Are You Confused By Slang?

Ina

Ina

Well-known Member
Location
Harris County, NE of Houston, Tx.
I love the way language is put together, but sometimes slang just confuses me. What slang gets to you? Here are just a few of mine. I always wonder how they came about.

1. Souped - as in he souped up his truck.
2. Copped - He copped an attitude.
3. Ditched - He ditched me!
4. Flacky - She is too flacky.
5. Gig - I have a gig tonight.
6. Bananas - They went bananas.
7. Hang Loose - Just hang loose for awhile.
 

I guess being a college teacher exposes me to language/slang from all age groups. I've discovered a trend and that is many people of all ages do not know how to properly compose written communication. I think texting with abbreviations might be one of the reasons.
 

Dime----Money----My Grandchildren went to the movies on my dime.
Narc----Someone who works for the DEA---The guy that busted my friend for drugs was a Narc.
Tapped Out----No money----I would like to buy you a beer, but I am tapped out.
Screwed----Getting a raw deal----My plumber roayally screwed me for fixing my toilet.
Heat----Police----The heat showed up and busted my friend at the party.
Fuzz----Police----The Fuzz gave me a ticket for speeding.
Bitchin'----Cool----Man, his '50 Merc is bitchin'.
Dog----Friend----Hey Dog, whazzup? (Ghetto slang)
Yo----Hello----Yo, Bill.
Tree Hugger----Someone who enjoys being in the woods----On weekends, the tree huggers from New York City come to PA to visit the state parks.
Ball Buster----Pretty girl that teases the guys----She's a real ball buster, that's for sure. (I hope no ladies here are offended. If so, I apologize.)
Dude----Guy----Hey Dude, whazzup?
Dang----Damn----The dang rope keeps coming untied.
Friggin'----we all know what that means----Man' it's really friggin' cold out!
Red A$$----Someone with a temper----My boss is a real red a$$ when it comes to people missing work.

I have a zillion more, but I hafta' go whiz. Check me out later.
 
I'm not too confused by slang, but don't use it myself very often.

Phat - cool, attractive, hot

Homey - friend, buddy

Diss - show disrespect

Peeps - friends, people

Sweet - cool

Fly - cool

Bad - good
 
Since I earn my living with words I guess I'm at least moderately tuned-in on the slang front. The problem is, slang is an ever-evolving thing - as soon as I get a handle on one set of words an entirely new set comes out.

Special interest groups always have their own slang as well, and keeping up with them is a full-time job.

My favorite slang is actually a language called nadsat, created for the movie A Clockwork Orange and is a mixture of old Cockney rhyming slang, Russian words and re-purposed English (British variety).
 
When I call my BIL up, the first thing I say is "hey, dude!". My wife get a kick out of it when I say......"Party Time". We will go to a local Entertainment Center (has bowling, Comedy Club, restaurant, video game area, sports bar and small nightclub w/band stage and dance floor) and as we pass the restaurant "greeters", I will look at them and say "the Senior's are here and ready to party!". They will smile, but also look a little shocked that an old person ("old" to them at their age) would say that.
 
ClassicRockr said:
When I call my BIL up, the first thing I say is "hey, dude!". My wife get a kick out of it when I say......"Party Time". We will go to a local Entertainment Center (has bowling, Comedy Club, restaurant, video game area, sports bar and small nightclub w/band stage and dance floor) and as we pass the restaurant "greeters", I will look at them and say "the Senior's are here and ready to party!". They will smile, but also look a little shocked that an old person ("old" to them at their age) would say that.
Click to expand...

Very few kids in my high schools used that term. I was kinda surprised when I read a very old book awhile back, and learned 'party' (as a verb, to mean 'drink, drug, & get stupid') was actually in use in inner-city slums long before I was even born.
 
Ina said:
I love the way language is put together, but sometimes slang just confuses me. What slang gets to you? Here are just a few of mine. I always wonder how they came about.

1. Souped - as in he souped up his truck.
2. Copped - He copped an attitude.
3. Ditched - He ditched me!
4. Flacky - She is too flacky.
5. Gig - I have a gig tonight.
6. Bananas - They went bananas.
7. Hang Loose - Just hang loose for awhile.
Click to expand...

Sometimes it confuses me, but more often than not it's just irritating- I hate what's become of the English language. Maybe because when I was a kid, not many people (kids or others) used slang. These days it's all over the place, and not limited to specific age groups: "Are you taking a vacay or a staycay?" "Game-changer!" "Moving forward" (or "moving ahead") "Going in" etc. One that got me awhile back: one person asked another: "Are you guys going out, or are you dating?" Curious, I looked around the web, and found many people arguing on what the terms meant, if they meant the same thing or not, etc. GAHHHH!!!
 
