Do you speak teen?
Most parents don’t understand a lot of what teenagers are saying, so here a language expert decodes some of the more popular and perplexing teenage slang terms. By LISA SALMON
AIRPORT
by Jonny Marx, Little Tiger, £11.99 THIS colourful, chunky book tells little ones all they need to know about the place where holidays start... the airport.
The fun guide is packed with illustrations by Cinta Villalobos and every page features plenty of flaps to lift and facts to read.
There’s a paper plane to look for on each page too as you follow a jet-setting family on their journey from the check-in through to the arrival gate (featuring plenty more things to spot).
A trip on a plane can be quite daunting, but reading this book should go a long way to reassure first-time flyers as they learn about what to expect on their journey.
THE PANINIS OF POMPEII
by Andy Stanton, Egmont, £6.99 WHILE this story and Andy Stanton’s writing style may be a bit silly for most adult readers, it is likely to be a massive hit with its target audience.
Like Stanton’s Mr Gum series of stories, The Paninis Of Pompeii is aimed at seven to 12-year-olds, but was a huge hit with my six-year-old who giggled his way through the book when we read it together.
When I asked him what he thought of the first few chapters, his eyes lit up and he chuckled as he said: “It was lots of fun.” He wanted to read it every night and we soon finished all 148 pages.
The silly stories and frequent ‘wind’ references seem to appeal to young readers and anything which gets children to enjoy reading can only be a good thing.
IF YOU have teenage children, chances are they litter their speech with ever-evolving words and phrases you just don’t understand. And then there are the acronyms teenagers use to seemingly speak in code.
But while it may be perplexing for mums and dads, young people attaching their own meaning to words is nothing new.
“Slang is, by definition, just informal language,” says Jennifer Dorman, from the language app Babbel (babbel.com).
“Adolescents are generally the primary drivers of language change – they’re more daring and creative with regards to language, and they innovate much more than speakers in other age brackets.”
Jennifer explains that such language creativity is part of a teenager’s cognitive development, which sees them asserting their independence from their family and forging strong social connections with peers. So when a teenager uses a slang term in the correct context, it shows their affiliation with a specific group, or even a gang.
“Peppering their everyday speech with slang terms known primarily or exclusively within the peer group helps to solidify the new social bonds,” says Jennifer.
But if you’re not part of the gang and are ‘just’ a parent, you may need help translating teen-speak, so here Jennifer explains some of the most popular teen slang:
Today’s teen will use the POS abbreviation to signal that a parent is near and can see what’s being typed on a device. Other abbreviations include PWOS (parents watching over shoulder) and PWOMS (parents watching over my shoulder). The easiest way to understand this term is to think of the sound a car makes as it’s driving away at high speed, with its wheels screeching. It’s pronounced similarly to ‘skirt’, but usually in a high-pitched tone, and was first popularised in rap songs, to convey the rapper trying to get away from something. This term is another attempt by teens to deceive their parents, and was originally used to refer to a fake Instagram account, which would be used for posts you don’t want your parents or wider family, to see. The meaning has since grown to include any secondary or fake thing, like a second Twitter account, or a secret phone. Spotted by the New York Times almost a year ago, this one has since made its way across the pond.
It’s frequently used when speaking about celebrities who’re Communication breakdown: considered no longer relevant, or have said or done something unacceptable, but it can also refer to other things – from a fashion trend through to an emotion.
It’s thought the term is a direct result of ‘subscription culture’, where anything can be cancelled at the click of a button. This is an example of text slang, which typically refers to a message that’s been seen, but not responded to. You might be surprised by how many text abbreviations there are,