Secrets of teen slang

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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/01/03/nteen103.xml

Bestselling book reveals secrets of teen slang
By Richard Savill and Caroline Gammell
Last Updated: 2:25am GMT 04/01/2008

If "jamming" after school is "vanilla", you could always "tear" for a "za"
with your friends.

For most people over the age of 15 - particularly bemused parents
struggling to understand the ever-shifting changes in teenage slang - this
sentence will mean absolutely nothing.

But now, with an idea that started off as a joke, a 13-year-old girl has
written a best-selling dictionary translating such language for the benefit of
an increasingly bewildered adult generation.

Lucy van Amerongen's The A-Z of Teen Talk was a surprise hit this
Christmas, with parents and teenagers snapping up the ￡4.99 book.

Over the course of a year, the Cheltenham Ladies College student from
Box, near Nailsworth, Glos, compiled a list of 300 words or phrases and
their meaning.

Lucy designed her book to help the "rents" or "mouldies", otherwise known
as parents, understand what she and her sisters were saying.

"I hope this will clear up a lot of confusion for other families, and it's a
great feeling to see my name in print," she said.

Her father, Victor, 52, a television commercial director, said she struck
upon the idea while on holiday as she chatted to her two sisters, Rosie, 11,
and Amii , 23. He and his wife Amanda, 54, complained as they could not
understand them.

"It was gibberish. That's when Lucy said she should write a dictionary so
we could understand them.

"It's all a bit fun, but I bet it will shed a bit of light on the strange
mumbo-jumbo of teenagers' talk for a lot of other parents," he said.

Lucy also issued three golden rules to go with the language
- never make eye contact when talking to a "mouldie", always mumble
inaudibly and if possible include the word "like" in, like, every sentence.

She had offers from three publishers and Lucy accepted an advance of
￡1,000 from Sussex-based Ravette. The book went on sale in September
and more than 3,000 of the initial print run of 5,000 have already been
sold.

Ravette is planning updated versions.

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A to Z of teen terms
Book: an adjective to describe something that's really cool. That's because
it's the first option given in predictive text when typing "c o o l".

Cotch down: hang out, chill or sleep. Thought to derive from the French
word for sleep, "coucher".

Dash: to pass something to someone.

Elton: a lavatory. Derived from the fact that "john" means this in America,
and the name of a well-known pop star.

Flat roofin': to be overworked and stressed, as in "I was flat roofin' for my
GCSEs".

Gash: unpleasant, ugly.

Hench: strong, tough - particularly to describe a boy.

Igry: embarrassed. "Stop doing that, you're making me igry."

Jamming: hanging around.

Klingon: younger child - particularly your irritating brother or sister.

Laters butters: goodbye, see you.

Mouldies: parents. Abbreviation for "mouldy oldies". See also rents.

Nang: cool, excellent, brilliant.

Oudish: very good, excellent, wicked.

Pantypop: the act of passing wind.

Rago: whatever, OK, allow it.

Safa: very cool, superlative version of safe.

Tear: to leave quickly, run away. "You ready to go? Then let's tear"

Unass: to relinquish or surrender control of an object.

Vanilla: boring, dull - particularly when referring to someone's taste in
clothes. "Look at her checkers - vanilla or what!"

Wafwaan: what's up, what's going on. Originally from Jamaican slang

Yoot: child, children.

Za: abbreviation of "pizza". "Let's grab a za before the movie."

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Urban Dictionary is a slang dictionary with your definitions.

http://www.urbandictionary.com/book.php