Literacy

Don’t get triggered, life’s LIT

I thought I would use recess and lunchtime as an opportunity to get the low-down on our students’ vernacular. What better way is there but to catch them out while they are eating and being social with their friends?

Plan A

Weave in and out of groups and listen to their various conversations. I would nod and smile and somehow work out their lingo by listening and attempting to use it in chats. I would be one of them.

I was unsuccessful.

Somehow, they knew it was me.

They saw me coming a mile away. As soon as I commando rolled into their group, wearing my work attire, they would shut down their dialogue and just stare at me in a confused manner.

I admit. It was a bad technique.

Plan B

Just walk near the groups and pretend to tie up my shoe (which was a classy boot with no laces). Genius!

It worked, and this is what I discovered.

The new terms stem from materialist items or violent connotations. ‘Gucci’ has obviously come from the Italian fashion line. However, words like ‘slaying’ and ‘triggered’ seem to evolve from violence. Although ‘slaying’ has a positive meaning it derives from quite a vicious act. ‘Triggered’ has less than ideal imagery, especially with mass gun shootings in America.

I have to say, I am not surprised that students are using unsettling terms to describe innocent moments in life. I am not surprised students are using materialistic brands to describe situations. We know our society is becoming more and more desensitised to violence and more exposed to labels. We are intrinsic consumers, and we expect and demand a better product as soon as the first one has launched. We know we are open to more horrific stories via social media, movies, and gaming.

The phrases our students are using are clever and creative and we shouldn’t be ‘triggered’ by them. Shakespeare formed phrases to create imagery of the moment; his audience could immediately connect because they were relevant, intense and gained an audience attention. The infamous Lady Macbeth speaks of an infant in the following way:

I would, while it was smiling in my face,

Have plucked my nipple from his boneless gums

And dashed the brains out, had I so sworn

As you have done to this.

See? That’s raw. That’s intense. That gets you thinking AND talking.

So, let’s talk to our teens. Let’s work out what they are REALLY saying before we get triggered.

It is what it is. It’s ‘Lit Fam’. No need to be ‘shook’ about it. Just get with it and connect.

Claire Hanley

Literacy Learning Specialist