#387

I like words. I like clever phrasings (I underline them in the books I read). I like dialogue, dictionaries, lyrics, and jokes. I even like a few bad words, and the way good, smart, funny people use them for emphasis and humor. There are bad people though, and I don't like it when bad people use bad words. And there are some words I'll never use, but I'm not on any moral high horse; word selection involves choices and preferences like everything else, to which everyone is entitled, with the exception of things that cause hate and hurt. So anyway, fuck, I've lost my train of thought. That, actually, isn't the best use of an F-word in my opinion. It's just kind of flat there, and alone. But sometimes a good bad word is okay, even helpful. I think there's a movie where one character says to another, "I fucking love you." Now, depending on the giver and receiver of that statement, it's okay; it's all good; maybe it's even better because of that special... adverb? Is that an adverb? I'm not sure; I know it's been variously and enthusiastically used in all forms: noun, verb, adjective, adverb, modifier, qualifier, classifier, proper (it's been awhile since I took an English grammar class). I know that grandmas, in general, don't like F-words as much as comedians, athletes, and angry people. I don't use the F-word in front of kids, mine or any others. Again, no moral superiority, I just can't do it. M 'n' m will be adults soon, and then I wonder if I'll drop one on them once in a while. It may depend on how they use and respond to language; I'm inclined to match (within reason); I like to fit in; I'm a people-pleaser. No doubt M 'n' m will be fairly desensitized by popular culture and movies as they mature into adults. Of course, I agree there should be accepted rules for the use of bad words, especially around young people. Of course, I advocate respect, sensitivity, not being a classless, ignorant jerk, and so on.

I like words but I only know them fluently in English. There are 6909 living languages according to Google, although only 6% of those serve 94% of us on the globe. But 6% of 6909 is still about 415 languages. That's a lot of words and sounds, even if many of them mean the same things. But they don't always mean the same things. Dialects and slang exist (I'm not sure how they're accounted for in the numbers above). And multiple meanings and multiple uses exist. It's within these subcategories, I guess, that teens develop their own language. A kind of teen slang evolves for every generation or decade, roughly demarcated, and I've noticed for several years now when the kids – Megan, Michael, Sophie, Cole, their friends and teammates – use words curiously to me, in ways I consider new or unusual. Here are examples: Triggered, Roasted, Exposed, Savage, Same, Epic, Trash, Garbage, False, Lit, Shade (as in 'throwing shade') and so on; there are more. And I noticed some slang usages never die. The word 'like' is alive and well in teen lexicon, and I don't mean as introduced by Facebook. I'm talking about, like, how valley girls used it back in the '80s. Or was it surfers? Jeff Spicoli? Bill and Ted? I still say 'dude' and 'awesome' but I don't think M 'n' m do. 'Totally' hasn't, like, totally died, has it? Pretty sure Bitchin', Bad, Rad, Gnarly, Wicked, No Duh, and Not! aren't popular anymore. Been forever since I heard someone say they're gonna 'barf' because 'that's grody, dude.' Airhead, dork, dweeb, poser, spazz? I was called all of these things many times (30 years ago). Dude, quit bein' a spazz. Okay. But life was awesome back then, when people said 'take a chill pill' and 'skate or die.' I miss it. So when Michael or Cole say something is epic or savage or lit (some of these, by the way, are already uncool I think), I tell them, "Enjoy it, dudes, it's awesome, it's pretty rad being young, but it goes by fast."