Young People

You know you're getting old when teenagers become increasingly alien, unintelligible and scary. I used to feel like I could hold my own with a teenager. I knew their music. I got their fashions. I understood their language. I had their respect. But now, I'm old and unhip, and I find myself always silently tut tutting them, and being afraid of them when they congregate in large groups.

On my way home last night, I overheard the mobile phone conversation, of an ordinary looking teenage girl. In every sentence their seemed to be some word that I didn't understand. Also, she would call her female friend 'man'. She would say, "Devvo, man, devvo!", which I think in our language might mean 'devastated'. She would say, "Aww whatev's, man, whatev's" as a new and improved way of saying 'whatever'. At the end of the conversation she said "well, that sounds hell chat". I have heard this one from my friend Pete, but still. What the heck is hell chat? A conversation of a lot of words, but not a lot of substance.

On the other hand, I have a much deeper affiliation for old people...