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Words your characters would say

Period slang you can put in a character's mouth.

A hundred and sixty words from eight eras, each quoted from the dictionary, novel, magazine or journal that recorded it, and a short scene for each era that uses them the way dialogue does.

Choose an era
Eight eras · the source behind each word
  1. 1700srum1785
  2. 1800sswag1859
  3. 1920sold sport1925
  4. 1930sthe bulls1930
  5. 1940sbobby-soxer1945
  6. 1950sno sweat1959
  7. 1960sgroovy1967
  8. 2000sbling bling2000

Why the dates matter

A period word earns its place when it was really said.

Most slang lists online repeat each other without a date, so a 1940s word ends up in a 1920s speakeasy. Every word here comes with the line that records it, from a dictionary, novel, newspaper or magazine of its own decade. Read the word in its source, then in a scene.

Words and scenes by era

  1. 1700sLondon thieves' cantrumSee the words1785
  2. 1800sNew York underworldswagSee the words1859
  3. 1920sThe Jazz Age crowdold sportSee the words1920–1925
  4. 1930sHardboiled detectivesthe bullsSee the words1930
  5. 1940sGIs and bobby-soxersbobby-soxerSee the words1944–1946
  6. 1950sSt. Louis teenagersno sweatSee the words1955–1959
  7. 1960sHippies and their parentsgroovySee the words1961–1969
  8. 2000sHip-hop and the internetbling blingSee the words2000–2010

Field notes

Writing dialogue that sounds like its time

  • Date the word, not the feeling

    Check every period word against a source from the time, not a list that sounds old. A dictionary entry or a published novel tells you the word was in use by that year. It does not tell you when it started, so a word recorded in 1859 can belong to a character in 1850, and probably not one in 1750.

  • Use less than you found

    One period word every few lines is enough to place a scene. A speech packed with slang reads like a costume. Let ordinary words carry most of the dialogue and save the slang for the moments a character wants to sound like they belong.

  • Make the meaning clear from the scene

    A reader or an audience never gets a glossary. Put the word where the action explains it: the stolen hat on the table before anyone calls it a rum nab, the sack of silver before anyone says swag. If a word needs a footnote, the scene is not doing its job yet.

  • Slang says who belongs

    Grose and Matsell recorded cant: the private language of thieves, meant to keep outsiders out. A character who uses it is in the gang, and one who misses it is not. Use that. The 1920s words did the same for a young crowd, the 1930s ones for detectives and crooks, the 1940s ones for soldiers and the teenagers they left at home, and the 1950s and 1960s ones for teenagers keeping their parents out. The 2000s words came from rap and the internet, and spread as fast as both.

  • Where to find more

    Dictionaries of slang and cant from the period, novels and plays written at the time, newspapers, and court records all show how people talked. Prefer sources written in the era over histories written later, and keep a note of where each word came from so you can check it again.

  • Hear it before you keep it

    Read the scene aloud, or hold a table read. Period dialogue that looks right can sound stiff when spoken. Cut what an actor trips on, and keep the version you like as a save point before you try another.

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