Confusing title, huh? There was a time when I was in school/college when certain words and fake accents felt so cool. Seriously, parents were old fashioned and so was their lingo. What did they know about the latest trends and that inserting one word as an adjective just made us belong to a group of hip and happening. Yes, a good two decades later, I can’t help but suppress a smile at those memories.
Dude
Now though I watch with amusement as I come to terms with the vocabulary that is popular these days. For instance my elder son starts all his conversations with his friends with Dude. So it is, “Hi, Dude T!”
In response: “Dude S”
“Did you know what Dude P said to Dude L…”
“Ah Dude L is quite batty. The other day…”
Thus, the conversation proceeds with a number of other dudes finding a mention. With so many dudes in one class, their class surely must be the coolest one in the entire school methinks. Oh and just in case you were not in tune with the current times, the girls are dudes too. So that way, this generation is gender unbiased, it warms the heart. 🙂 Wish the abuses they used were unisex as well.
Epic
Now this word – epic had more of a usage as a noun — epic tales of the likes of Mahabharat and Ramayan or something really magnificent, of a grand stature. As an adjective it means something heroic or grand in scale.
But in today’s lingo which includes that of my younger son’s too – All good things are epic. Move on Awesome. You have found a replacement From epic movie to food to girls and boys, this convenient term is used for everything. I guess it means wonderful, great or some such thing. Of course, many adults also have taken on this usage. Come on, we are not far behind on the cool quotient even if youth has passed us by.
Like
Please don’t worry, I am not talking about Facebook likes, that has been explored in depth in this fun post already. This is about the word like that does not care about messing up sentence construction. I know I am uptight about these things but tell me what you would feel when someone narrates this conversation to you?
S: Ma, my friend was like: “When are you doing the project?”
I was like: “I should be getting it done in a day or two.”
He was like: “Dude S, you are so going to be late.”
I was like: “Come on, Dude P. It won’t be that bad.”
Phew!
This like inserted in conversations is again very tolerant of age groups. Maddeningly boys and girls of all age groups incessantly go on: I was like and then he was like, she was like and I was like. What the hell, guys? Like Seriously? I am telling you this like thing is really messing with my peace of mind. Such travesty of communication!
Then to add to their maddening language are the insanely fake accents. They are not American, British or Australian or anything else that I recognize. So, I don’t know what they are and how were they acquired. I know one thing that they are certainly aspirational or make certain kids look cool because they must have studied in a phoren land which is still considered a coveted place to be in. Well, what can I say? I even asked a teen whom I knew well exactly what kind of accent was his. I knew for sure that he has never lived/studied in any foreign country to pick it up. And he said that he doesn’t know and doesn’t care, as long as it makes him sound cool!
Dude, I am like this is so not epic behavior!
Do you have any such interesting tales of today’s lingo to share with me?
So true.. so many dudes around us, I am like with all the dudes around where have all the men gone ?
Hehe Indeed there are only girls and guys and all are dudes. No men and women left anymore?
“Dude” is probably the most versatile word today, Rachna. For instance, if my friend stares down a cliff, he will simply say “Duuuuude” to indicate how deep it is. And if I’m playing with a stray puppy and its mom is around, he will catch my attention with “Dude, dude, dude, dude.” No words spoken. The word can expression disappointment, happiness, frustration, relief and much more 🙂
‘Like’ ka jhol even I agree with… especially when like, guys use it *ends in a sing-song tune like American boys*
Menspeak I tell you! 🙂
Hahaha! This is like so funny. I mean like, you have like, mentioned like, everything that needs to be like mentioned.
Alright, I’ll stop now. It is truly and deeply maddening. 😐 And while dude is oh-so cool, so is bro, man, bitch please, and ‘be like’. But yes, Like, is by far the most annoying and most frequently used. 😀
Yes, all those equally annoying words. The language puts you off even before you’ve actually begun to know the dude. 😉
This is like an epic post Rachna dude :-). We’re just getting there in this territory. The other day we were doing some crafting with the kids and in saunters the coolest boy, takes one look at us and says ‘maaan I suck at craft but I rock at art’. And I mentally added two more adjectives to my ever increasing vocabulary.
