The days when the word 'cool' really is cool may be numbered, or at least that's the word in the playground. A survey of schoolchildren's slang by publishers Penguin may have revealed it to be the most popular word of the moment, but in our ever-changing world who's to say that cool will not go the same way as 'fab', 'ace' and 'awesome' and become seriously uncool - or should I say 'chad' or 'dry'.
The survey of 1,000 seven-to14-year-olds was conducted with schools through the Puffin book club last summer. Other alternatives to 'cool' were revealed as: wix, sick, deep, bodashes, mint, oudish, the nuts, animal, mad, cracker, crovey, heavy, large, banging and mesmeric. As for 'groovy', this too may not be cool for much longer, especially in the south-east - one Essex schoolboy said that groovy is a 'girl way of saying cool'.
Da bomb
Dictionaries, too, can be a bit behind the times. The Oxford Online Dictionary only added 'Girl Power' at the beginning of this year. In response, CBBC's Newsround website challenged children to e-mail the 'in'
words they would add to the dictionary, with some interesting results. The list for alternatives to 'cool' seems endless, with Ashley, 13, from East Linton, writing in to add 'slamming' and Tameka, 14, from Peckham, explaining, 'I used to say it's wicked, now I say "it's da bomb" to mean it's the best.'
New phrases posted on the site include 'she thinks she's all that and a bag of chips', for someone who really thinks they're it. And, according to the Penguin survey, if you find yourself being told to talk to the hand or the elbow, someone really isn't listening to you. 'And your point is?' may well be a retort to any critical remark a parent may make - as in 'This TV programme is rubbish' - and if you are being seriously embarrassing you risk being told, 'Are you aware that you're talking aloud?'
With the 'in crowd'
So why do these buzzwords develop? Dr Marion Farmer, a child psychologist at the University of Northumberland, explains that as children become adolescents, getting on with their peer group becomes the most important relationship to them. 'Using slang acts as a way of binding yourself into the group,' she says. 'You could be seen as different if you didn't use the same sort of language. And the way you communicate is one of the most defining features as to whether you're popular at school.' She adds that, 'Being in the "in" crowd is the most important thing for children.' Hence the need and desire for children to express themselves with 'in' words.
The editor of the New Compact Penguin English Dictionary, Nigel Wilcockson, confirms that children love to play with language and that their new words can have many different meanings. At one school that took part in the Penguin survey, Wilcockson says, 'greb' means 'skateboarder' or 'wierdo'.
'Safe' can mean 'thanks', but also 'trustworthy', as in 'you're safe'. New words already added to the dictionary by Penguin include 'pants', 'manky'
and 'dis'.
Bling! Bling!
Liz Vowles, an English teacher at Hendon School in north London, says that there is a definite trend for children to use language originating from an urban black community, as black culture - especially black music - is considered cool. Boys at her school might wear a diamante-like stud in their ear and describe it as 'blinging', a word used for something shiny and glamorous. Similarly, if a boy or girl 'is looking really good' they will say 'Bling! Bling!' The really 'in' word for cool at Liz's school is 'dark', which, she says, 'means cool, but in a clever way'.
Children also adapt language slightly to make the meaning their own. Liz says, 'If I tell someone off in a lesson and the rest of the children think it's unfair they call out, "Oh, allow it, miss!" If a child says, "She was really ignorant when I last saw her", what they really mean is, "She was ignoring me." There they've used an existing word and changed its meaning in the absence of an adjective.'
We might say that someone's legs 'buckled' under them but children will shout out 'Buckle!' whenever someone falls over in the playground. Other phrases Liz has noticed include, 'I've been jacked!' said when something has been stolen (originating from the word 'hijack') and the very popular 'Is it?' which is basically said all the time as a statement of disbelief.
So, if you want to stay 'cool', keep your ears to the ground.
