Words 101

Last weekend I was working at a volunteer job at for the High School. Many choirs from around the area were part of a contest. I was assigned to sell concessions to the teenagers and parents who attended the event.

I did listen to some of the choirs and was impressed by the wonderful diction as they sang. Each work was enunciated clearly, even when sang in a foreign language.

Fast forward 20 minutes to the concession area. Who are these people! Now I know that coming from England I already have a little bit of a hang up where the English language is concerned and is often loosely used here in the States. I too can be a little lax with it at times but the words that came to my ears made me want to scream.

"What kind of soda you got?" asked one, "where are the bathrooms at?" asked another.

Perhaps even worse than this was the young lady who asked for an item and then finding she didn't have enough money say, "oh jk". I later found out she meant "just kidding". Now I know in this time of phone texting this is the way to communicate, I have even been known to type some of the short cuts in to my phone myself, well if the few I know and some I seem to make up, but to now have to deal with it in the spoken word....you have got to be kidding! I can only imagine these people later at a job interview talking in text.

I also received the usual "oh, you have an accent" to which I usually reply, "oh, so do you." I had one young man say how much he liked to use the word "bollocks" because it was such a fun word to say. I asked if he knew what he meant, he said no.

Now I try to be patient, I try to be understanding but this just drives me crazy. I understand that each culture has it's little quirks in language but come on GMAB! (Give me a break.)