Tuesday, June 17, 2008

One of the symptoms of being tragically unhip is the inability to keep up with modern slang. New words and phrases enter my vocabulary long after even the late night comedians have given up on them.

For example, one day, a couple years ago, one of my coworkers used the word "jiggy" in conversation. The rest of us pounced on the usage and interrogated the coworker until he confessed he had no idea what it meant. And so a word was introduced into our lexicon.

To this day none of us have any idea what the word means, so we only use it when we're trying to express something vague or unknowable.

Boss: I need to know if the project is on schedule. How's it going?
Me: Uh, it's pretty jiggy.
Boss. I'll just mark down that you're 50% done.

Now I don't even want to know what it means.

The other day we had one of Daisy's friends, a 9 year-old, over for dinner. At one point somebody at the table corrected someone else. The 9 year-old shook her head.

"Oh, you got served!" she announced. It was, of course, the first of about 10 times that she recited that phrase, searing it into the slang-retention portion of our brains.

Bam! Another phrase in our life. We now trot it out when someone is proved wrong, someone gets mocked, or, most commonly, when someone actually gets served a meal. It has proven to be a worthy and surprisingly handy expression.

What's next on this list? Only time will tell. I can only hope it's as jiggy as "jiggy".

9 comments:

SiƓn said...

I hate new phrases like that. What's wrong with saying, "Oh dear, you've come out of that little tete a tete looking somewhat foolish"? That has much more style and grace.
And as we're on the subject, does anyone know the meaning of this word "pwned" that seems to cop up every now and again?

Mike said...

I don't think you'll convince many people in the U.S. to start saying "tete", but maybe you'll start a movement here. As for "pwned", there's a good definition here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PWNED

Avery Gray said...

Oh snap, that's a good one, Mike!

Sue said...

Mike I've got to give you your props for your truthiness. (did I say that right?)

;-)

Mike said...

Avery, snap accepted! Thanks!

Sue, props and truthiness! You have pulled off the rare double. Nicely played.

Pam said...

came by way of sue's...just wait, there's a whole other world of slang you haven't heard yet. then try telling your kids your 'old school' slang if you enjoy seeing nice quizzical looks on their faces. btw, i'm more of a fan of the word 'booyah' then 'you got served' LOL

Mike said...

Hi Ciara! Booyah is pretty good. It has flair.

Ms.PhD said...

The new one for me is 'slept on', which Urban Dictionary tells me means "overlooked." I saw it used on America's Best Dance Crew, where you might think they'd use the word jiggy more often.

Mike said...

Dancing is jiggy? I think you mean jiggly.