"It's a narrow mind that assigns only one meaning to a word!" ~ My Family
This is actually a variation on a saying that my family uses whenever itmispels, miss spells, misppells, doesn't write a word correctly. Then the narrow mind is attributed to spelling only one way. But this is not the forum, and I am really not the guy, to host a spelling blog. Making fun of new ways that the English language is massaged (read massacred) by teenagers? I'm your man!
Even when I was a teenager I thought that people did not do enough to utilize this fine language of ours. I never liked when people would assign words new meanings, and worse, assign new parts of speech. The big one when I was in school was "party." In my narrow-minded brain party was a noun. It was something you went to...not something you did. During high school, somehow, the dictionary got jumbled and the "n." next to the word party magically turned into a "v." People were partying all over the place. Not me. I refused to join in the butchering of the English language. (Being a socially awkward geek didn't have anything to do with it...I was standing up for my principles!)
In my humble opinion there are ways of saying things in the English language that escape translation in other languages. The nuance afforded the careful speaker is nearly unlimited. And how do some people choose to speak?
"Sup?"
"Nuttin."
"Whatevs."
"Mm Hmm."
"Peace out."
I believe it was Shakespeare who coined the term, "Chill Yo?"
Don't get me wrong. I am not above learning a new skill. I have been able to learn new words and even use them in the proper context. I explained to the high school group at church that their new clothes, skateboards, skills, were "beast" (beyond great)! Everything that used to be cool is now epic. And I definitely know what the Fox says. (Ki Ki Ki Ki Ki....in case you want to know.) I can get behind most everything that comes my way. I admit that I have a little trouble still when the new fad is to simply shorten the word. One that comes to mind is crazy. Nothing is crazy anymore...it is "cray cray". As in, "OH when he jumped off the wall and did a flip! It was cray cray!" Allow me a moment to break down my thinking. Was it crazy? Certainly. Did it call for someone pointing it out? Most definitely. Did you shorten the amount of syllables that you needed to say for expediency? Nope. Crazy = 2 syllables. Cray Cray = also two. Then why do it? That one in particular is like fingernails on a chalkboard...but I choose not to say anything unless everything in the vicinity is "cray cray".
Now, I told you all of that so I could tell you this. I heard a new one...and it floored me. It wasn't that it was beyond amazing in a clever and poignant way. No, I was left slack-jawed and wide-eyed because I had no idea what the connection was. In the kitchen, as we were talking about kids that we knew, two names came up and we heard, "Yeah! I ship that!"
Sylvia and I looked at each other like someone had suddenly turned off the teenager to English translator we had installed in the house. We looked over at Krisi, who was happily calculating the number of times that she had thoroughly confused us. I said, "You ship that?"
"Yeah, I ship that."
"And what exactly does that mean?"
"It's hard to explain...It means that it is good."
"That person is good?"
"NO! Dad! It means that two things are good." (Like I was supposed to magically figure that out.)
So I, in typical Dad overcompensating, went the extra mile. "Is it like saying, I am Jeff Garrett and I approve of this couple?"
That is when my name turned into several syllables..."DaAaAad!" But after closer inspection, I think I nailed it.
Later that night, when we were invaded by teenagers, I was 'shipping' everything. (You know, to fit in)
"Can I have some apple cider?"
"Yeah, I ship that."
"Where's the bathroom?"
"Second door on the right...and I ship that."
I saw someone with a leather jacket. "Hey, I ship that jacket. And you with the water bottle, I ship that water bottle."
Of course I was being obnoxious and silly and using my new-found word in the completely wrong way...but nearly everyone at the party new about this new way to use a relatively benign word. And they all thought I was funny. That's good. They all think that I am rutabaga! It's a new word. It means extra awesome in a cool old guy sort of way. I just made it up. Think it will catch on?
This is actually a variation on a saying that my family uses whenever it
Even when I was a teenager I thought that people did not do enough to utilize this fine language of ours. I never liked when people would assign words new meanings, and worse, assign new parts of speech. The big one when I was in school was "party." In my narrow-minded brain party was a noun. It was something you went to...not something you did. During high school, somehow, the dictionary got jumbled and the "n." next to the word party magically turned into a "v." People were partying all over the place. Not me. I refused to join in the butchering of the English language. (Being a socially awkward geek didn't have anything to do with it...I was standing up for my principles!)
In my humble opinion there are ways of saying things in the English language that escape translation in other languages. The nuance afforded the careful speaker is nearly unlimited. And how do some people choose to speak?
"Sup?"
"Nuttin."
"Whatevs."
"Mm Hmm."
"Peace out."
I believe it was Shakespeare who coined the term, "Chill Yo?"
Don't get me wrong. I am not above learning a new skill. I have been able to learn new words and even use them in the proper context. I explained to the high school group at church that their new clothes, skateboards, skills, were "beast" (beyond great)! Everything that used to be cool is now epic. And I definitely know what the Fox says. (Ki Ki Ki Ki Ki....in case you want to know.) I can get behind most everything that comes my way. I admit that I have a little trouble still when the new fad is to simply shorten the word. One that comes to mind is crazy. Nothing is crazy anymore...it is "cray cray". As in, "OH when he jumped off the wall and did a flip! It was cray cray!" Allow me a moment to break down my thinking. Was it crazy? Certainly. Did it call for someone pointing it out? Most definitely. Did you shorten the amount of syllables that you needed to say for expediency? Nope. Crazy = 2 syllables. Cray Cray = also two. Then why do it? That one in particular is like fingernails on a chalkboard...but I choose not to say anything unless everything in the vicinity is "cray cray".
Now, I told you all of that so I could tell you this. I heard a new one...and it floored me. It wasn't that it was beyond amazing in a clever and poignant way. No, I was left slack-jawed and wide-eyed because I had no idea what the connection was. In the kitchen, as we were talking about kids that we knew, two names came up and we heard, "Yeah! I ship that!"
Sylvia and I looked at each other like someone had suddenly turned off the teenager to English translator we had installed in the house. We looked over at Krisi, who was happily calculating the number of times that she had thoroughly confused us. I said, "You ship that?"
"Yeah, I ship that."
"And what exactly does that mean?"
"It's hard to explain...It means that it is good."
"That person is good?"
"NO! Dad! It means that two things are good." (Like I was supposed to magically figure that out.)
So I, in typical Dad overcompensating, went the extra mile. "Is it like saying, I am Jeff Garrett and I approve of this couple?"
That is when my name turned into several syllables..."DaAaAad!" But after closer inspection, I think I nailed it.
Later that night, when we were invaded by teenagers, I was 'shipping' everything. (You know, to fit in)
"Can I have some apple cider?"
"Yeah, I ship that."
"Where's the bathroom?"
"Second door on the right...and I ship that."
I saw someone with a leather jacket. "Hey, I ship that jacket. And you with the water bottle, I ship that water bottle."
Of course I was being obnoxious and silly and using my new-found word in the completely wrong way...but nearly everyone at the party new about this new way to use a relatively benign word. And they all thought I was funny. That's good. They all think that I am rutabaga! It's a new word. It means extra awesome in a cool old guy sort of way. I just made it up. Think it will catch on?
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