Hehe Brace yourself for a flood of this stuff.
Dude, this is like totally epic, like this post, I mean 😉
Yeah, we must catch up with them or they’ll leave us far behind, eh Rachna?
I don’t know how to catch up, Shy. I just smile when I hear this. Luckily the son speaks normally with me. Last evening we were calling each other Dude mom, dude son, dude son 2. Fun. 🙂
Hahaahaha!!! That was a fun post. The lingo keeps changing, with every generation adding it’s own elements 😛
True, Nibha. And keeps becoming more annoying. 🙂
Most of it is because of the tendency to appear ‘cool’ and social media is playing its part in it.
I too wrote something along the same lines here:
https://singhalalok.wordpress.com/2015/07/25/conversations-of-a-different-kind/
Yes, and we all know how that becomes an all-pervasive need. 🙂 Will read your post.
Hahaha- my teenager son uses ALL of these too – aaaall the time… Isn’t it funny how the “teenage language” can be the same all across the world… Guess the internet makes it a smaller world huh? That’s like so epic, dude:-) I so enjoyed this read Rachna:-)
Yes, it’s truly global, Eli. 🙂 Glad you liked the read, Dude. 😉
hahaha!! 😀
God! It sounds like some parts of my vocabulary hasn’t grown up! 😛
I still use – Dude and Like at times!! LOL
Another important word – whatever – is word conveys a wide range of emotions depending on how its used! 😀
Yes, whatever is quite a convenient word, no? 😀
What a lighthearted post like you have really observed and written like awesome 😀 oh no..like epic 🙂
hehe Wait till your little one grows up. 😉
Liked this post a lot! ‘Accent’ in English language is famous, esp. girls use it more than boys! I became familiar about ‘awesome’ word, a few years back. People esp. actors use ‘and’ in between words unnecessarily while talking in Hindi or Tamil!
Oh yes,how today’s teens speak our languages is even more hilarious. Glad you liked the post, Sandhya.
The most amusing thing is people use these hip words without knowing the context. My funny tales are ones when Alok imitates someone. It’s so not like him and he is terrible at it.
hehe I can imagine. Exactly, kids do it more to stay with the times than actually understanding the words.
Oh no, it’s not. Just coool. Chill mar, dude 😉
hehe Yes, dude.
Hey dude, Rachna I am looving this super cool stuff. Killer post. I am smiling as I hark back to college days when we were using dudes and babes a lot:) I still use, dude.
I guess, I use dude too sometimes but not the way these kids too. 🙂 Thanks for dropping by, Vishal.
As you probably have seen, I’m stuck with ‘Awesome’! So 1990s, man!! 😛
I missed so many of your posts!! Yikes! Visiting some of your old ones now!
Oh Yea! My elder one uses these all the time….It was so funny when I heard my little one, all of 5, calling someone dude!! We had our own set of lingo…and that would be so uncool now!!
Hilarious isn’t it? These tiny tots imitating the older ones. Oh yes, that lingo is so not cool now. Thanks for dropping by, Shubhangi.
I am 33 and I use this lingo as well at times!! :0
Wait for the F word to come in. All the best with that!!!
Oh they are very familiar with the f word and know never to use it in front of parents. 🙂
Hahaha, I agree with you. It’s funny how an entire generation picks up a lingo that sounds alien or novel to many of us. I don’t think I have ever used the word ‘dude’ and I am not sure if I ever will. Guess I am a bit too old even for my own generation 😐
Really enjoyed reading the post, Rachna!
You are the smart cookie, Arti. Like you, I was wary of such language too.
An epic post 🙂 I am like – this is so happening, dude!
But seriously I know what you mean by language changing in interesting ways. Some of a useful evolving kind, some that are more of a slang kind. Time will keep the necessary ones while the redundant ones will fade away.
hehe Beloo. Yes, slang, they are something else.
Dude…tell me one thing like what do I use in place of like? Seriously, now I use the word like more than any thing else. MY son uses ‘stuff’, ‘things’. I am like, what things? what stuff? Haven’t heard of epic a lot with him but he uses ‘Dude’. Chill, Rachna…chill 😀 looks like my last blog comment of the year. 🙂