scrivener
08-26-2006, 06:25 PM
I've always wanted to compile an evolving list of phrases our students use that they think we don't understand -- slang, mostly, or other cultural references they make.
I have learned that if you can show older students that you know a bit more than they know (or at least something approaching what they know) about whatever they're talking about, they try to get away with less.
Some quick examples you probably already know:
420 or 4:20 refers specifically to the time of day when people smoke marijuana. Kids think this is either a reference to Bob Marley (they say it was either his birthday or the date of his death -- neither is correct) or the California Penal Code for the crime of possessing marijuana. This is also not correct. There doesn't seem to be a definitive story of the origin of this term, but the generally accepted answer is that kids at a high school in San Rafael, California, got in the habit of meeting for a smoke at that time, and the number came to refer to "time to smoke," if not exactly that time of day. My students were stunned when they told me the California Penal Code story and I answered that the correct code is somewhere in the 11300s, depending on the specific crime, and that Bob Marley was born in February (on the 6th, the same day as my sister) and died in March.
One student dared to use "cameltoe" in front of me; he was immediately sent to the office. Rather than sully this esteemed forum with a definition, I'll point you to the Wikipedia article (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cameltoe) on that word.
So there are two. Anyone want to add a few or ask about something?
I have learned that if you can show older students that you know a bit more than they know (or at least something approaching what they know) about whatever they're talking about, they try to get away with less.
Some quick examples you probably already know:
420 or 4:20 refers specifically to the time of day when people smoke marijuana. Kids think this is either a reference to Bob Marley (they say it was either his birthday or the date of his death -- neither is correct) or the California Penal Code for the crime of possessing marijuana. This is also not correct. There doesn't seem to be a definitive story of the origin of this term, but the generally accepted answer is that kids at a high school in San Rafael, California, got in the habit of meeting for a smoke at that time, and the number came to refer to "time to smoke," if not exactly that time of day. My students were stunned when they told me the California Penal Code story and I answered that the correct code is somewhere in the 11300s, depending on the specific crime, and that Bob Marley was born in February (on the 6th, the same day as my sister) and died in March.
One student dared to use "cameltoe" in front of me; he was immediately sent to the office. Rather than sully this esteemed forum with a definition, I'll point you to the Wikipedia article (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cameltoe) on that word.
So there are two. Anyone want to add a few or ask about something?