A few weeks ago I wrote a post that mentioned emo music and goth culture. A reader wrote in that I needed to stick to rap when it comes to musical references and she was right. I mean I didn't spell goth with two "t's" or anything like that but it was clear from my sentences that goth culture is not my strength.
I can tell you all day about rap and how, like Young Jeezy, I put on for my city. I know who Too Short is and Third Bass and De La Soul and the Digable Planets. But emo feels a little weird in my mouth, kind of like when a youth minister in their 40s says something was "phat."
I haven't been in youth group for a long time so maybe this no longer occurs, but back in the day it was pretty common to have a youth minister try to casually insert a "what the kids are saying" kind of phrase into a message. Here's an example from my youth group in the early 1990s:
"Do you think David was afraid when he faced Goliath? I mean, the verses don't give us much insight into his emotions. I don't think he was, because he was a pretty rad dude. I think, like Ace of Bass, he 'saw the sign and it opened up his eyes.' I think like Christian Hosoi or Tony Hawk on a half pipe, he was ready to get gnarly. And when Goliath challenged him he thought, 'can I beat this guy?' No doy!"
That feels really weird and I think that teenagers stop listening when we do stuff like that. I know why we do it, we want to speak their language and I commend that. But I think more than anything, teens react and relate to honesty. Changing your language for them can come off as fake. It makes it feel like you're studying a group of gorillas and learning how to grunt the way they do as you wear a gorilla suit and pretend you love bananas too. And I might be speaking to some youth groups and colleges in the future so I thought it would be good to come up with an alternative plan. Here's what I am going to do instead of saying something is "wickety whack:"
1. Invent my own words.
I'm posting the Stuff Christians Like dictionary tomorrow and it is going to be delightful. It's just jam packed with words and ideas you and I have invented on this site. That's more fun to me than trying to say something is "fierce" because a contestant said that on the television show "Project Runway." I would rather say, "Have you ever sung a unicorn song, or leg dropped someone for the Lord?" than say "I'm on facebook because I want to make sure that I keep the 411 on the DL. Yo. Word up. Or out as it were."
2. Use the classics.
Forget modern, let's go old school. I'm talking about the 80s, as in the 1880s. Say things like, "I dare say that young man is quite the dandy, is he not? What fascinating pantaloons he is sporting." Just use antique catch phrases over and over until people think you know something they don't.
3. Employ a fake accent.
For some reason, I think every person from England is smarter than me. I hear their accent and I instantly am reminded of CS Lewis. So regardless of what they are saying, I think "wow, this person from England is like some sort of theologian scientist." That's why next time I do a gig I am going to pretend to be from the UK. I'm going to say things like, "I saw Hulk Hogan on the telly, wow, saying the kid your son put in a coma was put in that coma because he needed to be a better person is bloody nutters." That was awesome right?
Hopefully this has been helpful. I promise that if you come see me speak, we'll take the lift to the top floor, sit a spell over some fish & chips and talk about who our favorite Contempohip worship leader is.
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
50 comments:
Hilarious. #2 had me laughing out loud, and I totally agree with #3.
Tight post...Way to keep it real...totally boss.
Late,
one enjoyed reading this post, this fair morn... and yes, ALL of us here in the UK have either theology or psychology degrees from Oxbridge university... shame none of us have geography degrees as i dont know where Oxbridge is...
While everyone loves a fake accent... Are you going to use the "fake" accent, or the "fake fake" accent. There is a huge difference. The FAKE accent is when you are trying to get by as having the actual accent. The FAKE FAKE accent is when you are trying to let others know that your fake accent is actually fake by being super obnoxious. I tend to be a fan of the "fake fake" accent, as my "fake" accent skills are not so great. This is what happens when northern girls move to the south. Our brains get confused and we can no longer fake other accents (except New York).
Great post, John... Keep it up.
Wait...what?
Wickety Whack is not "in" any longer?
bummer.
Spot on, Jon ole boy!
Am I the only one thinking of when Ross on FRIENDS used the faked British accent when he was teaching at a university, so that he would sound cooler and smarter to the college kids?
Andrea -
So true. I totally forgot about that but I loved that episode. Great comment.
