"Breaking the lawn chair, skinning the fish" : Categorization and Gender Differences in Slang Use in the TV Series Sex Education

Abstract: This essay, entitled “Breaking the lawn chair, skinning the fish” - Categorization and Gender Differences in Slang Use in the TV Series Sex Education, claims that slang is part of our everyday language use and it can be found even on TV nowadays. In fact, contemporary TV series often portray a language use that includes informal language and slang expressions and words. This study aims to categorize slang expressions and words and identify gender differences in slang use in the British TV series Sex Education. By integrating quantitative and qualitative methods, the study contrasts Eble’s (1996) and Zotevska’s (2014) categorizations of slang and highlights gender perspectives on language use. First of all, the results show that Eble’s categorization proves to be incomplete to categorize the slang expressions in Sex Education. Furthermore, Zotevska’s categorization shows that a pervasive presence of taboo words and expressions is found in slang usage, whereas proper slang and pragmatic markers constitute a limited amount of the total. Secondly, the results highlight male characters as predominant slang-users. The collected data also indicate an increased presence of slang expressions and words in female speech, as a result of their emancipation and higher levels of participation in Western Societies.