Middle aged love affair - crazy family version
Middle aged love affair - accidental adoption version
Middle aged love affair - high fashion version (OK. They were a little younger)
You get the point. So recently I asked my students what were some stereotypes they have about American high schools. This is essentially the list they gave me -
1. Everyone is singing. Always
2. You're either popular or a loser
3. A third option is being a "pompom girl"
4. We love "junky food"
5. We play football and ice hockey
6. Girls be getting pregnant left and right
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A fun fact about French language is the existence of "Verlan," a type of highly popular slang that is essentially pig latin. It involves simply switching the syllables of a word. Bizarre becomes zarbi or maestro become stromae. The word Verlan itself comes from l'envers or inverse. It started as a way for youth and/or disenfranchised groups in France to reclaim the stuffy, aristocratic language of their country.
Which leads me to my next point. Often times in class I'll have a moment, maybe towards the end of the day, where focus is low and the kids just want to have fun. This is when I'll open the floor to questions about more familiar vocabulary they might not necessarily learn in school. The first time I did this a girl, hesitant at first, checked in to make sure "poop" meant what she thought. I think she'd been harboring that one for a while. Another student remarked, "zat is a funnny werd." I pointed out that compared to the French equivalent (faire caca--literally to 'make feces') English was doing alright. Since none of them ever seem inclined to ask any questions I've decided to make up some words of my own. Because why should the kids have all the fun !? I've worked in relevant stereotypes for extra believability.
1. Snizzle (verb). Def: The act of making food in a microwave before cuddling with a significant other OR medium sized dog. "I'm feeling lazy tonight, let's just stay in and snizzle."
2. Curdlepop (noun). Def: The sound produced while burping and simultaneously reciting the pledge of allegiance. "Great curdlepop Brittany, we should go to the mall together this weekend."
3. Glimp (pronoun). Def: A means of referring to any nameless member of the "uncool" group. "I bet if glimp got a haircut and maybe some self-confidence we'd refer to glimp by glimp's real name."
4. Vrolick (noun). Def: When a group hangout out turns into individuals showing their favorite youtube clip/music video. "Last night was wild. We drank four lokos and all crowded around Brad's 2011 Macbook and had a killer vrolick.*
5. Pimpertam (adj). Def: Used to suggest dually that, someone is in their first trimester of pregnancy OR just ate a happy meal and also accidentally the toy. "Ever since Jennifer got that botched lasik surgery she's been eating everything in sight and I don't mind saying she looks pretty pimpertam."
6. Icefootball (noun). Def: Playing football with ice skates. "My pond just froze over, let's play icefootball. Literally Everyone is doing it. I'm American."
7. Schmooping (verb). Def: When a pompom girl loses her pompoms and is forced to perform pompom-less. "I heard Heather Schmooped at last years Homecoming and that's why the team lost."
I think that should keep them busy for a good 30 minutes. Which is all I need to ride out the end of a lesson. If you've got any suggestions for good made up words leave them in the comments !
*I wholly believe there should be a word for this
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