Job Discussion Forums

[Guy Courchesne]

I must be getting old...that or I've been away too long.

We were discussing idiomatic usage in a TEFL course, and one of the questions I usually use came up. What idiomatic or metaphorical expressions can you associate with 'dog'? (among others).

Dogging, one American student offered up. A 20-something British female student started to laugh uncontrollably. Went right over my head, as well as the American's. It took an apologetic email from the British student sometime later to explain the laughter, and the expression.

If you've been way for a time, how do you keep up?

[jpvanderwerf2001]

Guy,

I'm not sure if yours was a sincere or a rhetorical question, so excuse me if it was the latter.
Some ways I try to "keep up" (probably generic, but):
* Watch MTV. I know, I know, it's mostly crap. But it's the Mecca of much contemporary butchering of the language (see: "Pimp My Ride");
* I try to get my hands on any Maxim or Stuff magazine I can. This isn't because they're respectable journals, of course (and definitely not because of the semi-lewd pictorials );
* The Internet. That indispensible source for what's hip;
* My teenaged students. I try to glean anything I can from them. Not a week goes by when I don't have a number of queries as to meanings of the latest slang;
* Hip-hop music. For better or worse, almost all new slang in the last 10 years has come from hip-hop;
* Hollywood movies, especially the ones adults don't want to see (a la "American Pie", of that ilk).

It's a continuous process!

[movinaround]

Guy, this has been a problem for millenia. The older you get, the harder it becomes. Add in missing the bit even older people get back home from commercials and movies, and realize you must just give up

[Otterman Ollie]

Being away from the homeland is part of the reason we miss out on slang updates and popular culture in the U.K seems alien to a lot of my fellow brits here . Having access to newspapers and sat tv gives some insights and the web of course is a great source ,but nothing beats a regular trip back home . İnnit though !

[gaijinalways]

Sometimes it's also good to speak to some newbies, especially people not necessarily from your area back home, though you may sometimes need a decoder ring to figure out what they've said !

[dmb]

guy, do you know about www.urbandictionary.com

[ls650]

He he. I often have students asking me about expressions from hip-hop that they listen to - and sometimes I have to admit I have no idea! "Uh, we'll talk about that next class..."

[Guy Courchesne]

[MamaOaxaca]

I with movinaround, I've just given up for the most part. It's like back in college when I realized that there was nothing alternative about trying so hard to be alternative, so I just gave up. (And that ended up being a truely alternative thing to do!)

But I learn loads of things both about language and general US culture from the other forum I'm addicted too. I learned about TIVO there, do you guy know about TIVO??? When do you think it will make it to the Mexican hinterland? I'd be willing to trade in my 12" TV if I had something like TIVO!!!!

[Justin Trullinger]

I was never all that hip- but it's gotten worse with time away. With time in general, in fact.

I try to keep up with aspects of US culture that my students are into, usually using the students themselves as a source.

And I try to keep up with slang related to these things. Know it, that is. Not use it. Because I have too many memories from high school about that teacher, you all know the one. The one who was SO hip, so DOWN, so into being one of us youngsters, that he made a perfect prat of himself.

And I'm aware that that guy was probably 3 or 4 years younger than I am now. I'm not taking any chances. Nothing sounds stupider than guys in their thirties, wearing ties, and calling each other "bi-atch."

Teaching is great. But it isn't hip.

Best,
Justin

[Jizzo T. Clown]

Word Spy is a good site to keep up on neologisms in the media. Of course most students (native speakers or not) wouldn't know these as they're more (ahem) *educated* terms.

See Justin, teaching can be hip!

[rusmeister]

While I will mention slang that I know/use, I emphasize that fact.

Slang either normalizes or dies fairly quickly (10-15 years) - usually the latter. If it survives it becomes a 'normal' part of the language. Of course, in old age it becomes quaint, then archaic before eventually dying (over several hundred years).

It should not be dogmatically taught; most of it is doomed to the dustbin of history. (Wayne's World type slang, for example - "Way!", or hippy terms) So I would discourage students from pouring a lot of energy into studying slang.

As to keeping up myself, I see no reason to bother. We worship 'youth culture' way too much as it is. It fills your head with lots of useless junk.

[Deconstructor]

It's tough to keep up. It reminds me of that black dude on American Idol who referres to every contestant as yo dawg. You can tell how clueless he is when it comes to new slang.

[shuize]

Drop by the local court house on one of your trips home.

I did so on family business a few years ago. Here's what I discovered:

Sitting in during pre-trial arraignments is good, but even better is "civilian warrant" application day. Not only will such a visit bring you up to speed on current slang, it's also pure comedy gold.

[dialogger]

I think we should draw a line between slang/colloquialisms we are asked to explain by students and what we teach as part of course material.
In the latter be conservative and give students material that has cemented its place in the language.
The resource on slang here on Dave's is a start but is far from complete.