LIKE, TOTES AMAZEBALLS, PEEPS.
It is official. I am extraordinarily uncool.
I suspected it all along, but there was a recent incident that cemented me into Dorksville. Population…ME!
Or are there more of us out there?
My oldest son thinks he is very cool. (Hey! We don’t know where he got it from either.) He walked into the kitchen after footy the other day, looked at me, and jerked his nose skywards before opening the fridge. I asked him what that meant.
“Sup.” He replied.
What does that mean?
“Wassup.” He informed me.
And what does THAT mean?
“What’s up?”
Please elaborate?
“What are you up to Mum?”
Ah! Phew. A full sentence from a lad whose communication has recently shifted from a wide and impressive vocabulary to grunts, head and hand movements.
To keep up with his latest vernacular, I have had to re-educate myself on this new generation of users of the English Language.
So, I have written a guide. If you have kids in your life, you may find my guide useful. Ditto if you ever need to visit the Apple Store, JB Hi-Fi or any other technology outlet that is staffed by young folk.
Now, I wonder whether I have given myself enough credit here – after all, I do know who Jason Bieber is, and I am well aware that if you mix vodka and energy drinks, you will be up for days (if your heart does not stop in its tracks).
Jason Bieber. Mrs Woog has totes heard of him.
However, the fact that I used the phrase “young folk” in the last paragraph leaves me to believe I already have one hand on the zimmer frame. But I refuse to go quietly into the aged care facility, so to prevent this from happening I need to become bi-lingual.
So, grab your guarana and let us begin!
These brave new words include, but are not limited to, the following;
- Vacay – holiday. To take a break.
- Adorbs – adorable. Something that pleases you.
- Totes – totally. Extremely committed.
- Peeps – people. Fellow citizens of the earth.
- Ridic – ridiculous. Something that makes no sense.
- Cray-Cray – crazy. Taken leave of one’s senses.
- Cray – also crazy. Because you cannot be bothered to repeat yourself.
- Obvs – obviously. Der.
- Def – definitely. Not hard of hearing, but 100% affirmative.
- Deets – details. One’s means of contacting you.
- Awks – Awkward. Meaning to feel slightly uncomfortable about something.
- Nom Nom Nom – delicious. Pleasing to one’s palate.
- Amazeballs – rapturous. Really, very excellent.
- Awesomesauce – an extremely tasty condiment.
- Stabby – to pierce with a sharp instrument. Excessively unhappy.
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36 Responses to this article
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B.H. September 18, 2012
I swear I have been using ‘awesomesauce’ for YEARS! Does this mean I was cool before my time?
I am lucky if my 15 year old son grunts at me let alone puts together a coherent sentence. I did overhear him trying to explain ‘Sup’ to his grandfather the other day. That was def totes amusing.
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Elisha September 19, 2012
yes, yes it does!
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gogirl September 18, 2012
I’d swear it’s Justin Bieber
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Jess September 19, 2012
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engineerMum September 19, 2012
Call me cray cray but it’s JUSTIN Bieber isn’t it? Love your work. Tots solid
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Elisha September 19, 2012
I am only 23 and feel uncool and out of the loop on the new lingo! Sometimes i have to ask my youngest sister of 17 what some of the acronym’s are and what they mean from Facebook!
p.s. Jason Bieber! Love it!
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MadamBipolar September 19, 2012
Oh no! I use some of these. Tragic at my age, 38. Or should I say trag.
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annie September 19, 2012
it’s the “likes” dotted like confetti throughout sentences when they are not similes or metaphors. e.g. This like new language makes me a bit like grumpy.
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Mrs Woog September 19, 2012
Oh yes, like, I know, like, what you mean, like. xx
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Sarah September 19, 2012
me thinks Mrs Woog is being a little tongue in cheek with the ‘Jason Bieber’ reference. Love it – now can eavesdrop on young ones and make some sense of what they are saying.
Anyone remember the Comedy Company and the character ‘Kylie Mole’ – comic genius – copying the language of the then youth (of which I was one at the time
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Scandi Coast Home September 20, 2012
‘she goes, she goes, she just goes……’
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Josefa September 19, 2012
another amazeballs article! thanks Mrs Woog
cheeky indeed
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Kristina Croxford September 19, 2012
I like to throw in the occasional “totes” during my lessons (36yo highschool home ec teacher here) but was reliably informed by one of my very cool year twelves that “totes” wasn’t cool anymore. Was she tricking me??
