Tyanna Linton

The Essay (23304)

Professor Moore

October 12th, 2022

“Understanding of Teenagers Language”

Growing I have always been asked “What do you mean, that’s not the proper way to talk ?’’ I have heard it about a million times throughout a conversation with someone from the older generation(Hyperbole). I have always been asked to say it in “proper” words. For us teenagers proper words have slipped our mind. It’s not because we don’t want to use our words correctly, it’s because using slang is easier and at the same time, it’s kind of like our own secret language. A lot of people think the way we talk will affect our future when it comes to jobs and raising our children. However, I don’t think that’s true because the use of slang can help us cope, crack jokes, start trends and many more. Not to mention, if you make a song with the use of slang or a word that has a funny or good meaning to it. We tend to gravitate towards it because it’s different and unique.

However in my household as a child growing up, the use of slang was not allowed. I come from a West Indian Background specifically, Jamaica. The use of slang was not welcomed within our household, school, church and around any family members. They felt as though it was improper and was not professional as well as disrespectful. However, I thought differently. You see, you don’t use slang everywhere you go. As a child growing up you have to know when and where to use it. But at one point in my life, I didn’t understand that concept. I remember what happened just like yesterday

On a hot summer day, it was my second month back in America in Kindergarten. I attended the public school Ida Posner 165, right in Brownsville, Brooklyn New York. In my class there were about twenty students including myself. We were all friends. At lunch, gym and recess we would always play together. But, there was this one day a new student came into our class. When I saw her during class, her eyebrows were scrunched up and her nose was wide open. She showed a mean face. Her face was so straight as if she was a piece of wood (Simile). She had no traits about her that we were gravitated towards. Her name was Penelope. The first half of the morning Penelope was extremely mean to the other students. She did not want to play or converse with anyone in the class. Suddenly out of nowhere, she came to me and decided she wanted to play.

I am a very open hearted person, so I always play with anyone who wants to play with me. During our recess we would play various games. When she loses, she will say “What the hell”. I told her all the time that it’s a bad word and she should not say it. But she insisted. She even said to one of her friends “Whats up my nigga”. I never knew what “Nigga” was at that age but I definitely knew not to use “Hell” at all. Coming fresh from Jamaica and living with a family who does not condone that type of behavior. I never knew that line was wrong and if I did say it, I would get a spanking. As time went by I started to say to my friends “ Whats up my nigga”. We never saw anything wrong with the phrase. To us we were just greeting each other.

But, months later in January when I got my first phone. I used to always talk on the phone with Penelope. One day my mom was folding our laundry. She had heard me on the phone with Penelope when I said “whats up my nigga” to her. She dropped the clothes she was folding and came to my room. All you heard was “Thump,Thump,Thump” on the floors (Onomatopoeia). Everyone knows when my mom stops doing her chores and you hear her walking very hard and fast, someone was in big trouble. But I did not know I couldn’t use that line.

My mom then burst open the door and said “ Tyanna Nia Linton, mi ears dem clean”. I said mom “ Nigga is not wahn bad word, mi and mi friend dem use it all di time”. She said “TYANNA”. I said “ Okay mom mi naah guh use it again”. Years from now, I still continued to use that word, even though I promised my mom I will would not use it. It’s not because it was a bad word. But, because it is very common in my generation to use it. It’s not forced onto you but it does grow on you. It’s a bad habit that grew onto me as I maneuver into a young adult.

From this event, you can see that my mom didn’t understand the context of “Nigga”, when we spoke to our friends. As, I grew older, I started to understand where she was coming from as to why I shouldn’t use that word. But our intentions with the word was not the same. Here, it is clear that some parents still don’t understand the slang or phrases we may use to one another in this day and age. But both sides are right and I do understand why I shouldn’t use it. But my mom fail to understand the intentions of how we used it. She only focused on how it was used years ago. I mean it’s still used negatively. However, now you hear people of color using it as a pronoun.

We see how certain words or phrases can be misinterpreted and parents, adults and even your own boss can take it as you being disrespectful, improper and even leading your friends in the wrong direction. This event also exhibited how there is a social effect to what we learn. It’s very likely that once one child sees or hears a phrase, they slowly begin to repeat until it’s something that is normal to them. However, there are times when parents or any adult refrains the child from speaking in that context. Therefore it never grew on them.

Last to note, just because a parent says there’s are certain words, you must not repeat. It doesn’t necessarily mean that’s what we will do it in 10-12 years. Your social life plays a vital role in things that you may be intimate with in the future. Additionally, a lot of parents can’t interpret what children may mean when they use certain vocabulary. That is because the parent is not educated about the various uses of slang these days. They are stuck in the 70s, 80s, 90s and we are in the 21st century. Especially parents who are from different countries, they have no knowledge of the culture or slang here. Therefore they believe every saying is disrespectful. Whether it’s because of their religion, culture, home, what they were taught in school, by their parents and by their own friends. Time is always changing, that’s why sometimes it’s good to stay updated, therefore we can always understand the language everyone is trying to portray whether or not it’s our original language.