Ex-gang members were used as script advisers on a new British film about girl gangs so that the language would be authentic. How hard is it to write in the way that young people speak to each other?
"The word Sket means ho (whore) basically, someone who sleeps around. Some guys might call girls a ho when they're not actually, they're just trying to tarnish their name."
Antiqu'e, 24 - real name Janet - was one of the script advisers on Sket, a new film about girl gangs which is released next Friday. For the film-makers realism was key, so director Nirpal Bhogal approached a youth project in south London. This is where he met Antiqu'e, who believes getting the language right is vital. If it's dated, young people won't relate to it, she says.
"I got involved because I could bring that vibe to it, because it is a street film," she says. "Some of the language was out of date so we put forward ideas and gave alternatives, slang that we might use now. Like for a gun, you could say a gat but that's quite an old term. Most young people now would say stralley, a tool or a bucky.
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"The knowledge the film people had of the street talk, it's what you might have heard in films like Shank or Kidulthood. They needed to update to the times."
The film Shank was only released last year, which shows how quickly street speak can move on. To add to the complications, every region has its take on slang. While some words and phrases are UK-wide, there is no definitive list of terms that teenagers use.
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