After watching Marlon’s video about how representation was at work with the term “LIGAS” among his friends, I immediately thought of all the slang that is part of the different subcultures I’m a part of. There are so many terms that are unique to my group of friends, my group of peers, and my age/socioeconomic/gender group nationwide. These terms would have absolutely no meaning to someone outside the group, as the meaning for these linguistic symbols is exclusive to the group’s members. Those on the outside would be clueless as to what we’re talking about.
Within my sorority, a couple girls started throwing around the word “gehl" (as a sort of slang for the word “gal”) and its meaning relies on its use and who is using it. We always say it in a certain tone, and always in a sarcastic, silly way. You can refer to someone as a “silly gehl” or a “working gehl” or a “tired gehl.” But to anyone who isn’t in my sorority or my group of friends must think we’re crazy. Why are these girls saying a simple word in such a ridiculous way? The meaning of the word is within the culture. A gehl is just a girl, but its representation to our group has a certain intangible nature to it. It’s a certain kind of girl, but it only really makes sense to us. I recently found out that Gehl is an agriculture machinery company, so to alot of people, the same word has a totally different meaning. But if I were to ask my mother, who is neither in my sorority nor in the agriculture business, gehl is probably just a nonsense word.
Another example that goes a little broader is the “betch” craze thats sweeping the college-aged girl world. A “betch,” which isn’t a real word but something that we’ve put meaning on, is a certain girl, similar to a “gehl,” who is savvy and sassy and generally awesome. She puts herself first and doesn’t care who is hurt in the process. Yet this term was defined by a certain group, and is only understood by that culture. The posts on the betcheslovethissite.com website refer to a certain socioeconomic group of college girls who value certain things, and such values would have no meaning to someone outside the group. An outsider would think that betch is a misspelling of “bitch,” but it is far from that to those who have helped shape the meaning of the word.
New words and slang provide a clear indication of representation; the group that makes the word makes the meaning. These are only a could words that I'm personally familiar with; as a member of these groups, i'm inherently left out on the meaning of other new slang words, until the word gains some personal cultural value for me.
These terms have really defined our little culture at Villanova. I regularly use terms such as LIGAS and Gehl in my everyday life.
ReplyDeleteIn Marlons Video, he uses a clip from Urban Dictionary.com. I remember in Middle School and high School referring to this website often to figure out what some people were saying. If you weren't sure you were not completely accepted into the mini society and this would make one feel like an outsider.
In college though with worlds like gehl and LIGAS it truly shows representaion and how the words are nothing until the creators give it meaning.
WIth the media industry growing so fast, and creating a way for everyone to be connected with everyone it is no wonder that terms like LOL and BRB and sexting and all other technology slang have spread nationwide. There are terms that i accept in my everyday life that my mom can not relate to.
For example my mom's terminology of hooking up is way more intense then mine and we often mis-interpret each others stories.
Anyways both Marlon and Greta show how sub cultures are able to create a term and create meaning behind it, that otherwise would be jibberish.
Something that struck me when seeing Marlons video and your post was that all these nonsense words such as "ligas," "gehl," or "betch" have something in common - they're not real words. You're not going to find them in the dictionary and so they NEED the people using them to determine the meaning, because otherwise they'd have no meaning whatsoever. What's more interesting to me are words that have actual dictionary definitions that are used differently. If somebody were to say "That song is ill," or "That movie was sick," nobody from our generation or any generation near ours would think that they had the flu. I found myself in a situation like this recently - I was in New York City and was talking to the busboy at the bar/restaurant we were at. He didn't speak the best English and I was a little too intoxicated to be watching my grammar. He said something to me and I instinctively responded "word." He looked at me, repeated the last word he said, and tried to explain it to me...the word he was trying to explain was subway. Rather than confuse him by telling him what I meant by "word," I just politely let him explain. But it got me thinking just how foreign (no pun intended) slang can sound to those who don't understand it. Not only does our culture afford us the ability to create words and meanings for them, but also change the meanings of preexisting words as we see fit.
ReplyDeleteBeing slightly older than the average college student 36 and out of the loop when it comes to some slang, I rely heavily on UrbanDictionary.com. I actually needed to look up to see what they had as the definition to your slang terms- LIGAS, gehl, betch. Thank God for urbandictionary.com or I would be lost. Great post.
ReplyDeleteI think that urbandictionary.com really plays a huge role in the defining of slang because the definitions are based more heavily in how the words are used in context. examples of conversations of how the word is used are essential to understanding completely foreign slang words, and I know that i would be lost sometimes if i didnt have such a reference point made by those who do understand and use the word in question.
ReplyDeletethanks for the feedback guys!
Mike -- you make a very good point. A number of the words many of us have been using are not actual words found in the dictionary. The slang words were created and after repetitive use and word of mouth, they become known and widely used.
ReplyDeleteI will have to check out urbandictionary.com.