THE PLANK JULY 29, 2009
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When I saw this USAT piece about a new dictionary of popular college slang, I immediately had a disturbing mental picture of hopelessly out-of-touch Gen-Exers, Boomers, etc...furiously flipping through the pages trying to figure out how to sound hip again--or at least have a conversation with their kids.
But this was fast followed by a vastly more entertaining image: Michael Steele distributing copies to members of his youth-obsessed party as part of the push to help his peeps prove their "off the hook"-ness.
Seriously. I cannot wait to see Mitt Romney doing the awkward turtle on "MTP."
--Michelle Cottle
5 comments
Good Lord, didn't DARPA invent urbandictionary.com for the specific purpose of sparing the American people from clueless and immediately outdated "slang" dictionaries? And what demographic group in America still needs a dictionary to explain terms like "booty call" or "beer goggles?" Elderly nuns? Unfrozen cavemen? Stranded time travelers?
- ratnerstar
July 29, 2009 at 3:22pm
As a current college student, allow me to speak with some authority on the issue.
For one thing, ratnerstar is correct that urbandictionary is a great resource -- one which I consult frequently. The real problem is that people who should NOT be using this kind of slang are so keen to try it out. The only thing worse than a parent who doesn't have Facebook is one who DOES. Please don't try to hang onto your youth artificially, folks. Take it from a 20-year-old: being 53 and accepting it is much "cooler" than being 53 but trying to be 23.
- rozenson
July 29, 2009 at 4:03pm
Well, one thing Michael Steele's "youth obsessed party" could do is stop with the constant references to, and worship of Ronald Reagan. The Ronald Reagan whose 1960s predictions on th threat of Medicare are still "fresh" in the opinion of GOP operatives. The Ronald Reagan who left the national stage before youngin's like Rozenson were born. The GOP is frozen in the 1980's. To them it's still Laffer curves and "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down that Wall"
- dubyadoubte
July 29, 2009 at 4:46pm
Michelle: don't you remember Mitt 'singing' "Who Let the Dogs Out?" while looking extremely uncomfortable standing next to black people?
rozenson: that'll be just about enough out of you, young man...unless you want to be GROUNDED!
- porkido
July 29, 2009 at 9:22pm
"Walk of shame" and "fro-yo" need to be singled out for interpretation? Really? I'm a generation older than today's college-aged crowd and these were in common parlance in my own college days.
And yeah, I'm with ratnerstar: "beer goggles" is practically Shakespearean by now.
- frippo
July 30, 2009 at 4:09pm