Teenage girls are our linguistic trailblazers

September 13, 2024 7:15 PM

The way teenage girls speak is often derided, but they are in fact our linguistic trailblazers. Teenage girls are the main accelerators of how language changes and evolves. It's a reminder that the most influential people in our society aren't always the most obvious.
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries (19 comments total)

omg
posted by HearHere at 7:22 PM on September 13 [4 favorites]

What, EVER
posted by potrzebie at 7:50 PM on September 13 [2 favorites]

Like, totally. Fer sher. SLYT (Moon Unit, looking back 40 years later.)
posted by johnabbe at 7:54 PM on September 13

That "in" list is pretty skibidi toilet ohio sigma.
posted by JoeZydeco at 8:04 PM on September 13 [1 favorite]

Has Fetch happened yet?
posted by LeRoienJaune at 8:10 PM on September 13 [4 favorites]

(The best part is that I knew what skibidi toilet was way before my 16 year old daughter wrapped it into her vocabulary and it completely threw her off her game for about half a minute.)
posted by JoeZydeco at 8:12 PM on September 13

It's OK to be cheugy.
posted by flabdablet at 8:30 PM on September 13

This reminds of when Dr Geoff Lindsey took on vocal fry on his YouTube channel. Despite the inflammatory headline, it's a delightful run down of creaky voice, its perception as a young woman's affectation, and how that's wildly wrong.
posted by los pantalones del muerte at 8:37 PM on September 13

I realize that this is actual research on the matter, but I thought that it was a well-known fact that women in general and young women in particular are the forefront of linguistic change?
posted by signal at 8:40 PM on September 13 [4 favorites]

To be fair to poor Moon Unit and her peers, it’s been a long time since I heard anyone complain about the use of “like” as a particle. It’s pretty well accepted in casual speech.
posted by Countess Elena at 8:51 PM on September 13

It's not a coincidence that quite often progress is only made when teenage girls and young women decide they have had enough of our collective BS, linguistically or otherwise.
posted by maxwelton at 8:58 PM on September 13 [2 favorites]

there was a post I saw talking about the word "like" as in "So I was all, like 'whatever' and she was all like "you're not even helping" and stuff -- in that "like" has taken on a new meaning in this context to indicate "something was said, but this is not a direct quote, only an approximation" because if "So I said, "It is OVER", and he said "No it AINT, BITCH" "-- that is more clearly implying acutal direct quotation. ("went" and "go", also, as in " And she went, "way!" and I go "No way!" are more often used for close paraphrases instead of general meaning as "like" is used) and that this is how language evolves
posted by The otter lady at 9:16 PM on September 13

oh, sorry, ChatGPT for those who don't speak stoned otter lady:

In modern informal speech, words like "like" have taken on a role as markers of approximation, particularly in recounting conversations. When someone says, "And I was like, 'whatever,'" they aren't quoting verbatim but signaling that the words reflect the gist or emotional tone rather than an exact quote. Similarly, "went" and "go," in expressions like "And she goes, 'no way!'" tend to imply a paraphrase close to the original words but aren't necessarily precise.

This evolution of language allows for more fluid and expressive storytelling, emphasizing how things felt rather than the exact wording. It's a natural part of language development, where words shift meaning to fit new social functions.
posted by The otter lady at 9:17 PM on September 13

And girls don’t do well, when there’s no one to talk to.
posted by jamjam at 9:22 PM on September 13

I feel there might be a need to distinguish between long-term language change and ephemeral teen culture.
posted by Phanx at 10:45 PM on September 13 [1 favorite]

So they're to blame.
posted by star gentle uterus at 11:10 PM on September 13 [1 favorite]

First well thought out post. Yes, Moon Zappa was a trail blazer as her father Frank. Reminds me of my adolescents "Gag me with a spoon". The preppy years of the 80s. I ran across this news. My first thoughts reflecting back in time. Is,
Moon Zappa would have not, today. Recalling this genre in junior high. Most teenage girls I knew, had the valley girl dictionary in their school desk. Heck, I wanted to be so "preppy". I wore Cohan, penny loafers in PE class playing football. I hope I am not derailing the thread here.
posted by thomcatspike at 11:17 PM on September 13

> I thought that it was a well-known fact

It does say that. "The discovery that young women drive linguistic change is not new". Still a fun article and some phrases with which I can annoy my nieces.
posted by paduasoy at 11:38 PM on September 13

Oh yeah there’s brief bit in the extremely great book Because Internet about how women, especially teenage girls, are the primary sources of linguistic innovation. It’s “water is wet” levels of self-evident within the field of linguistics. The pithy way it’s sometimes described is “boys learn their native language from their moms, and girls learn their native language from one another.”
posted by DoctorFedora at 12:46 AM on September 14