The internet defines slang as a type of language consisting of words and phrases that are regarded as very informal, are more common in speech than writing, and are typically restricted to a particular context or group of people.
Well, recently l was interacting with a seemingly young person say sixteen or something, and, as we talked she kept throwing in these words that l had to think twice about what the word actually means. She was me telling how she cribs in Nansana that she's a Nansanie, trust me I'm facepalming as l write Nansanie.
This got me thinking about how and when l started evolving my English to slang. You probably might not have gone through it but learning these words like crib for living, gwa for a place, it was like learning how to read and write in Kindergarten!
I remember in my F1, we were three F1s in a room of four and the other roommate of ours was in F2, the mighty to F1s because they had suffered for a year and it was time for them to shake their ass on a yacht. Anyways, she would have her friends over and they would be jazzing with all these slang words and we would pretend not to listen to their conversations.
In one of the first conversations they had, they talked about money in Ks and bobs and when they left the room we were asking ourselves what currency they were talking in. Trust me it was like an eye-opener, we were all in awe, like wow are these girls even Ugandan! With time we got to interact a lot with our roommate and she would tell us the meanings of the slang and before we knew it we were pros at it.
But with slang, once you're out of a community that understands your words you realize it really doesn't have that much meaning and is embarrassing in some way. There are some words l used to use that l hear and wonder how l was comfortable using them in the first place. Plus hearing some people use some slang words and even write them in a text makes me cringe, don't nail me.
Here are some of the slang words we were using in my school.
Gwa - place
On che` (read as chic without the ic but e) - On point
Kiro mo- the last night of school when you eat all your remaining grab
Goof (past tense gwaf, facepalm!) - to beat
Pheewww, l don't even remember many of them but what a time to have lived! I feel sixty whenever l hear people use such words.
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| Here's a picture of Maryhill girls l found online (not that am on it) but just imagine me in that loyal blue uniform. |
