This got me thinking about if there were any anti-languages
that I heard of or used. The first think that I thought of was the
abbreviations that we used while texting or chatting online. Like the use of “lol”,
“smh”, “idk”, and many more. I feel this is a type of anti-language because if
you’re not part of the generation that has adopted this type of language you
will have a hard time understanding what is being said. It defiantly isn’t as
complicated as the example she mentioned in class like Polari or the cockney
rhyming slang, but when these saying are used you can get a better
understanding of what type of group or generation they belong to.
I then realised that I also used anti-language as a way to
be secretive and that was when I was younger and with my friends to try and be “cool”
but at the same time not get in trouble with my parents. As with most my
parents were defiantly not okay with me swearing so to try and be sneaky we
would say “shut the front door!” or “what
the french toast”. Our parents had no
idea what we were saying but we felt so cool because to us, that was the same
thing as swearing.
Here is a funny Orbit Gum commercial that uses some of that disguised
swearing I was talking about.
I completely agree with you in that I too have used "anti-languages" throughout my life and hadn't even known they had a title. Just as you mentioned, my friends and I used anti-languages to tell secrets. I guess in a sense, that could be taken as a way of signaling in and out-groups. On AIM, for example, we would use "pos" when our parents were over our shoulders as to not say anything inappropriate. My parents never understood what it meant. As well, we would talk in "gibberish" at lunch so no one other than us would understand the conversation...it wasn't our proudest years.
ReplyDeleteI'm trying to think of an instance today in which we still use anti-languages. I definitely agree with the texting/online acronyms, but otherwise, I'm blanking. I think when you're little and you start to uncover swear words, it's normal for any generation to make up words to replace the "bad words." I've been a camp counselor for a few years, and my campers have been middle school aged and younger. Their favorite anti-language word is probably "fudge." We actually implemented a rule in which if they swore, they would have to hold their hand above their head for 30 seconds (I don't think any of us understood the significance of this..it was just funny). It encouraged a lot more use of anti-language though: "shoot," "crap," "danget."
Do you think there is a consequential/ethical difference in using anti-languages rather than their everyday counterparts?
I thought this post was extremely interesting because I as a child, too, was very guilty of using anti-languages in order to avoid trouble. While my parents have never really cared about the language I used, I knew it was inappropriate to use at school or in front of other people who may not be as lenient. My parents just figured that if they didn't ban words from my vocabulary, and instead explained why people use them, that I wouldn't grow up to use them as frequently as others (in which case they were correct.) But still, for fun, my friends and I had to have created over 100 "languages" that only we could understand in elementary school. This way, we could still talk about the boys we had crushes on (obviously top secret), other people in our classes (we were 10 years old and gossipy... sorry), and also to say "bad words" that we weren't allowed to say out loud. We thought we completely escaped the system, but in reality, our made-up languages were simple to understand. Regardless, I believe that these sort of anti-languages have become a part of life, even today. As you stated, "lol" and "gtg," as well as other "text-messaging" languages have become part of our vocabulary as we got older... all of which have evolved from a new type of language. I guess in some sense, the anti-language is the actual language we commonly use, and it evolves with us as we get older, as well as being edited by younger generations. We decide what is acceptable and unacceptable, and then come up and create new "codes" or words to use the ones we're not supposed to, anyway. I think this topic is very interesting and intriguing, and I am curious and excited to see the different terminology used amongst my peers as we continue to grow older, as well as the new words being used by future generations.
ReplyDeleteAmanda Schmerin