Slang

J.E. LIGHTER and his publishers at Random House have some nerve, tempting us with the first volume of the Random House Historical Dictionary of American Slang, but giving us only seven letters worth of entries. Entries H - R won't be available until 1996 and it is speculated that we won't be able to put our hands on S - Z until 1997.Admittedly, the HDAS (which may become the PDR equivalent for writers, crossword puzzlers and other language lovers) is made up of 20,000-plus entries of A - G slang.

CHICAGO -- Chicago public school officials have begun investigating a teacher at a West Side school who is accused of administering a math test that included references to prostitutes, drug dealers and car thieves.Charles Routen, 45, a first-year teacher, was removed from his sixth-grade teaching job and placed in an administrative position until school officials complete their investigation, schools spokeswoman Dawne Simmons said.A test Mr. Routen allegedly administered to his sixth-grade class Friday included such word problems as: "Martin wants to cut his half-pound of heroin to make 20 percent more profit.

Title: "Thirteen Uncollected Stories by John Cheever"Editor: Franklin H. DennisPublisher: Academy Chicago PublishersLength, price: 227 pages, $19.95 This is not the martinis-on-the-veranda, yacht-club-and-family-gatherings Cheever of the collected stories. This is the Cheever who, in real life, was paralyzed by his fear of bridges, the Cheever who would dutifully put on a suit and hat each morning and travel down in the elevator of his New York apartment building to the storage bin in the basement that he used as his "office."

HAPPY ST. PADDY'S DAY. No offense. Until recently "Paddy" was always thought of as a term of endearment. I still think of it that way, as do my Irish friends and relatives.But, naturally, in this age of political correctness, "Paddy" is officially no longer affectionate. Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (Tenth Edition, 1993) defines "Paddy" as "Irishman" and adds this: "often taken to be offensive."The Ninth Edition (1986) doesn't say that. Nor does the unabridged Merriam-Webster's Third New International Dictionary (1961)

As the scene opens, two girls are discussing their sneakers in front of lockers on the third floor at Francis M. Wood Senior High School. It seems the $95 pair owned by one girl is no longer chic."

Hovering in the shadows at her teen-age son's party, Carline Moore overhears this snatch of conversation:"There it is. This jam is thick. Plenty of mad honeys, dope system.""We phat. But I gotta flex. I'll be maxin' at the crib.""I'm easin' here. Later.""Later."Come again?For the uninitiated, it's the language of the hip-hop generation, and it can be heard in malls, on the street and in classrooms -- even prep-school classrooms.Hoopty, hotty, hoochie. Slang is colorful, descriptive patter that eases communication among young folks while keeping parents and teachers at bay. If you talk to teens, you'd best be savvy because slanguage is always changing, always confounding.

For Frank Baum's fictional Dorothy, a trip to the magical land of Oz began with a tornado.And for the five local women who recently went to Australia -- often called Oz in popular slang -- to sail in the J/24 Asia Pacific Women's Championship Regatta, the experience began with a kind of whirlwind, too. That whirlwind was the frenetic blast of activity of the J/24 World Championships here in Annapolis early last November.The J/24 worlds' event chairman, Barbara Beigel-Vosbury of Crownsville, was skipper of the team, that included Annapolitans Sandy Grosvenor, on-water chairman of the event, Joanne Schram, sponsorship coordinator for the worlds and regatta volunteer Eva Lomax, and protest committee secretary Eileen Monius of Beltsville.

ONE ASPECT of the generational problem we have in this country is language. We don't all mean the same thing by the same word.Take "bozo."On Oct. 29, George Bush referred to Bill Clinton and Albert Gore Jr. as "these two bozos."The next day, Bill Clinton suggested that was okay with him. "Bozo makes people laugh," he said, adding that President Bush's economic policies have been making people sad.Clinton thought Bush was invoking Bozo the Clown. But surely the president was using the word in its earlier sense.

Forget the year of the woman. If the polls are any indication, this may be the Year of the Wonk.Bill Clinton and Al Gore, politicians known for their often humorless, studious ways, could represent America's first winning Double-wonk ticket in a long time.Their campaign has already expanded the political lexicon, the way the Republicans brought spin doctors, damage control and political correctness to linguistic prominence.Meg Greenfield of Newsweek recently called Mr. Clinton and Mr. Gore "tough, ambitious, leadership-minded policy wonks."

Eighteen-year-old Mehmet Ayaz, an exchange student from Bodrum, Turkey, is busy trying to learn as much English as he can while living with his host family in Linthicum.Mehmet is attending North County High School while absorbing the culture and living with Deborah and Gregory March and their children."I want to learn English better; my father owns a hotel and it isnecessary," said Mehmet, who came to Linthicum last August.Mehmet is the son of Huseyin and Birsen Ayaz, and he has a sister, Deniz, 8. His parents operate a hotel on the Mediterranean Sea in southwestern Turkey.