Slingin’ Slangy Acronyms…
Johnny-on-the-Spot … by John Foster …
After one of our family dinners in the garage during the warm, summer months., we were sitting around, sipping cold fluids, telling stories and laughing.
Some of the grandkids were trying to get Grandma familiar with modern day lingo.
They wanted her to say, “I got the dawg in me!”
She said, “I got the dog in me!”
“No!” they screamed, “I got the DAWG in me!”
Neav came back with a real heavy duty, “I GOT THE DAWG IN ME!” and we all howled.
Now that Geneva has the “dawg” in her, it simply means that’s she’s “mentally tough/able to perform in important situations.”
That’s why she’s survived to be a grandmother and married to me all these years.
When we were teens, we might have said, “We got our sh** together.”
That’s how “slang” works.
Slang is describing “a type of language that consists of words and phrases that are regarded as very informal, are more common in speech than writing, and typically, restricted to a particular context or group of people.”
For example, “A Karen” is a petty, middle-aged woman, rude and entitled.
“Cheugy” is “uncool, out-of-touch, or trying too hard to be trendy”.
But “slang” also applies to acronyms”, an abbreviation formed by the initial letters of other words and pronounced as a word.”
“YOLO”.
You Only Live Once.
“GOAT”
Greatest Of All Time
Military veterans have their own “slang/acronyms” and many have crept into non-military talk.
“SNAFU”
“FUBAR”
“SUSFU”
“BOHICA”
“FIGMO”
‘FIGMO” was often tied in with “SHORT” meaning you were close to shipping out or being discharged.
In the chow halls, we were served “SOS” which, when prepared properly ain’t a bad meal in this writer’s opinion.
“FARTSACK” was a sleeping bag or a flight suit and if you were “ATE UP”, you were a lifer or a career dude. You weren’t drafted.
If you’re familiar with these, great.
If not, check with me the next time we cross paths.
A lot of today’s slang and acronyms is pretty easy to figure out.
“IRL”
In Real Life.
“TBH”
To Be Honest.
“HANGRY”
Hungry and Angry
I’m fond of “TOOL” (stupid, obnoxious, rude) and “RIZZ” (charisma, charming or has game) and “TEA” (gossip situation, story, news).
“CRUNK”
Crazy Drunk
There’s also generational slang.
In the 1950’s, we sometimes got “ankle biters” when we played “back seat bingo” at the “passion pit”.
If someone ticked you off, he might get a “knuckle sandwich” which would be “far out” if it messed up your “threads”.
You might celebrate with a cold one after you used your “church key” to open the container.
In the 1960’s, it was “far out” to “dig” the loud music provided your “old lady” or ‘old man” didn’t ground you or take away the keys to your “wheels”.
If you were arrested for speeding, blame the “fuzz” which might get some folks “lip-flappin”.
In the era of the “Valley Girls”, things were “tubular”, “outa sight” ,”fer sure” and “gag me with a spoon” had nothing to do with eating.
Seems like we’ve always had “TIX” for tickets and “PIX” for pictures.
Today, WOKE” has nothing to do with sleep.
“A POP” is the per price cost of something but it was a soft drink when I was a kid.
Money is “CHEDDAR”, something good and cool is “GUCCI”, if it’s amazing or if it’s really cool, “LIT”.
“DOPE” used to be drugs but now it’s cool or awesome.
Today’s “SALTY” (bitter, agitated, angry) used to be more for something unique or different.
If you’re “PHAT, it has nothing to with a weight problem because it means great or superb.
But, it can also be used to describe one of the female-persuasion who has shapely curves.
“BUMMER” has remained fairly consistent over the years, meaning “disappointment or disagreeable.”
So, why do we have slang?
It probably has as much to do with speed and being “with it” as anything else.
Ninety-four percent of us use “slang” when we talk.
More than half of use use slang in most conversations.
A third of us use it to communicate quickly and about one-fourth of us use slang because we hear a lot of it
It can also help us “personalize” our speech.
“Slang” first appeared in print around 1800 and it applied to the speech of disreputable and criminal classes in London.
All I can say is “Groovy, Marsha.”