These slang terms have been collected from a group of people who are both from and live in the area of Newcastle Upon Tyne. This group of people involved were aware at the very beginning that they were being monitored. However as a result of this It could be argued that this project would be more accurate if those whose slang I was studying were unaware of my actions, so that the results would be as accurate as possible.
Slang itself is a difficult term to define as slang is something that is constantly developing. On a whole it refers to any terms used to describe something that are used within a certain group or area in society, sometimes exclusively. These terms are usually created by a small group or individual, possibly influenced by the media, and then go on to spread to other groups and areas. The life span of a slang term is very short as new words to describe something are created often, and therefore it can be difficult to record a slang dictionary.
However, it can be difficult to distinguish between slang and dialect. Unless you are familiar with the language in an area, you are likely to believe that any words that are unfamiliar to you are examples of slang, however they may be dialect terms specific to that area instead. Therefore some terms in this online Geordie slang dictionary may in fact be examples of Geordie dialect. Dialect is a regional variety of language which is specific to a particular region. It is characterised not only by the vocabulary itself, but also by pronunciation and grammar.