Investigation of English Slang Words in bad boys for life movie

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Keywords:

slang, qualitative research, Allan and Burridge, Bad Boys: For Life.

 

INTRODUCTION

In daily conversations, especially among young people, slang had often been used to express ideas in a casual and creative way. Slang had been a type of informal language made up of new or playful words that made speech feel more relaxed and natural. According to Madazizova (2019), slang had helped simplify language and made it easier to say. Because of its popularity, slang had become a common topic in language studies and had appeared in different areas, such as speeches, books, and online communication. Although slang had usually been linked with younger people, adults had also used it in daily life. As Maurer (2024, p. 1) explained, slang had consisted of unusual words or phrases that gave old ideas a new twist. These expressions had often been humorous, bold, or even rude, depending on how they were used. Slang had usually appeared more in spoken conversations than in writing and had been commonly shared within close social groups.

In recent years, social media platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and Twitter had helped slang spread very quickly. New slang terms had gone viral overnight and had become part of daily language around the world. Examples like ghosting (cutting off communication), simp (someone who tries too hard in a relationship), vibe check (checking someone's mood), and spill the tea (share gossip) had become widely used. However, this fast-changing slang had caused confusion for English learners, since many of these words had not matched their dictionary meanings. Learners had often struggled to understand slang without knowing the culture or context behind it. Another challenge was that slang had rarely been taught in schools. As LinQ (2019) had pointed out, slang had been informal and often used for fun or joking, but it had not been part of most classroom lessons. For instance, the phrase break a leg might have confused students who had not known it meant good luck. Slang had also included shortened forms, such as cuz for because, gonna for going to, or pics for pictures.

Since slang had been used differently in different groups and had changed quickly, it had been hard for English learners to keep up. It had often acted like a "secret language" shared between close friends or people from the same culture. Since it had not been taught in regular lessons, learners had often felt lost in conversations with native speakers. To help with this, learners had needed to listen to real-life English. Through movies, music, and social media. Where slang had naturally occurred. Talking with native speakers, joining online groups, and using slang dictionaries or YouTube videos had helped make slang easier to understand. Seeing slang in real situations had helped learners know how and when to use it correctly. One good way to learn slang had been by watching movies, which had often used real-life conversation. This study had looked at slang in the movie Bad Boys for Life, focusing on how the two main characters, Mike and Marcus, had spoken. The goal had been to study the types, meanings, and functions of slang in the movie. By doing this, the writer had aimed to help English learners, teachers, and anyone interested in language better understand how slang worked and how it could be used correctly in everyday conversation.

METHOD

•             The writer used qualitative methods to describe the phenomenon of slang use in the movie Bad Boys: For Life. Creswell (2013) states that qualitative research is a process of investigating understanding, based on a distinct methodological tradition that examines social or human problems. In an alternative statement, Creswell (2013) state that the qualitative process originated from the tradition of the interplay between humans and social science. This tradition encompasses various stages of the research process, including data collection, report writing, analysis, and overall design. In analyzing slang words in the movie Bad Boys: For Life, this study applies a sociolinguistic approach. A sociolinguistic approach is used to understand the slang in the movie Bad Boys: For Life. Sociolinguistics is a branch of linguistics that deals with social and cultural aspects. This refers to the way people speak when faced with different identities (age, gender, race and class) and changes in the way they speak depending on different situations.
•             Meanwhile, Gay, Milis & Petter ( 2012, p.7 ) describe that " Qualitative research is the collection, analysis and interpretation of comprehensive narrative and visual ( i.e., non-numerical ) data to gain insight in to particular phenomenon of interest". Which means that by observing a phenomenon someone can get information according to what they were looking for from the start.
•             According to Tenny, et al (2017, p.1), claim that "qualitative research is a type of research that explores and provides deeper insight into real-world problems. Instead of collecting numeric data points or intervening or introducing treatments just like in quantitative research, qualitative research helps generate hypotheses as well as further investigate and understand quantitative data." From this description, the writer identifies the slang words contained in the movie by directly observing the movie. Then, the writer analyzes the conversations between characters in the movie. Analyzing conversational context is a tool for researchers to more easily determine words, themes or concepts from qualitative data. This analysis can be used in all forms of communication. Can be used for newspapers, TV and all documentary materials.

FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS

 DATA FINDING