if I had used a foreign language only, like German or Pig Latin. I used to be fluent in both, now only in the latter. But I don't know SLANG for either. It is an hour past my bed time but I had to finish it tonight, busy tomorrow. (sorry--maybe--it is so short)
The "Appendix" was my only aid, I did recognize the "familiar term" for "Grandmother".
..

Kim M. Russell said...

I love that Toni has used Polari (Kenneth Williams used it on the BBC radio programme 'Round the Horne') and I toyed with it for a bit. Then I tried writing a poem using Cockney rhyming slang (my mother was a true Cockney - born within the sound of Bow Bells) and a smattering of German. But in the wee hours of this morning, I woke up in back-slang! I have one bit of rhyming slang, though. :) I'm dying to see what you have all done.

Rommy said...

I turned a rant into a poem and used slang as appropriate :D Fun prompt, Bjorn.

brudberg said...

@Jim the use of slang is to mix languages... like using pig latin in english, but any way you chose to interpret the prompt is fine.
@Kim I look forward to some real slang, to me as a novice in slang I just imagine what it would sound like.
@Rommy rants are perfect in slang... Alex in a clockwork orange truly just ranted.

Kerry O'Connor said...

I love the prompt, Bjorn and looking forward to reading responses after the weekend - we're having a family get-together.

Thank you for hosting on the last weekend of 2018..

brudberg said...

@Kerry the responses to this prompt are great... and it was fun to create your own slang.

Susie Clevenger said...

Love the prompt...some of the slang is mine some is right from where I live.