A few years ago, a friend told me about a TV series he believed represented some of the best script-writing to come around in a long time. The name of the series was Breaking Bad. I wasn’t familiar with that phrase, but it was like a slap in the face when I watched the first episode. I’m sure you’ve heard of this series, but if not, it’s about a teacher who was pushed to emotional and financial extremes and decided to break a few rules--big rules.
As strong as this TV series was, I feel equally strong about breaking the following two grammar rules—when done correctly.
“Farmers plowing sterile fields behind sad meditative horses, both suffering from the bites of insects.” This sentence uses a comma and seems to be missing the verb “are” or “were” to make it complete, but without such verb, the image is clearer and more visceral.
So some of Kookie’s hip word-use is also an extreme example of roguish language that suited the times, but has become obsolete. The use of slang when writing a blog or column is the best way to develop your writer’s voice, since this type of writing is informal and familiar. But you don’t want to have to define each word or phrase as I did with Kookie’s examples above. In other words, sprinkle in familiar slang; don’t overdo it.
Slang helps a blogger bond with readers. But as noted, if you’re a microbiologist writing a lab report about Streptococcus pneumoniae (pneumonia), a round or oval-shaped bacterium that colonizes in pairs and infects the lungs, you do not describe the bacteria as a scum-bag germ that pollutes your air-bags.