Slang is big, no woofin'

The changing language of American teens not only differs from coast to coast, but from campus to campus.

Semanticists would find a wealth of data to classify and examine if they spent merely a few days in local high schools.

From hecka to hella to hellof, the differing slang of local teens is not only confusing to understand but difficult to keep up with.

For instance, Thomas Slattery, a senior at Terra Nova High School, said the term "treat” is commonly used and in a variety of ways. It is used as a noun to describe a person, but can be either positive or negative depending on the tone and context in which it is said. When referring to a female, it can be a way of describing her as extremely attractive or sarcastically as the direct opposite. With males, being a "treat” is generally recognized as only a demeaning label.

The confusion starts with the origins of slang, which are mainly words with slanted meanings, making comprehension even more strenuous.

At Menlo-Atherton the term "woofin” is used as a verb to replace "joking” or "joshing.”

"When somebody says something outrageous, one would respond ‘Oh, you’re woofin’,” said Miriam von Guggenberg, a senior at Menlo Atherton.

Though difficult to discern the origin of this uniquely used term, one can guess that it is a throwback to one meaning of term "dog,” a deceiver or a liar.

Although slang is prevalent throughout local public high schools, it seems that private high schools do not use slang as widely.

"We don’t really use slang, sometimes we say "that’s random” but we mainly have inside jokes referring to school rivals,” said senior Sagar Patel of Serra High School. Currently popular, is hissing at those who act "Saint Ignatius preppy,” (because Saint Ignatius is represented by The Wildcats) or in other words those who annoy everyone else during school hours. These acts change from week to week depending upon what school Serra is playing that week.

Another senior, Winston Ferrari, confirmed this statement.

While two students at Serra have said this, one can assume that some slang words have seeped so deeply into our subconscious that they do not realize they are saying them.

Some slang terms are uniform in their usage and appearance throughout all local teens’ vocabulary, including: sick, chill, sketch, cutty, hot and pimpin’.

Another language trend, which happens to be a comeback, among the youth of today is the shortening of words. A "vintage” example of the abbreviation of words is MC Hammer’s once popular song "Too Legit to Quit.” Today "legit” is a common abbreviation which retains the same meaning as the original word but adds a hip edge to the user’s speech.

Though it’s hella confusing at times, it is easy to understand how legit these sick words are.

Teen News is a weekly column written by Marie Franco and Mara Burger. Franco attends Burlingame High School and Burger attends Terra Nova High School in Pacifica. They can be reached at TeenNews@smdailyjournal.com.<