Say What?

September Writing Challenge - Prompt #16:

Words

Sometimes I get so annoyed with modern-day vernacular. When I listen to my kids talk, I can't help but wonder if I used to sound like that to my parents. The first words I remember hearing out of my kids' mouths that made me go, "What the heck is happening here?" were things like “cray,” "sus," "gyatt," and "cringe."

I didn't think "gyatt" was a real thing. When Daisy threw that out one day at twelve years old, I responded with, "What are you even saying? That's not a word!" I thought someone at school just made it up and convinced her to say it.

Now it's "buns" this, "peak" that," and "lowkey" everything. It's amazing how unintelligent it all sounds to my elderly ears, but I have to acknowledge all the things that sound normal to me that were actually slang from my growing years. Here are some words and phrases that I thought of that have become popular/common during my lifetime. Some are no longer used but others are still going strong:

The naughty words: pissed, sucks, and blows. 

The filler words: totally, honestly, legit, literally, and like. 

Examples: "I totally/honestly/legit/literally got lost in the mall. Like, I'm not even kidding!"

Nowadays this is where the kids say "low key." See? "I low-key got lost in the mall. I'm low-key not even kidding!"

Words that have changed meaning: gay, queer, bad, and sick.

I used to go around in elementary school calling people queer. To me, it meant peculiar. When people started telling me otherwise, I tried to single-handedly prevent the word from adapting. It turns out, I have no such power (though I still try to this day to control what words mean). 

Just the other day, it dawned on me that if I were to mention "having beef" with someone in front of my grandparents, they would probably think I was going to Burger King with a friend. 

Exclamatory phrases: "My bad!" "Oh, snap!" 

Remember "booyah, “as if,” and "moded?" (may they rest in peace). 

And let us not forget how many of us ran around saying "Cowabunga!" and "Eat my shorts!"

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Someday my kids will have to listen to their kids' weird words and that'll low key be da bomb. Fo shizzle.