ADOLESCENT LANGUAGE

[heather at wfc.com.tw]

Hello,

Many words go from bad to good: It might sound out dated but Michael
Jackson sang a line 'Who's Bad?' This is still used today. As in 'He's
bad.' Meaning very impressive, admirable.

"License to Ill" album title by the Beastie Boys. They meant not 'permitted
to make sick.' 'Ill' here means very good. This is still used today.
"That's Ill" meaning, that's impressive.

"Bithchin." Very good.
"That's gnarly." That's such an impressive trick or move, as in skating or
surfing.
"That's killer!" I'm so glad to hear that!
"It blew my mind." It really made me think about things differently.

"Dope, yo." Very good.
"She's fly." She's very pretty.
"That's the shit." That's a great thing.
"He's bad ass". He's very tough, 'cool.'
"You kick ass." You're the best.
"That's da Bomb!" That's the best thing.


A simple word like 'postal' went a different route recently:
"Go Postal." (also 'went postal') I cannot be sure if this had anything but
a benign meaning before it began to connote someone who has started to
become randomly violent- as in the case of a few US postal workers.

I hope this helps! I bet there's alot of stuff on the internet, but it'd be
difficult to sift through.









a.karmiloff-smith at ich.ucl.ac.uk (Annette Karmiloff-Smith) on 08/11/99
07:38:16 PM

To:   info-childes at childes.psy.cmu.edu
cc:    (bcc: HEATHER/ALE)
Subject:  ADOLESCENT LANGUAGE




In many languages there are examples of the way adolescents in particular
change the meanings of words. e.g. in British English "wicked" now means
"something terrific" i.e. it went from negative to positive connotation..
Could people kindly send me any examples they have of American English or
other languages where words have taken on new connotations.  Also any
examples of changing grammar like "between you and I" (but not "between you
and he") which is becoming grammatized even amongst well-educated speakers.
I've heard people self correct from "between you and m..you and I".
many thanks
Annette
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Professor Annette Karmiloff-Smith
Head, Neurocognitive Development Unit
Institute of Child Health
30 Guilford Street,
London WC1H
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~