I can figure out most of the slang I hear on a daily basis but the texting abbreviations I don't understand. My daughter uses them all the time and I have looked up the meanings on the internet and have some written down. I can't even seem to remember them.
 
I might have mentioned this before, but it seems slang is replacing the English language. I was under the impression slang was a generational thing- kids come up with words/terms/expressions to set their generation apart from the older generations, but these days it's everywhere.

One example that really irritates me: referring to virtually everything, regardless of how it's meant, as 'shaming.' Yesterday I was reading a news article- a school principal who told girls to not wear leggings if they weren't skinny- and on the side of the article there were headlines for three more articles on three different subjects, all with this same theme. One was about a teacher who sent a note home to a parent, telling the mother to stop sending chocolate cake in with the child's lunch.

It seems to be overtaking another that irritates me- 'judging.'

Why can't people say 'criticize,' or some other appropriate term? :confused:
 
there's lots of slang words that irritate me...but one that's used a lot in the media to describe what a celebrity is wearing is to use the word 'rocking''.... Khloe Kardashian rocked a pair of levi's... Sharon Osborne 'rocked' an ankle length coat..etc...
 
Back in my day "hooking up" meant meeting up somewhere...."Let's take two cars and hook up at the park."

Now, I guess, "hooking up" involves sexual relations......as in "I wanted a long-term relationship, but he just wanted to hook up."

I have to be very careful using that term now to anyone under 60. Or, maybe not.....doesn't seem to be that big of a problem any more....sigh.
 
Don M. said:
There is an entire web site devoted to trying to keep up with the current use/misuse of the English language....

http://www.urbandictionary.com/
Click to expand...

Oh, I'm familiar with that site... seems any time I need to look up the 'modern' usage of a word, that's the site that comes up.
I'd happily do without it.

But sometimes even Googling doesn't bring up an answer- instead, bunches of people arguing. One that I saw a lot of disagreements on awhile back- what's the difference between 'dating' and 'going out'- and even younger people who created these dopey terms couldn't even agree on what they meant!
 
I understand most of it, I still have to google a new term every now and then.

Slang does not bother me when people are in an informal setting.

It does annoy me when I hear old folks, like me, using modern slang when talking to young folks or when it creeps into newspaper articles or television news broadcasts.
 
JaniceM said:
Oh, I'm familiar with that site... seems any time I need to look up the 'modern' usage of a word, that's the site that comes up.
I'd happily do without it.

But sometimes even Googling doesn't bring up an answer- instead, bunches of people arguing. One that I saw a lot of disagreements on awhile back- what's the difference between 'dating' and 'going out'- and even younger people who created these dopey terms couldn't even agree on what they meant!
Click to expand...

So IS there any difference between dating and going out? I don't think there was any back in the day when I was doing it.
 
Here is a bit of Aussie slang for you

Ive found some words mean different things to people who don't live in Australia ..no offence intended
its common to hear a man refer to a lady as a Sheila ...but it's also a females name


Barbie : barbecue (noun)
Barrack : to cheer on (football team etc.)
Bathers : swimming costume
Battler : someone working hard and only just making a living
Beaut, beauty : great, fantastic
Big Smoke : a big city, especially Sydney or Melbourne
Big-note oneself : brag, boast
Bikkie : biscuit (also "it cost big bikkies" - it was expensive)
Billabong : an oxbow lake cut off by a change in the watercourse. Billabongs are usually formed when the course of a creek or river changes, leaving the former branch with a dead end.
Billy : teapot. Container for boiling water.
Bingle : motor vehicle accident
Bities : biting insects
Bitzer : mongrel dog (bits of this and bits of that)
Bizzo : business ("mind your own bizzo")
Black Stump, beyond the : a long way away, the back of nowhere
Bloke : man, guy
Bloody : very (bloody hard yakka)
Bloody oath! : that's certainly true
Blow in the bag : have a breathalyser test
Blowie : blow fly
Bludger : lazy person, layabout, somebody who always relies on other people to do things or lend him things
Blue : fight ("he was having a blue with his wife")
Blue, make a : make a mistake
Bluey : pack, equipment, traffic ticket, redhead
Bluey : blue cattle dog (named after its subtle markings) which is an excellent working dog. Everyone's favourite all-Aussie dog.
Bluey : heavy wool or felt jacket worn by mining and construction workers.
Bluey : bluebottle jellyfish
Bodgy : of inferior quality
Bog in : commence eating, to attack food with enthusiasm
 

Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top