By lizalunstroo
“Hey girl, hey! I was just about to get a froyo in admo, you want to join?” “Totes! I just pulled an all-nighter and still need to get some groceries, but I’ll drop by fobogro later. Just give me two minutes.” “No probs, it’s so obvi you’re exhausted, I’m shocked you’re still up!”
- Behold: an average conversation between two GW girls running into each other on campus. I did try to cram as much slang words into these three sentences, but the words or expressions that you do not recognize are probably the words that a student at GWU knows, if not uses regularly.
My favourite slang words are words that one uses daily, and that are quite inconspicuous in character – words such as totes, obvi and probs. During the orientation week three weeks ago, the Office for Study Abroad taught us a short slang lesson, which was quite hilarious at the time, and my roommates and I are sometimes still making fun of it. However, with hindsight, it was quite helpful, and if I do not pay any attention to the language I am using, you might even catch me using these words for real. Another one of my favourites is the word hipster – a word describing someone who is considered to be a little alternative, or ‘indie’. In the beginning of our stay here on campus, my roommates and myself came up with nicknames for each other, and we continue to teasingly call one of us ‘Hipstah B.’
(Short digression: My nickname is ‘Miss Liza’, resulting from a short encounter with a man who fixed our power plugs – who continuously called me Miss Liza. He was very friendly, but now I am stuck with this name because my roommates won’t stop going on about it.)
Of course, there is a fine line between using slang and being inappropriate. For instance, if I would talk to my professors in the language as used in the dialogue I cooked up above, they would probably tell me off or at least lessen their opinion of me. Even for me, when somebody I just met tells me things like ‘F* meeeee’, I feel a little uncomfortable (this really happened). Nevertheless, in general, it is fun and easy to abbreviate your language.
Thesaurus:
Hey girl, hey! Greeting a random friend in the street
Froyo Frozen Yoghurt
Admo Adam’s Morgan, a very popular street in DC during nights, with lots of clubs and bars
Totes! Totally!
Pull an all-nighter Spend an entire night studying
Fobogro Foggy Bottom Grocery (foggy bottom is the name of the GWU campus area in DC)
Probs Can be used in two instances: probably, or problem(s)
Obvi Obviously!
I’m shocked I am surprised
I hope this was all very enlightening. Have a good one, laters!