This dope book will totes help you decode your teen's slang

25 April 2017 - 02:00 By Andrea Nagel
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Author Mark Leigh and his amazeballs tome.
Author Mark Leigh and his amazeballs tome.
Image: Supplied

You can't write a book trying to bridge the gap in communication between adults and teenagers unless you're somewhat of a teenager yourself.

Mark Leigh still thinks of himself as a teenager - though he admits to scrolling quite far down on the e-forms when he has to submit his birth date.

In researching his book of teen terms - How to Talk Teen: From Asshat to Zup? The Totes Awesome Dictionary of Teenage Slang  - he says he tried, before a restraining order was issued, to infiltrate teen gangs and hang out with teenage girls.

In his short window of opportunity, though, he accumulated enough examples of the strange, sometimes frustrating, terms teenagers use to seem the requisite amount of obscure and idiotic to their parents.

Teenage slang is a kind of code - and Leigh's book will help you unlock it, or learn it, should you be a teen who's not yet mastered the language.

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There are the more common words in the teenage lexicon that we've all probably heard before, like ''adorbz" - cute, petite, attractive, delightful or charming. In effect, adorable (usually preceded by "totes").

Or ''ratchet" - a corruption of the word wretched; being called a ratchet or described as one implies you're an out-of-control mess. Can be used to diss someone who's one or more of the following: obnoxious, trashy, overweight, ugly, stupid, or simply acting like a diva.

But then there are the words that are totes obscure to anyone over 20. Anyone know what ''hormotional" refers to? It's a description of someone who overreacts to situations, such as:

Friend: ''Sorry I started crying during the film but I'm hormotional. It's that time of the month."

You: ''But you're a bloke. and we're watching The Expendables 3."

How about "manicorn" - the mythical creature sought by females? A man who's funny, romantic, passionate, cultured and sensitive - and who doesn't get wasted and get off with your best friend behind your back.

Leigh's book is also full of those pesky abbreviations that drive us crazy. IDC - I don't care; STFU - shut the f**k up; ILY - I love you, and so on.

If you want to start talking like the kewl parent on the block and are trying to get your kid to think of you as dope, grab a copy of Leigh's book, it's docious.

 

'How to Talk Teen: From Asshat to Zup? The Totes Awesome Dictionary of Teenage Slang' by Mark Leigh.

This article was originally published in The Times.

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