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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. ;-)
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. ;-)
Re: Great topic.
When I was in high school, we'd ask someone to "borrow me a dollar" instead of "lend". We thought we were bloody clever.