Gag Me with a Spoon

A couple of days ago, the girls and I were in the car. It was starting to get dark, and as we were crossing an intersection, I saw what looked like a headlight on a bike. As we got closer, I noticed that it wasn't a headlight at all. It was a person on a bike on their phone. He was riding with no hands on the handle bars. Instead, he had his phone in his hands and it looked as if he was texting. Yes, he was absolutely texting while riding his bike. Seriously? Yep.

So, of course, I told the girls what I was seeing with my own eyes, but what happened next surely took me by surprise. The older one, who's nine, said:

"O.M.G.! That's totes cray cray!"

Huh? The little one, who's almost 8, starts giggling. If they could see my face, they would have seen bulged eyes and my mouth trying not to crack the smallest of smiles. That got me thinking...what is this tween language, and why is it spreading like wildfire? My girls are not even yet tweens, yet they are talking like them. Why is it annoying me so much?

Is it so hard to say "totally" instead of "totes"? I guess it's too hard to say two syllables instead of one? Same goes for "cray", or used more often, "cray cray". If you're going to say "cray cray", you might as well say "crazy". It's the same amount of syllables. That's not all. I've also heard "supes" and "I know, right?" too many times to count, and they are also getting on my nerves.

But, then my brother reminded me...twenty plus years ago, I was saying "like", like all the time. And, "Like, gag me with a spoon!" I was not a valley girl and didn't live near the valley, but I did live in Southern California which made it appropriate at the time. If the same scenario that I saw happen with the bike had happened back then (granted, there were no cell phones), that is exactly what I would have said. Don't forget "awesome" and "rad". Okay, I still say awesome, but that's not annoying, right?

Seriously, I get that kids want to feel independent and grown up, but it is all happening too fast for me, and this is just another thing that tests my patience. There's just no way I can say these words (and, uh, try to pretend that I'm cool to them) because:

1. Well, obviously I can't get away with it at my age anymore, and
2. I don't want to! It just sounds ridiculous coming out of my mouth.

If there is a dictionary on tween language, I'll definitely buy a copy in the coming years. I admit that I had to Google "totes" after I heard some young people at my workplace say it. So, for now, I guess I have to at least try to keep up with what's coming out of their cray mouths. Awesome.