The "Lingo" Generation

I came into the store this morning and logged onto the J.LaMore website to read the most recent blogs that were posted. I read the "Old & Experienced vs. Young & ...?" post and felt the need to add my opinion. I agree with Clare on many of her opinions, but I do think there are some exceptions that some people are unaware of or have not seen yet.

This past fall when I entered my Sophomore year of high school I was excited to see how all my friends had changed, what everyone would be wearing for the new year, but I was surprised by the new "lingo" everyone was starting to use. Originally I was use to reading abbreviated words in quick text messages and maybe if a phone conversation was cut off , so I was not totally unaware of the vocabulary being used. The first week of school I was starting to notice that the people around me were not using complete words such as: perf, most def, tots, hilar, probs, etc. After weeks and then monthes I had decided I could not listen to this any longer and that I would not join in with the new trend of speaking. Until recently, I assumed that this was only a young high school trend that people were using, I did not at all begin to think that people past college were speaking this way until I started hearing stories from my mom, older friends, and people from work that we're also annoyed with this new language.

Tying back to Clare' s position, I think the reason she is having to start to deal with people using incomplete words is because some people have become so used to shortening their words that they are unaware of when to seperate their everyday life from their professional life. Unfortunetly I think this is a growing issue because the people I see are recognizing this "lingo" as a cool trend to follow. Although there are exceptions out there of people who realize that speaking with incomplete words will not get you far or give you a respectable reputation. What I usually think to myself when I hear young people talking this way is, "Don't you hear yourself?" I think that is exactly what my generation needs; to hear themselves speak and recognize that it is not something that should be used in a professional environment and possibly only used here and there in their social life.

Raquel