Jon
Well now everyone here in the UK puts on an American accent to either sound kewl or holier. I was once praying at a housegroup and slipped into an American accent. Everybody said I was anointed (actually they didn't they shamelessly mocked me).
Can I also add that youth ministers should spell correctly and that writing kewl instead of cool is plainly wrong.
you might need to work on your Englishness. not quite there yet. lol
nice try.
what, what.
Just a few things:
#1. If you called a guy a "dandy" today, you'd probably, at best, get a filthy look or, at worst, get punched in the mouth. In today's culture, that's synonymous with saying he's uber-metro or flat-out gay.
#2. "Bloody" is actually a swear in England, so you might not want to use it in front of the youth group if the head pastor is around. Then again, most Americans (myself included until a British friend yelled at me for using it around the office) don't realize it's actually a swear, so you could probably get away with it.
Our JV YP doesn't try to use the slang of the kids so much, but he does have a myspace (there is nothing sadder than a 40-yr old with a fox racing myspace layout and a profile that says things like, "I'm sold out for JC dude bc He is AWESOME!"). He also tends to use examples that the kids don't get. For instance, he recently said to a group of 10-12 year olds, "Well, of course you all remember Columbine, and that's why you need to love one another. So your classmates don't do the same thing those kids did." Blank stares all around from kids because Columbine happened in 1999 and most of them were born in '96 or '97. That would be like someone telling me that I should remember when Ronald Reagan told Gorbachev to "Tear down this wall!" I was three. Of course I have no recollection of that. The only thing I even vaguely remember about being three was that I got the chicken pox at Christmastime (which, admittedly, was only a few weeks prior to my fourth birthday, so it shouldn't even count).
#3:
I guess that's why every infomercial i catch a snippet of is hosted by someone w/ a british accent.....
Maybe try the fake accent with glasses. Glasses give anyone wearing them a +5 in intelligence. :D
i am a high school bible teacher and one of the first things i learned is that you are exactly right. kids want honesty and trasparency - they know you're not as cool as them (although i'm way cooler) and they're fine with that. they just want to know you - not the tool bag you guy you try to be to get them to like you.
Dude! I'm an over 40 youth leader and I talk like the kids all the time! You and ur post got me all conflicted! Why you wanna be all up in my grill messin wit my Kool aid like dat? I am seriously bummed, fo-shizzle!
And now you want me to go talking like the little green dude on the Lucky Charms box? They're gonna think I'm whacked in the head.
ROFL (am I at least allowed to txt in their language?)
This post is hilarious! I am married to an over 40 youth pastor who most definitely does not talk like our students (most students make fun of their peers who use too much slang, much less an adult who tries). But I have been at a youth camp where the camp pastor had everyone saying f'shizzle instead of Amen! during the sermons.
I like the idea of bringing back antiquated words. We once took a retired gentleman on a youth mission trip- he used the word "caddywhompus" (sp?) and that became the word of the week.
--I think that teenagers stop listening when we do stuff like that. I know why we do it, we want to speak their language and I commend that.--
Yes. And no.
"the teen community" of each generation generates its own language precisely to close off the oldsters. They are offended, nay insulted when outsiders attempt to barge in.
I spent over three decades working with teens and preteens. Adult language works fine, is respected and serves as a model for the youngsters so that they will be prepared when they join the human race.
[I still hear 65-year old dorks saying 'my bad' because the kids said it fifteen years ago in their classrooms.] Not cool. [btw, cool, or not, is forever.]
"I haven't been in youth group for a long time so maybe this no longer occurs"
Pure awesome.
oh my gosh, this was so funny. i'm so glad i'm sitting in a classroom by myself right now because i must look like a complete dork when i'm laughing at my computer screen and exclaiming, 'ahh! he's so funny!' :)
that whole 1990s youth pastor riff was classic. i can't believe you said 'no doy!'
the 1880s reference was even better. oh my gosh, you make me laugh. i love it. i'm so glad you started this blog. can't imagine my mornings without it now! (nor my afternoons without frequent checks on the comments!)
You watch Project Runway? ROFL dude! Gerbrandt OUT.
Hey, and it works in reverse too. When I lived in London, everyone thought my "American accent" was so cool and assumed all sorts of I-wish-they-were-true things about me solely based on how I spoke (neutral accent from living all over the country -- maybe slightly mid-Atlantic). I wonder if Brits in our country feel the way I did -- three parts of absurdly flattered mixed with two parts of non-plussed?
