Home > Colloquialism
A colloquialism is an informal expression, that is, an expression not used in formal speech or writing. Colloquialisms can include words (such as "gonna" or "grouty"), phrases (such as "ain't nothin'" and "dead as a doornail"), or sometimes even an entire aphorism ("There's more than one way to skin a cat"). Colloquial words and phrases may be marked with the abbreviation colloq. in dictionaries. Often colloquialisms are used within a certain geographical area.In some areas, overuse of colloquialisms by native speakers is regarded as a sign of substandard ability with the language. However, in the mouth of a non- native speaker, they are sometimes taken as signaling unusual facility with the language — as they may be more difficult for non-native speakers to understand.
Compare: slang, jargon, idiom, variety (linguistics)
Sociolinguistics Figures of speech
