street talk
1
8.7
- noun
- Slang
:
habla callejera
- During the meeting, he used some street talk that the rest of us didn't understand.
Examples
-
You're no tramp, but you're no lady, talkin' that street talk
-
The following statement echoes Arab street talk:
Academic text (1991) -
That is enough with the street talk, okay?
-
Look, it's some kind of street talk.
-
Right now he goes into street talk.
Fiction book (1992) -
This is the Syrian street talk.
Blog text (18) -
"My wife chides me because I often talk street talk at home," says Wiener, 57.
Academic text (2002) -
When I asked about the true-to-life dialogue he is known for, such as tough-guy street talk, he said he has a good memory for speech patterns.
Academic text (2011) -
I threw myself at the Italian language with gusto and became fluent in the street talk of the shopkeepers and the vendors of our neighborhood.
Fiction book (1996) -
I often hear street talk when I walk through the city's neighborhoods.
Synonyms
49
7.9
Informal words used by a group and not for formal situations
27
7.8
Rumors people tell each other about events or people
Antonyms
- Jargon
2
6.5
A conversation about work that uses words only people in the same job understand
How Informal
- Slang
49
7.9
- Slang
1
8.7
- Informal
7
6.5
98
3.1
Surface Forms
Morphology
street + talk
The meaning 'informal urban language or slang' is directly and compositionally derived from 'street' (denoting urban/public) plus 'talk' (spoken language). This adjective-noun combination follows a common, cross-linguistically transparent pattern, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents would readily infer the MWE's sense.
Etymology
Street talk comes from the simple image of the street as the place where people meet and the talk you hear there is casual and local. So, 'street talk' means 'informal language' or 'slang' used by people in a neighborhood or city.