"doy"....HAHAHA.....The ultimate saying of the 90's. It can be used as an isult, a comeback or just straight up used by a youth pastor at the end of his sentence to prove a point, the word "doy" is one in a million.
But I think more than anything, teens react and relate to honesty. Changing your language for them can come off as fake.
As someone just out of her teens, this is so true. Don't do it. It just makes everyone uncomfortable. I always want to squirm around in my seat and avoid looking at the person.
I do love your suggestions, particularly the "Use the classics one." But that's cause I'm a classic literature dork. :D
how about using a hobbit accent? Like on Lord of the Rings. I promise I'm not that big of a nerd but I really like the word shire. It rolls off the tongue so smoothly. Say it with me, "Shire" one more time, "Shire"
Don't we all feel a little more Frodo Baggins-ish
I like all the suggestions, I even think it's cool to try to talk like the kids "if done ironically".
I'm such a dork. When Richard made the comment about using an American accent, I was thinking, "Americans don't have accents! Well, unless they're from up north!" Fo shizzle.
Whatever techniques you use. Please remember this one:
S..L..O..W......D..O..W..N...!
Awesome post! I would have loved to have had a youth pastor growing up that knew at lest that much about 90's culture.
In the mid 90's the highschool pastor at the church I grew up in was a former insurance salesman that would wear slacks white shirt and tie to the youth room on Sunday. He could barely play the acoustic guitar (a YP requirement) but would hold it the entire time while sitting on a stool even when we weren't singing. Then while announcing evey retreat or event that may cost money he would ALWAYS say 'if ya don't got the dough, you can still go!' he would never use the word money EVER. As I've grown up I've started to wonder if not using the word Money was a church policy as the Pastor has not preach a single sermon on tithing or giving in 20+ years of preaching.
I work with youth at my church. I am 27. I left home at 18. I still use the same slang and pop culture references I used when I was 18. Somehow I managed to have two different conversations yesterday involving the songs Too Close by Next and So Fresh, So Clean by Outkast and I also made a Lisa Turtle reference. Maybe the teens could relate. Maybe they couldn't. It didn't matter. It wasn't for them. The other 27 year olds loved me for it. Wu Tang loves the chil'ren. I love the 20 and 30 somethings.
Other people my age seem to love it because it's like we have our own language. We're not trying to be the cool nearly 30 year olds to the teens. We ARE the cool nearly 30 year olds based on our own concept of coolness - something the 15 year olds don't understand. And ironically, we further prolong the teens' "I can't wait to be grown" complex because those nearly 30 year old folks are soooo cool.
"most students make fun of their peers who use too much slang, much less an adult who tries"
AMEN! I just remember being in high school thinking, Dude, SPEAK ENGLISH!
I personally wish that we used the word "trousers" more in the United States. It sounds so much cooler than "pants."
No doy...
I just spit my Dr Pepper all over the keyboard ;)
Thanks for the memories on that one.
Cheerio--
Jon,
I notice that you're gangster. Perhaps you've noticed that I'm gangster as well.
If you want to talk to a teenager you need a good opening line. I think the following would work out well.
"Are those short pants or long shorts?"
"I can see your navel. Did your shirt shrink?"
"In my day thongs meant shoes. Don't you guys get confused now that there are 2 meanings?"
Seriously, try these soon.
Pedantry alert from an American expat in the UK: The Brits don't generally use "nutters" as an adjective. "Nutter" is a noun, so Hulk Hogan personally could be described as a nutter, but my British husband suggests that "bonkers" would be a better word to describe his comment. (Also, "bloody" is a swear word, though it's not considered a very strong one nowadays.)
Isn't it wonderful that the Internet allows for cross-cultural communication like this?
i'm the youth pastor at my church and my youths try to teach me stuff. some things i will never understand. haha
i think the best use of a british accent is in leading worship. there are certain songs that just need to be sung with an accent like "better is one day" ... it's not "better" is "bettah" :D
No doy! I haven't used that in years! Must find a way to work that into conversation this evening.
Also, this post kinda reminds me how much I hate when pastors will inexplicably add cutesy modern details to bible stories. Example: "So, Jesus is just walking down the street, listening to his iPod, when this woman reaches and out touches the cuff of His blue jeans..."