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Alix September 19, 2012
Yes, I have 3 live-in educators in this field so I am like, totes up there on the rad speak. Much fun to be had using the lingo within ear shot of your offspring. Oldest is 12, so I figure I have another year to get really proficient at being thoroughly embarrassing.
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Mel September 19, 2012
My 13yr son does the nose jerk greeting, i tease him by calling it the booger hello.
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Rachel from Redcliffe Style September 19, 2012
I didn’t know any of these. The only one I know and use ALL THE TIME to shit off any teenagers nearby is YOLO. Meaning, You Only Live Once. I think this was only fashionable for a week about 6 months ago but I am hanging onto it.
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Emily September 19, 2012
I am uber uncool, it would seem. Love this. Thanks for the morning giggles!
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Kate September 19, 2012
Things were so much easier when we merely packed death in case we were thought uncool, and the girls we didn’t like were deadset moles. Ane now another iteration of the “English” language. I guess it’s time to give up being fully sick to be amazeballs. Wonder if I can convince the kids?
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Jen September 19, 2012
I’ve been watching Big Brother so I’m up with all the young folk speak.
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sam September 19, 2012
Is it only me or is anyone esle out there totes terrified of the apple stote and JB HiFi?
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Mrs Woog September 19, 2012
TOTES!
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river September 19, 2012
I love JB HiFi It’s where I buy most of my dvds and I’m 60.
Can anyone explain “woot” to me?
What the heck does it mean?
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Marnie September 19, 2012
Way to Go Alix! It is great fun to make yourself embarrassing to the kids as a parent copying their language. I have discovered though that copying them as a grandmother is VERY COOL. The kids love it. …. just wish I could remember the new words correctly.
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Harriet September 19, 2012
Nah, it’s Justin Beaver.
(Funnily enough, all those Young Folk words are words my positively ancient friends have used for EVAH. Like totes. And hey, who on earth do those kiddies think invented the interwebs??? Answer is THEIR PARENTS!)
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MichelleP September 19, 2012
I am so embarrassed…the other day someone replied to a tweet of mine with ‘ridic’ and I thought they must have hit enter before finishing so i ‘cleverly’ replied ‘-ulous’… Didnt occur to me that ridic was the new ridiculous!!!
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Reannon September 19, 2012
My eldest is 12 & really hates those words- especially “totes”& “cray-cray” -so I decided I would use them just to annoy him. I will have whole converstaions where I drop in words from your list & he looses his mind! It humours me no end.
The one saying I CANNOT stand is “YEH BOI”- who started that?! I have banned it from my house & my boys know that if they utter that phrase I will ” totes lose my shiz & go cray-cray” -
Pauline September 19, 2012
Darn you Mrs Woog, I was looking forward to a post on totes, like real ones!
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RobynMarie September 19, 2012
I heard one of the regular announcers on 702 say exxie once. I think she meant expensive – that sort of fitted. Channeling my Nanna I thought ‘what’s the world coming to when they talk like that on the abc!’ Mind you I’ve never heard it since so maybe someone like my Nanna complained. Seriously though, I think we need to maintain some standards.
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Lisa September 19, 2012
Great article, anyone with a teenager will know you’ll never get the definition to these words from our kids because then we would be able to understand what they’re talking about and they wouldn’t want that, not cool.
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Kathy September 19, 2012
DEVO that this is not a handbag offer as was hoping to pretend that I was fashionable and wealthy as well as a jargon wannabee.
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anna September 19, 2012
this is a totes funny article..YOLO..
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Seana Smith September 19, 2012
I am sticking to ‘simply marvellous’ and other adult superlatives. My teens use this sort of language, it’s quite a relief that they grunt more than talk these days really.
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Margot September 23, 2012
My 15 y o and his friends were discussing what they call their parents. The usual “mum”, “dad” or their first name was duly noted. I apparently won cool points when he said “my mum and I call each other c**t (That word from the bad-taste Alf Stewart parody videos and yes we do call each other that – in jest).
