Children's Children

At times, I like to imagine that some relative/relative of friend of mine will, in some time far into the future, "discover" this blog. The familial links over time, place and generational tree will be so immeasurably complex and long winded that any possibility of communicating the existence of this "space" will shrink to negligibility.

In such a situation, then, the "discovery" will be both accidental and probably (hopefully) stimulating. To you, far removed reader, is this dedicated.

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Back in the days when I was a jamuna-paar shady day scholar (I hope this phase is not completely alien), we had what is called "slang". Certain words used in certain ways to describe certain opinions, and their meanings diverge from the dictionary definition.

The thing about slang - which is one of my favourite words by the by - is that it possess certain characteristics that make it interesting:
(a) Extremely localized: the same set of words can have varying implications at different places; indeed meaning may vanish altogether.

(b) Extremely quick at changing: over time, words live and die with high velocity.

(c) "Cultural" implications: slang is often a short-form "instrument" for the communication of a set of ideas otherwise hard to express. The fact that such communication is needed may tell us something about the communica-tor and the communica-tee.

What is particularly interesting is how yours truly has himself changed/let go of/taken on slang as and when I've shifted around on this pale blue dot. 

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Here are three words, then, that I used to use, or heard being used, while being the shady day-sci. Why three? Because three equals infinity.

1. "Arbit" - short form for arbitrary. When I first heard it I thought people were saying "Arbid". True story. It could either be form of mild contempt; or just plain wonderment at the mental faculties of the opposite party. Since my mental faculties were in their infancy, I got this a lot. Many years on, I suspect my mental faculties are still struggling out of their pram, the yolk spilling on the sidewalk (not pavement).
2. "Senti" - short for sentimental. Being "senti" was never a good thing. It meant your emotions were getting the better of you. If a tiny thing like emotion could get the better of me, that better part of me wasn't worth it! In the battle of emotion versus the better of me, I'm proud to say, emotion has always won. If you can marry being "senti" with "cold" logic, the fire-ice dance can be truly magical.
3. "Giving gyaan" - this usually meant someone talking about something they either knew little about, or the listener could not possibly care less about. Perhaps the last two statements are really saying the same thing. I don't know. I'm not giving gyaan here.

I have not used any of these in the last 5 years.

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What about now, that is, the American United States? If you were quick about it, you'd have caught at least one piece of slang in the bulleted list above.

Here's two, then:

1.   "Shoulda-coulda-woulda" short for "should have been, could have been, would have been". I find this particularly interesting because it has at least two interpretations. Either it means that there is little point in think about what may have happened, since that did not actually take place. This is a very practical sort of thinking. Or it means that attempting to understand what may have happened is the only valid way of understanding what happened. This is even more practical. 
2. "Have a good one" - does it get any more American? This is technically incorrect English (have a good one what?), is extremely vague in what it means and yet conveys a sense of companionship without any idea of what it would take to be a good companion. Whatever it is you're having, sex, ice cream or a game of football, have a good one. Don't fake it, man, have a good one, go on.

That completes it then, the time capsule can now be closed.