Every few years, some cool new words come into play that start to dominate the language of teens. Some stay, some go, but there are always fresh terms to use that are in the now. But these “hip terms” aren’t only catching on with the teens.
Some of our teachers hear their students saying the latest things, and this influences them to use it as well. It’s a pretty lit school year here at MHS, and the teachers are on fleek. For some teachers it comes naturally, but for others it can take them a little while to fully grasp the understanding of each term. Teachers like Dennis Schwent encounter these words and terms on a daily basis.
“I love ‘goals,’” math models teacher Schwent said. “I see them on snapchat. Like, somebody would take a picture of someone doing something and they’ll put like ‘life goals.’”
Each teacher has a different run-in with the newspeak. Depending on which subject they teach, how they interact with their students, and/or how often they catch wind of it, they know more or less words than the other.
Teacher Ranjani Sheshadri teaches PAP English I and AP English Language and Composition.
“Your brows are on fleek,” Sheshadri said. “And this room is lit. Literally and figuratively. It’s hip.”
Teacher Dustin DeBerry teaches AP Literature and Composition classes for six periods a day. He doesn’t hear the latest lingo as much as some of the other teachers while he’s in his classroom, but still knows it and encounters it daily in other parts of his life.
“[The latest lingo] has it’s place in daily life,” Deberry said. “Language is just a way to communicate to one another, and it changes all of the time. But different types of ‘speaking’ are for different places and purposes. Things are lit on Twitter. But you wouldn’t say something like that at most job interviews, or you would probably sound ignorant. It’s silly and fun, just know how to use it. Definitely not to a boss.”