Tuesday, May 20, 2008

I'm turning into an 7th grader...

They say that when you live with your pets long enough, you start to look alike.

I wonder if the same is true for your job?

I think I'm turning into an 7th grader. and not just any 7th grader...I am beginning to take on the tendencies and complexities of a middle school student here in inner city Boston.

It has been a transformation that crept on me ever so slowly. I was immune to it in September, slightly aware of their nuances by December. But now, it being almost June, I am fully engorged in the mentality of youth. It is starting to show itself in the smallest of ways....

first of which being my sense of humor. Being an only child and forced into private school for my entire education, I tend to have a more sarcastic sense of humor and never found slapstick comedy very funny. Until now. There have been several times where I have to stifle my laughter behind a stern look or "Hey X, stop that right now!". On the inside though, I am dying when X trips Y by stepping on his shoelace.

The second and more obvious aspect of my transformation is a more recent occurance. I have found myself, on more than one occasion, using their slang. and thats really sad when a fully grown adult uses the term "fer real dawg?" over a dry martini at happy hour. The first time it slipped out, I played it off like a joke, imitating my students, and all the while silently berating myself for such a slip of tongue.

But it happened again yesterday. The darling children of Boston Public Schools have a complex dialect used specifically for when someone is wrong or embarrassed and the term is "salted". Salted has originated from the base word "sauce" which, I've been informed, is so out now.

(for those who need a quick lesson, salted would be used in the following manner:
Student X: We have a test today
Student Y: No we don't
X: Yes we do you idiot
Y: No we mos def don't
X: Ms E____, do we have a test today?
Me: Yes we do, X
X to Y: oooooo salted!!!)

So yesterday I am mid conversation when I bet someone I couldn't complete a task. Upon completion of the task, I immediately turn and exclaim, "ooooo salted!". At this moment, I receive a look like I have 10 heads at which point I then try to explain the meaning of the word. I guess the meaning is lost outside of its natural habitat.

I only have 4 weeks left in this school year and then it is a blissful 2 months of sleeping in late, weekends at the Cape and general summer enjoyment. By the end of these 4 weeks, I will hope to walk out of here with some of my essence still in tact.
However, if you spot me walking down Newbury Street in a XXL white tee with my "jordans" looking fresh...please save me.


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5 comments:

Rachel said...

PLEASE wear a huge t-shirt on Newbury St. I would pay to see that. :) You would be totally forcin' it.

Emily said...

Yo that would be so fly!

:P

teddy said...

you need to write a book about inner-city slang......and how to use it properly in daily life...

i would so buy that fo sho!

Katie Ryan said...

um, yeah, just wait until your the mother of a teenager. Talk about embarrassing when you let those things slip! Ughh.

Unknown said...

hahaha! I actually slipped 'wtf' a phone convo with my mother a few months back. She never said anything about it, but a few weeks later she used it. When I called her out on it she admitted to txting my lil sis to find out what it meant. now she uses it all the time!