Shirley Curran
Have you really listened to a group of teenagers talking about what they are listening to on their Ipods, or slanging one of their peers? Are you as confused as I am about what they are saying?
Lucy van Amerongen, a Cheltenham Ladies’ College student has, at the age of thirteen, had her first book published and it’s ‘rago’ (OK). The A to Z of Teen Talk is published by Ravette, in Sussex and was a Christmas hit last year.
It explains, for example, why the teens use ‘book’ for what would have been defined as ‘cool’ five years ago. It is the first word to appear in predictive text if you type the letters COOL into your mobile. Of course, if, like me, you find predictive text infuriating and turn it off, you would never have spotted that.
There is a hitch that Lucy has understood. By the time we ‘mouldies’ have mastered this teen vocabulary, it will have moved on.
The Macquarie dictionary recognises this eternal growth and change in the language. Their website invites you to vote for the dictionary word of 2007. My favourite is ‘man flu’ – a minor cold contracted by a man who proceeds to exaggerate the symptoms enormously.
GenevaLunch, 28 January 2008.
Filed under: Non-fiction
Tags: Education, Media, Society
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