Lesson 6 — Activity 3: Jargon in the Lives of Youth



 Think about how you communicate daily with your friends, family members, and co-workers. How much of the communication is face-to-face visiting? How much of it is online chatting, texting, or e-mailing? If someone from another generation were to listen to your conversations or read your messages, would they understand them?


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When people talk about "their generation," they are usually referring to people who were born within 8 to 10 years from when they were born. People from the same generation often understand certain words or phrases that others just do not.

People who live and work in the same community have norms to their behaviours and communications. This means that the things they say are easily understood and do not usually require an explanation.


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People from the same areas also have colloquialisms in their language. A colloquialism is a word or phrase that is unique to the people who live and work in one area. Although a word or phrase might have a certain meaning to someone in one area, it might mean something completely different to someone in another area.

Sometimes people do not understand colloquialisms. Sometimes colloquialisms spread to other areas. For example, most Canadians call all tissues "kleenex" although Kleenex is just one brand. Colloquialisms can be strange and fun!

 

Courtesy of Pixabay



Courtesy of Pixabay

Another example of a colloquialism is the term vico. Most people from Saskatchewan are familiar with vico. Do you know what vico is? It's chocolate milk! Vico was the brand name for chocolate milk, and the name just stuck; people all over Saskatchewan still call chocolate milk vico.

Can you think of any colloquialisms common to the area that you live in? 


Canadian colloquialisms are common in every region of the country. If you were to travel slowly across Canada and visit many towns and cities, you would meet people who use certain local words and phrases that you might not understand fully. These colloquialisms are what make language and people so interesting!

Self-check!


Click here to see a list of uniquely Canadian terms.