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Teen Speak 2016
An article in the Sunday Times Magazine of 29.10.2016
gives examples of the jargon of teenagers in 2016.
Three highlighted examples give a flavour of the article:
I'm so selfiegenic
(I look great in selfies)
Srsly tho, I LTIP
(seriously though, I laughed till I puked)
Her look is on fleek! She is like NARP
(She looks so good! It's as if she's not a real person)
The utterances reflect teenage culture in the modern world, with abbreviations to make texting quicker, references to modern technology, clothing and fashion, personal relationships etc.
Linguistically they fall into several common categories:
ONOMATOPOEA
eg zing! - interjection to highlight your sarcastic or witty remark
ACRONYM
eg YOLO - you only live once; SMH - shaking my head to emphasise a particularly stupid remark; STFU - Shut the f*** up
TECH / INTERNET-RELATED
eg YouTube degree - self-certified qualification based on watching lots of online clips; iHog - someone controlling party music by imposing their own ipod music
PORTMANTEAU / BLENDS
eg wi-five - a high five greeting while texting; sexiled - kicked out from your room when your room mate is having sex; talkward - a feeling of awkwardness and having nothing to say to each other; hiberdating - stopping socialising to spend all your time with new partner
RHYME
Tramp stamp - derogatory term for a tattoo on a girl's lower back.
ABBREVIATION
Bellidge - a state of confrontational drunkenness, contraction of beligerent; bov - contraction of "can't be bovvered" |
* Listen to current slang and jargon and make notes of what you hear.
* Does what you hear fit into any of the categories above?
* Does what you hear fit into other linguistic types?
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