And why, although most slang phrases sink fairly quickly, are there a few which survive, so that, for example, against the mass of underworld terms listed by B. E. and now forgotten, we find "fence" already in 1699 having its modern sense of "a receiver and securer of stolen-goods"?
Click on the link for an amusing and informative review of 2 new dictionaries of slang, with examples I shall not quote due to the underage household readership of my blog. (Note to blogging moms: your blog will change when your kids are old enough to read over your shoulder, and change again when they have their own computers.)