Imagine being in the ‘80s and calling something rad, or being in the ‘60s and saying groovy to practically everything.
As someone who enjoys reading, I believe older slang should be brought back.
What is slang? Slang is an informal way of conversation that comes and goes; for instance, what we say may not always go to the future generations.
Though, it depends entirely on the person and their lifestyle. In fact, the chameleon effect says that people mimic others’ actions subconsciously. Meaning someone who uses ‘bummer’ might have parents who say it. Or they may have picked the word up from a friend.
Though, some people don’t always see eye to eye. Some people may even find slang to be redundant and irrelevant, while others may find it’s a given, and needed to suit their everyday lives. Neither are right or wrong, it all just depends on how you like to speak to others and how others like to speak with you.
“I like slang, because sometimes I can laugh and it makes me smile. Also it’s easier to get my point across and understand people,” explained CHS freshmen Shane Henry.
However, no matter what people’s opinions are, it would be a lie to say that slang has not evolved. In fact, without even realizing it, you too may use slang quite often in your everyday lives, and it is said that 94% of Americans use slang or what was even considered slang in the past, but now is a word used in our everyday lives. So what are common slang words or phrases? ‘A buck’, meaning dollar. ‘What’s up?’ asking how you are feeling. ‘Ghosted’, meaning ignoring; or even ‘salty’ meaning angry.
“A common slang word I used is sucks,” says freshmen Emily Peterson.
Old slang comes in various forms, and to past generations they have considered these words the ‘bees knees’, but to the generations now, older slang may come off as bizarre or confusing. For example, each generation creates some creative type of slang. Now it’s common to hear ‘drip’, ‘sus’, ‘bussin’, or ‘boujee’, and more. Whereas, in the past slang words were knuckle sandwich (a punch), gigglemug (often smiling), geezer (someone older), gnarly (extreme), and even eat my shorts (a way of reacting to something offensive someone says, a way of saying be quiet). However, when asking someone an older slang word, such as bazoo, one might think you were referring to some sort of kazoo, or confusion. When in reality bazoo is referring to a mouth.
Slang is such a unique feature to languages around the world, and can be fun for all who speak it. Always keep in mind, though, that some people may not understand what your saying and need a deeper explanation.
