Anyone who really knows me, knows I am a nut about language - namely, the usage and implementation of the English language. Therefore, I have been like a kid in a candy shop these past few weeks, listening to my kids speak and picking out some of the local colloquialisms that are part of their dialect and vernacular. The English language is so endlessly fascinating because it is spoken so many places, and in so many different ways. A few of the teachers here are from the Midwest, and I love listening to them talk, too. Even though I have been firmly told that "Midwesterners DON'T have an accent"...I beg to differ :)
Here are some of the words & phrases I hear in my classroom every day:
- "Stink". This refers to anything that is stinky. 'Stink shoes' is something I've heard more than once, and it is a very popular adjective in my students' writing.
- "I jokes" is what the kids say in the place of 'just kidding'. I hear "I jokes" most often when I call a child out on their behavior, because they think I will let them off the hook if they act like they didn't mean it (note: they almost always mean it, and I almost never let them off the hook).
- "How come?" is an automatic response whenever I make a decree or lay down the law. Example:
Student: "Can I sharpen my pencil?"
Ms. Demme: "No."
Student: "How come?"
Ms. Demme: "Unless the wood is scraping the paper, you don't need to sharpen your pencil. Sit down."
- "Of course" is another one of my favorites. The kids say this to me and to the other kids whenever they are trying to point out that something is obvious. The way they say it is so deadpan, it just kills me.
- "Be mischief" basically means running amok and causing mayhem. As far as I can tell, "be mischief" can run the gamut from innocent fun to getting in serious trouble.
- "Play out" is the general term the kids use for playing outside with friends. Playing out often leads to being mischief, so the two kind of go hand-in-hand. In the writing my students did about life in Stebbins and in their letters to me about themselves, 'play out' and 'be mischief' were often right next to one another on their lists of leisure pursuits.
- "Got gum?" or "You got gum?" - this is a question I hear far too often during the school day, especially since there is no gum allowed in school! My favorite is when kids actually direct this question at me. I give them my best withering look and shake my head, yet it seems like I still get asked pretty regularly.
Those are all the main ones I can think of right now, though I'm certain there are more that I am missing. Each day with my students is an adventure and each day we get to know one another that much better. They are still testing my limits which is to be expected....I am the new kid on the block in the middle school, and of the three of us middle school teachers, I am the lone female (which may or may not be working to my advantage...). Regardless, I am determined to earn their respect, and I can't do that by being, as one student suggested, "less strict, more fun." Right now strict is a good thing as far as I'm concerned, and we will be having plenty of "fun" as soon as they show me a bit more accountability as students. It's all good, though - - I love what I'm doing and I am going to continue to give 100% every day, regardless! They are middle schoolers, after all...school is pretty low on their list of priorities. I remember middle school ALL too well...'school' and 'learning' were two totally different concepts :)
That's all I have for now! Till next time....
EDIT: Here are some more village-isms, for your enjoyment.
"Not even!" is how you respond if someone is accusing you of something you didn't do. Except my students use it even when it was something they did do, and they are trying to throw me off. Not even.
"I never!" (See above).
"Try come" is a general summons. Sort of like "come here".
"You dumb kid" is an insult of the highest order (kind of). Often paired with 'not even' or 'of course', as in, "Of course, you dumb kid!"
"Holy cow" is still in its heyday up here as an exclamatory statement.
"This kind" is a stand-in for doo-dad or thingy. Example: "He stole my this kind!"
"Really" often begins an exclamatory sentence. Example: when the kids first met Roman, all I heard was "Really big!" "Really soft!" etc. Another favorite phrase is "Really cheap!" which is said in protest to anything thought to be lame or unfair.
Also, the speech patterns I hear sometimes tend towards the Yoda-esque, which is difficult to listen to with a straight face because it is so hilariously endearing. Example: "Really cheap you are!"
DISCLAIMER: I am in no way making fun of the way my students speak. I want to make it clear that I am simply fascinated by their speech patterns/colloquialisms/vernacular strictly from the standpoint of someone who is a lifelong learner of the English language. This is in no way a critique of village language/culture - it is simply a collection of observations I find interesting and which others might find interesting as well.