My dad was not a youth minister, but he was the principal at a Christian school. He embarrassed the snot out of me by trying relate to the "young people" by speaking their language. There was no way he could pull it off realistically...AT ALL. He sounded like every "youth" word he said was in quotes:
"Hey, Mark, it was great to 'rap' with you, 'Dude' Hope you write a 'cool' essay for English class; I would 'dig' reading it!"
(This was the 1970s, rap wasn't rap way back then. )
hilarious post! but just one thing...there's two types of british accents (there's probably more, but this is how i categorize them): the smarter, stuffier version like ross in friends, and the cool, cockney version. i love the cockney version, it's awesome. but the other one...uh, not so much, lol. i can blame this strong dislike on my headmaster/principal/secondary director (i'm still in highschool) who's this british dude with this super-stuffy brit accent that can make you fall into a stupor within 2 minutes flat. but he's a nice guy.
and so true what you said about teens not liking people trying to talk like them. i hate it when people do that, although sometimes it can be funny if they're doing the "fake fake" rapper accent...hilarious!
My father says "da bomb".
He didn't pick up on it until about 5 years after no one said it anymore.
I laugh every time.
*steps back* excuse me, but i think you just vomited over the English accent :p
...better person is bloody nutters
Not impressed. And a fake British accent is worse than using "young person" words.
I think this could work. I mean who doesn't like to hear sayings from the 1880's and with an accent.
You think youth pastors are bad...Here in Australia we have the word Bogan. It is used to talk about someone lower class that lacks refinement and manners. I think it is similar to the british Chav. Anyway, for some reason ny great aunt (who would have to be at least 80) heard us using the word bogan and seemed to thing she should be using it too. I think she must have missed something because for the rest of the day she kept using the word bagan all the time. It was disturbing
It is, good sir, of utmost importance to make sure that you employ #2 alongside #3. Thus assuring your audience that you are both fancy AND British. ;)
C.S. Lewis isnt English. He's Northern Irish. :)
"am I at least allowed to txt in their language?"
lol. my dad texts like I imagine a 13 year old would.
cool is "kewl"
You are is "Ur"
love is "luv"
etc.
It either cracks me up or embarrasses me depending on my moood.
Funny story. In the early 90s when SNL's "Wayne's World" was a big hit, one of the boys in our youth group used the term "Schwing!" all the time. Our youth pastor had no idea what it REALLY meant, so he picked up the word & started using it, too. Before long, several of us decided we had to tell him what it was he was saying before he messed up & said it from the pulpit. He was soooooooo embarassed to learn that he'd used "Schwing!" in front of the entire youth group & had even said it a few times in church staff meetings. Poor guy was SO embarassed!
yo diggety dog, your posts are hawt!!!
OK, the funniest thing I've ever heard in a youth group setting - Circa 2002 when I was helping out with the youthgroup in my brother-in-law's church (he's way younger than me):
Youth Pastor busts out with a little "Dude that is DEF!"
Except, while this crescendo of his sermon is expectant of the cheer, it got crickets...
If the youth workers try to be like teenagers, who do the teenagers have to look up to?
Jon, I'm pretty sure it's actually spelled "wiggidy wack".
I don't know if anyone else experienced this, but at my school, "Doy" morphed into about 10 other, similar nonsense words. For example, one could say:
No doy!
No dur!
No duh!
No dee!
or my personal favorite, No dee-fo!, a phrase that presumably came from a big Willem Defoe fan.
I've been trying to bring these back, with verying degrees of success.
Right, then. Pip pip, cheerio, chin-up and all that rot.
Stacy:
Amend and amen!
We DO need to incorporate more "trousers", "pantaloons" and "bloomers" into our every-day speech!
I was just thinking about it today.
I mean, pants is a funny work, but "trousers" is like verbal caramel!
Haha!This is funny as always, wot?
I have had a few embarrasing moments with the "make up your own coolness" words...
When I was about fourteen or fifteen, I decided that "never in a million lightyears" (I'm sure I don't have to explain to you that I made it up myself) was my new cool phrase. Yeah. And then I used it in a sentence. In public. With a new aquaintance.
Never done that again.
Post a Comment