the definition of slang

[RonButters at AOL.COM]

In a message dated 7/1/02 11:59:57 AM, lancedm at MISSOURI.EDU writes:

<< Are 'cool' 'pot' 'grass' slang?  Though they may be "associated with a
particular social grouping," they aren't used only by those groups.  These
terms are widely used but aren't exactly "standard."  What about a term like
'threads' for clothing?  Examples of why it's so hard to define 'slang'. >>

The problem here for me is that SLANG (and to a lesser extent maybe JARGON)
is not a discrete, cripsly defined linguistic concept like LABIAL or RELATIVE
CLAUSE but rather a sort of family of concepts governed by several different
criteria.

Isn't that basically what Bethany Dumas and J. Lighter said in their landmark
essay a number of years ago on the definition of slang?