wednes | Language: use according to manufacturer's instructions.

Not keeping up with the lastest slang can cause serious misunderstandings when dealing with young people.
I will now share with you some examples from my own life.

#1 (circa 1991)
I got to the campus radio station, which I run, to meet some of the new DJ's doing thier work study project. One of the kids is nice, and the other one looks kind of antsy. He has a little rant at me because I tried to explain to him that he was using a very expensive sound board incorrectly. His buddy tells me that "he's been trippin' all morning". I think "Goddamn, we can't have people on acid on the air messing up the equipment...that's messed up!". So I talk to my boss about this incident and the antsy kid gets a verbal reprimand. Next day, the kid starts raving at me that I'm spreading rumors about him being whacked out on drugs. Truthfully, I didn't know that the word "trippin'" had changed in meanning to something like 'generally upset or annoyed" as in "why you trippin?" That kid never got over it...luckily he was an asshole, so no big loss.

#2 (timeline unknown)
I hear an old lady on the news express her disgust for the "gangbangers in the neighborhood." Needless to say, I was shocked. How did she know there was crazy group sex going on in her town? And why on Earth did she care? What I didn't realize that what used to be called a "gang bang" was now called "running the busses" and referred of course to sex between one woman and several men. A "gang bang" now means simply someone in a gang. What the "bang" indicates is anyone's guess.

#3 (circa 6 months ago)
I am told that so and so was "pistol-whipped" which surprised me, because there didn't appear to be a scratch on them. Soemwhere along the way, "pistol whipped" changed in meanning from a brutal beating a la Goodfellas to simply motivating someone to do something by pointing a gun at them. Sort of the same as "pussy whipped" but not as funny.

#4 (circa 1999)
Knowing that slavery had been abolished years ago, I was quite perplexed to hear a skinny, oddly dressed white kid from the suburbs proclaim his intention to pick up "his niggaz". Come to think of it, that phrase still hasn't been adequately explained to me. ;-)

Tell me people, what other slang changes have you experienced? Did you learn any of them through some kind of hideously embarassing exchange?

On a completely unrelated topic, Congratulations to Miss Selma Bouvier on her newly adopted child Ling Bouvier. Let's hope that none of Patty's horrible homosexual adgenda rubs off on her. ;-)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

A classic for folks my age is "whatever." When we said it, we meant, okay, fine, whatever, I don't care, doesn't matter. No irony. Now, of course, it means exactly the opposite, and seems pretty peevish to us old folk.

I once realized it's hard to say "big deal" without irony. If you can say only those two words, that is, and not with a questioning inflection.

There was some phrase my mother could never say as if it weren't a question, and that was generational. Not "what's up." Can't remember now. Something like "no shit," perhaps? ("no duh" is a funny one, isn't it)

Let's see. I thought I had another for ya. Oh, yeah: "funky"---that one seems to be reverting to its non-smelly meaning, in some retro reclaiming. At least in my experience, which, granted, ain't urban no more.

Once when I was fairly newly at the community college in Baltimore a student came up and asked me if she could "hold" the "staple gun." Given the context, I figured it out on my own pretty quickly, but there was a little pause to adjust to the notion of "hold" meaning to borrow, use for a certain period, and return, and to "staple gun" referring simply to a stapler. I don't recall the latter usage being repeated, so that was probably that particular student's linguistic fluke, but that meaning for "hold" was common. I remember quite clearly, though, the brief picture in my mind of her holding, in the loving/semi-carressing way one might hold something one had asked to hold, a staple gun.

I don't recall the latter usage being repeated, so that was probably that particular student's linguistic fluke

Mebbe one of her parents was in construction or knew about tools.

Using "hold" for borrow is one I haven't heard.

When I was in high school, we'd ask someone to "borrow me a dollar" instead of "lend". We thought we were bloody clever.

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