Slang is defined as a vocabulary of an informal register, common in verbal conversation but avoided in formal writing. Slang changes constantly and quickly, and is mostly used by young people. Older people are often confused when hearing slang words, so I asked a few teachers around the school to see if they understood.
First up is Mrs. Christman, the Anatomy and Physiology, Medical Microbiology, and AP Research Teacher. The first slang word I asked her is Bet. “Taking you up on it?” was Mrs. Christman’s first and only guess, as she was correct. Bet can be used as an affirmation of sorts. Next, I asked her if she knew what Cap meant. “I don’t know, that’s true?” “It actually means lying,” I responded. “OHHHHH”. Half points is still something. For her final question, I asked if she knew what it meant to Slay. “Doing something really well?” Which I guess is correct? Depends on the situation. Her final score was 2 out of 3.
Next in the ring was Mrs. Floyd. As one of the economics teachers, she’s bound to get at least one right. The first slang word I hoped she understood was, Slay. “It’s like, you look good.” Doing good so far, but next up was, On God. “Is that like, you’re … swearing you did something??” This answer requires debate. It makes some sense, but keep in mind that she said, “I don’t know, what does that mean?” immediately after. So does she really deserve a point? Anyway, the last slang word was, Ate. “Ok so it’s slang … if you eat it then you’re like falling?” Confused, I asked if she meant like falling; or going downhill? “Yeah,” she responded. “If you’re like skateboarding and you eat it, you’re like falling.” No, it means looking good. I’m afraid Mrs. Floyd failed.
For the last match, I interviewed Mr. Billeaudeaux, the Tech Theater teacher. It was a knockout.
First, I asked what bet meant. He responded, “Means like, yeah, of course, we got it, absolutely, it’s a lock.” 1 point so far. Next, what does cap mean? “You’re lying, that’s easy.” Another point, doing great so far. I asked what For Real meant. “Oh for real? It means like are you serious, or it can be like a good thing too, like oh for real that’s great!” Correct, again. I wanted to see how much he really knew, so next I asked about On god. “That means like, that on the bible, I swear to you, I swear that I’m telling the truth” What about Slay? “Oh, that means like you’re killing it bro, slay.” and for the last opponent, ate. “Oh it just means you did a great job.” Billeaudeaux might be a bit of an outlier.
Overall, I believe that more research needs to be conducted on the topic. Most teachers probably fit into the same area as Mrs. Floyd and Mrs. Christman, but there are going to be outliers like Mr. Billeaudeaux. When conducting research, you’re supposed to leave out outliers, or else they will skew the data. So, to answer the research question, do teachers understand slang, only kind of…
