How to Use Slang in Writing to Avoid Sounding Like AI

Writing Tip: Incorporate slang into your writing. Reference cultural phenomena that anchor your writing in a specific place and time. If done correctly, you can transport your reader to another place, and encourage them to see things from a different perspective. 

ChatGPT doesn't use regionalized language, slang, or any quirky wording; even to the degree that it seems totally impersonal and inauthentic. 

But cultural references and slang are powerful tools in a writer’s arsenal. They reflect the diverse and nuanced ways in which people communicate in real life. Slang grounds writing in a specific place and time, offering readers a vivid sense of setting. Take Anthony Burgess’s A Clockwork Orange. Would that book have been such a success if it hadn’t used the invented language Nasdat, which was inspired by Russian, Romany, Cockney rhyming slang, and Shakespeare? Could it have invoked such a powerful sense of the criminal underworld and a shadowy violent future dystopia? Nasdat doesn’t just help to paint a unique portrait of an invented world. It translates part of who Burgess was as an author: his curiosity about Russian culture and literature, his travel across Russia during the Cold War, his philosophical grappling with human susceptibility and brainwashing. 

In less extreme examples, slang simply makes writing feel more authentic. Would a story set in the bayous of Louisiana feel right if there were no Creole slang sprinkled throughout the narrative? Probably not. Slang and cultural references make the subtle case that the narrator has credibility. That the reader can trust them. 

Vernacular does more than just add color to a piece of writing. It reveals the soul, the struggles, and the hopes of the community in the text. Slang becomes an immersive piece of the rich tapestry of world-building that defines the writing’s identity. Done correctly, you can hear the characters as though you were standing right in front of them. 

To not sound like AI, dive into the idiosyncrasies of language. If writing is about capturing the essence of human experience, slang helps to do so in all of its diversity, through words that resonate with specificity. By doing so, you can celebrate the richness of human expression, offering readers a bridge to worlds they may never have otherwise known. This approach is what sets human writing apart, making it deeply connected to the fabric of life.