I swore I wouldn’t become my mother, not that there is anything wrong with that. But I swore that when I had kids, I would be cool. Well, that didn’t exactly pan out. Somehow I became the uncool mom that I thought my mom was back when I was in high school. The funny thing is, I don’t care like I thought I would.
Now when I think about it, if I were to act like my teenage kid, I would be embarrassed. If you have teenagers my advice to you is, don’t go around saying things like “Oh man, that’s so dope,” because you will just look stupid.
However, here is a list of some of today’s phrases or words used by teens so you can understand what they are saying.
1. “Sick” — Apparently when something is “sick” it is a good thing. The phrase “That boat is sick” doesn’t mean something is wrong with it, it means it’s cool.
2. “Dope” — Another odd way of saying something is cool. “Oh man, you’re so dope” is a compliment and not a reference to someone who uses drugs.
3. “Swag” — Personally I kind of like this word. “You’ve got swag” means you’ve got style, you’ve got it goin’ on, and you fit in. I tried to tell my daughter when she asked me how she looked that she had swag but she said “Mom – no, just don’t say that.”
4. “Fly” — I could swear that was a word we used back in my day. Remember the “Fly Girls?” They were cool. Today it means the same thing, but according to my kids, someone my age shouldn’t say fly unless we see a bug on the wall.
5. “Tight” — Yes, another recognizable word, still meaning close. Good friends might say “We’re tight.” I guess it also means cool, as in “That trick you did was tight.”
6. “Ballin’” — Stupid word in my opinion. I would say they have enough words referring to looking good or cool. This is another one to add to the list.
7. “Teach me how to Dougie” — Teach you what? Don’t worry, it isn’t some strange new math, it’s just a dance. We had Hammer Time, my parents did The Hustle and my kids want to Dougie.
8. “Tool” — This is a reference for boys only and it’s not a compliment. A tool, I’m told, is someone who is a jerk, someone who thinks they are cooler than everyone else and (this I don’t understand) shows off their abs to everybody even if they don’t have abs worth showing.
9. “Photo Bomb” — When someone ambushes your picture they photo bombed it.
10. “Sketchy” — Another word I insist I could get away with using, but my kids beg me not to use it. This means it’s something rough looking, not safe, crazy, or not a smart thing to do. “That ramp looks sketchy.”
So there you have it — maybe not a top-10, but certainly 10 things you will hear around the high schools in northern Michigan these days.
