During our in-person meeting on August 28, club member Bob Meroney, in his usual entertaining and amusing style, used general definitions and specific examples to introduce us to slang and other euphemisms, past, present, and (with tongue in cheek) the future.
To get the presentation off to a suitably intellectual start, Bob gave us a definition of “euphemism”: a mild or indirect word or expression substituted for one considered to be too harsh or blunt when referring to something unpleasant of embarrassing. Mid-way through his presentation, Bob reminded us of the meaning of “euphemism” using a newspaper cartoon, Non Sequitur, by Wiley: the bottom line, “what makes you think using banal euphemisms is going to change the reality of the situation?”
Bob introduced us to 34 slang terms (several with two or more forms), most with the historical evolution of the use of the term – and all listed in alphabetical order. Examples are:
“Jock” – “Word has been around since 1750 with various meanings: derogatory reference to a Scotsman in 1755; short for the names John, James, or Jack in the 18th century; short form of horse jockey 1829 – 1830; short for male athletic supporter worn by bicycle riding messengers in 1891; short for disk jockey on radio by Walter Winchell in 1935; American – a male athlete, infers not very clever, derogatory, around 1963.
“Like” – conversation filler, often irritating to listener, but used by speaker as a pause or emphasis; speech punctuation from the 1960s (“hey man, why are you , like, trying to, like, bet me, like, to do something, like, I don’t like?”)
“Sawbuck” – a sawbuck is s wooden trestle with two x-shaped legs connected by a cross bar but associated with the US Ten-dollar bill issued with the Roman number X on the face from about 1861.
Recent confusing or widely used slang words:
Woke – to be well-informed of and sensitive to cultural issues or socially conscious or culturally aware
GOAT – Greatest of All-Time
Salty – to overreact, over excited, go too far, angry
Brat – someone who is honest, prioritizes individuality and fun
No-No Voters – voters who are double haters of both Biden and Trump
For today’s college students:
I’m down – you agree or are interested
YOLO – short for “you only live once”
The Oxford English Dictionary Slang Word of 2023: Rizz – refers to someone’s ability to flirt by being cha”ris”matic.
Bob then presented a teen iPhone keyboard including individual keys for “LOL” (lots of love”), “ROFL” (roll on floor laughing”), “XO” (hugs and kisses), =^.^= (text for “cat”).
And, finally, a chart showing the evolution of slang from cuneiform script (around 3500 BC), hieroglyphs (around 1000 BC), Latin alphabets (around 500 AD), and emoticons (around 2000 AD (“after cognitive disintegration”).