Monday, February 23, 2009

Putting the heat on "cool"...

I remember growing up and thinking my dad was so old, especially when he would utter two specific words: far out!

Seriously dad, no one says that anymore. You're supposed to say "cool."

But how many words or phrases, past and present, do we have that mean the same thing - good?

...awesome, neato, gnarly, far out, cool, bad (as in good), the bees knees, sweet, tubular, groovy, rad, funky, hip, wicked, excellent, sick, insane, fabulous, sharp, the cat's pajamas, solid, krunk...

the list goes on and on.

And then add in the overused totally, like, and ass and you've got some phrases that will blow your socks off.

But cool is definitely the standard. Every generation has used cool with their own inflections and feelings to the point that it's not really used for its original purpose anymore. (Except by my mother who is insisting, "It's getting cool out, y'all should come over for some chili!")

And now with the addition of l33t speak and texting culture, kids are even more lazy in the choice of their phrases. Instead of the standard ohmygod, ohmygosh, or ohgollygee - they are lazily rolling oh-em-gee! off their tongues. And the more they fall into the texting fad, the further they fall behind in typing, spelling, and for-God-sake grammar -

wut r u up 2?
not 2 much, wutr u doin?
nm. hear bout kc w/ tj?
omg, srsly?!
kc sucha ho.
fo sho.
k, gone 2 wrk. c u l8er?
kewl. ttyl.

Whatever happened to "Hey, how is your day? What's up?" Does it really take that much longer to type out?

Maybe I am just getting old and, therefore, cynical about the younger generation - just as every generation before me has done. Next thing you know I'll be starting my rants with "Well in my day..." and regaling my kids with stories about how gas was once less than a dollar, people were nice to each other, and there was no such thing as cell phones.

Note to Self: And then I'll scream "GET OFF MY LAWN!"

8 comments:

Gladys said...

OMG. ROLF. !!! :)

Gladys said...

Oh Wait that should have been ROFL. Not rolling on laughing floor. Oh gosh I just don't think I'm going to get this new English down in time to be really RAD and Far Out. Well I guess I'll be making like a cow turd and hitting the trail. I mean Elvis has left the building. So keep on trucking!

Y of F said...

oh emm gee!

idk, my bff jill?

Texting has DESTROYED the english language as we know it. and literacy. add literacy to the mix.

Danielle said...

I try not to text with l33t speak... I actually use proper English grammar, and it drives some of my friends nuts. I don't care. And when I was young? I had to walk to school, through three-foot-deep snow!

Anonymous said...

I text my kids using proper spelling and grammar and they try to do the same when texting me. But, I know they aren't as careful when texting their friends. I just hope it doesn't start reflecting in their school papers.

colbymarshall said...

I personally prefer the shorter OMG myself.

Anonymous said...

Hi MJ,

Could be worse. Instead of the lawn thing I scream at passing cars, "Get off my road!" Which makes sense historically as my wife's family built the original road by our house back when the area was first settled. Not that any of the drivers ever hear me over their blaring music or their cell phones.

the Grit

Anonymous said...

I hate texting. But then again, phones have such horribly cramped little keypads that kids were bound to start doing it. We almost just need to create a new language for it. Personally, I'd rather see little folding full-size keyboards that can attach to your phone so you could type like you would on your computer. But I doubt that will happen. They already had them when smart phones first came out but I don't see them so much anymore. I sold mine on e-bay.