Say What?

As a general rule human beings aren’t too fond of aging. Well, here’s a tip to staying young my friends, watch your language. Different words and slang can be attached to different generations, right daddy-o? So adopting a few catch phrases from the younger generation could possibly give you some youthful bliss. But before you decide to swap chillax for settle down, you better think long and hard.

Take the 40 something woman from Greenwich, Connecticut who decides to spice up her vocabulary with a phrase like, True dat. To this woman, actually this whole club of women, I say, Sweetheart this is the equivalent of wearing a bright green belly shirt and a pair of Victoria Secret sweatpants with hotty written across the butt. You’re too old. It’s embarrassing. I’m embarrassed for you. When confronted with the urge to emphatically agree with someone please, try these phrases- I emphatically agree or if you want to go more casual I hear ya or even an amen sister, if you must. If you are in your twenties and have ever been out of Whitesville, USA true dat to your heart’s content, otherwise, it’s off the table.

I understand the urge to speak like the kids, believe me. I work with a twenty-two year old who has some great little phrases. But they belong to her and her generation. When she says “I like that guy, he’s chill.” It means that guy is relaxed, laid back, good temperament etc. , if I said “That guy is so chill” it means I’m 38 years old, I’m teetering on some kind of middle life crisis and I desperately want you to think I’m cool, but obviously I’m not. And frankly I don’t really like that guy, he’s kind of lazy.

I also notice she says things like that’s kind of sketch…where in my generation we say that’s kind of sketchy or he’s kind of sketchy. I know it’s only the difference of the letter “y”, but apparently that y goes a long way. Again, if you are of the sketch generation it makes perfect sense to be Y free—but if you are my age, dropping the Y is just some delusional anti-aging mechanism, like I can’t drop these love handles I acquired in my thirties, but I can drop the Y in sketchy and sound like a hip chick. (and here’s your problem –a hip chick? What are you your mother?).

Speaking of mothers, somewhere along the line my mom heard a particular word which was a combo of a strong swear word and the word ugly, and got the gist of what it meant, but didn’t realize its exact meaning. She used it a lot when referring to things that were unattractive-cars, outfits, hairdos. Eventually we had to let her in on the details (the deets as my younger friends would say) and she dropped that from her vocabulary like a hot potato. She then buried that hot potato and probably forgot about it until her darling daughter brought it up in this blog—sorry mom.

So you need to beware of using too many words from the younger crowd, but you also don’t want to sound like a granny. So you have to pay attention. There are words that are outdated, but somehow we hang on to them anyway. I am fond of dude, and I hear it now and again, but I think it might be one of those words that people aren’t really saying anymore, yet no one quite has the courage to tell me. Kind of like when no one told me scrunchies were out of style. I’m still bitter, about that and you know who you are, but that’s a complaint for another day. There are regional colloquialisms & oopses, too, my wicked awesome friends, but again, I’ll leave that for another day.

Maybe you are reading this and finding you say all sorts of things that don’t quite suit you, and maybe you want to crawl into a hole right about now. But before you burrow into that fissure of language embarrassment, allow me to let you in on some good news. Words they sometimes make a comeback and sometimes they cross the ages. Take super. When I was in elementary school super was a word of our parents’ generation. Think Leave it to Beaver- “Gee, that’s super, Wally.” It was also a teacher word, reserved for spelling quizzes and history tests. 100%-Super! Super was not a word we would use out on the playground. “Oh gee, Lisa, your jelly shoes are super!” Nope, that would never happen. But now Super is everywhere. It rolls off my tongue with such enthusiasm you’d think I was born to say it. And, here’s the great part, it’s a cross-generational phrase. It’s relatable whether you are 6, 16, or maybe even 60. Your hair is super-cute! Your sister is super-nice! That party was super-fun! You get the picture.

Language is both simple and complicated. It’s a good indication to where you are from, how you were educated, and your place in time in space. Language is fun and words are great to play around with. I think you should take risks and toss a new word into your vocab(ulary) here and there. But remember the rules of moderation my friend. Too many words from the past make you seem like you should be walking around with blue eye shadow and teased hair. Too many words from the younger generation cry out “I’m having a midlife crisis, but can’t afford a sports car.” It’s all about balance my language touting friends. And if you have to look it up in the urban dictionary before using it, it just might be better left for the kids.