Last Updated on August 30, 2016 by Diane Hoffmaster
I am the proud parent of two teens and I can honestly say that I understand very little that comes out of their mouths lately. The words I struggle to understand are not swear words. They are pretty clean cut kids…profanity has never been much of a problem in our house. But some days, it honestly seems like they are speaking a totally foreign language. I have become a big fan or Urban Dictionary lately to shed light on what he heck they are talking about. If understanding your teen has become difficult, I urge you to check it out!
“Mom, look at my quiff” says the boy…
Um, do I really need to see your quiff? Isn’t that a private thing? Or maybe it is a rude noise made by a portion of the female anatomy? No, a quiff is a hairstyle from the 50’s that has once again become fashionable. It takes a significant amount of time and hair product to achieve the perfect quiff. As evidenced by the pigsty his bathroom has become!
“Mom, we don’t really like that girl very much…she’s kindof ratchet” says my daughter.
Ok…are you telling me she resembles a mechanical device that allows continuous linear or rotary motion in only one direction while preventing motion in the opposite direction (or so says wikipedia!) Cuz, that really makes a lot of sense, right? No….ratchet is apparently this generations way of saying someone is a little bit skanky. Because we couldn’t just keep the word skanky around for more than a year or two, right?
And don’t even get me started on the ships my daughter is so passionate about. No, these SHIPs don’t float in water. They have nothing to do with boats or sailing at all. These ships are actually relationships (either real or imaginary). Like Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck…that ship called Bennifer? Ships are made up for characters of books, popular movies and hot young YouTube sensations.
Heaven for it you ‘ship’ Troyler and your best friend ships Myler….that might just mean the end of your friendship completely. Didn’t understand that sentence? Now you know what the heck I mean when I say that I don’t have a clue what these kids are talking about some days!
Seriously though, understanding your teen is important. Did you know bath salts are actually a kind of drug? Knowing the ‘teen lingo’ may very well save a kids life!
Talk to your teens…and really LISTEN to them. Put down the cell phone when you are together and open up the lines of communication between you. Ask them what a word means, ask them to show you that YouTube video they are giggling over. Check out Urban Dictionary on a regular basis! Pray for divine intervention. I’m doing a lot of that lately!
And I SOOOO ship Troyler but my daughter is totally cray cray over those boys and it’s getting a little wak!
I tell my son all the time to speak English to me 🙂
My step-son is 17 and it’s like he’s living on another planet sometimes!!
this is so true! Sometimes teenagers seem to be from another world.
I have little kids here, and sometimes I have to put down tech to listen to my kids. My girls are always full of crazy ideas.
I know eventually I won’t be able to understand my kids once they hit the teenage years. I think the world will eventually start talking in hashtags only anyways.
My children are still young but I can relate to it being like another language altogether. Having an honest, open line of communication is extremely important.
I’ve long ago given up trying to understand all the terms my kids use. I don’t even seem to speak the same language as they do sometimes.
This made me laugh. I went through this with my 3 daughters. Now I am on the other end they are all young women and yes I finally understand what they are saying. I find myself laughing at them and their comments on what “teenagers” say now and I mind them they were that young and incoherent also haha 🙂
My daughter tells me somethings that I swear I need to look it up. lol They just laugh at me.
No kids here, but we had an intern at work that it took FOREVER to figure out what the heck he was talking about. Once we’d decipher it, he’d say “yeah, that’s what I said.”
Talk about a headdesk moment,!
My head spins sometimes trying to decipher kids!
Haha, my son has such a weird way of talking. But, at least he knows when to turn it off.
Haha, I love this! I can totally relate.
This is too funny and so true. I have a young teen and the funny thing is, he tries to use some of these bizarre words.. but he often misuses them which leads to big hilarious discussions.
I do have to say that I am a fan of the word ratchet! Lol! But.. still not wrapping my heard around the whole ship thing. I need the course for dummies!
These teens are a whole nother species! I’m cracking up about the ships!
I am going to be so old when my daughter is a teenager. I cannot even imagine.
My kids are a little younger, but not much. I’ve got around 2-3 years left until I have to face the dreaded teenage monster lol. If nothing else, it should be interesting!
This post made me laugh right out loud. 🙂 Love it. I didn’t know the quiff one though, I was like, oh dear!
This is such an entertaining post. Very funny! Thanks for sharing!