Not long ago, my friend’s mother was driving couple girls and myself to lacrosse practice. All of the sudden, she brought the car to a quick halt, nearly giving each of us whiplash. All confused as to why her mother’s jaw dropped and eyes were swerving just as much as her car, we sat there abashed and curious as to what in the world could possibly make her react so strangely.

“What do you mean she hooked up with him for a scavenger hunt?” her mom asked.

It took more than a few seconds for me to realize how casually the term “hooked up” flew from my mouth.

Back in the day, the definition of “hook up” had a completely different meaning. It did not mean a pop kiss goodbye, or even french kissing. It implied sexual intercourse along with other vulgar actions in which only those in a relationship took part of. As time went on, the term evolved and is now used on a daily basis in the lives of teenagers.

Do we really speak our own language? We may think so, but to our parents some of our phrases sound not only foreign, but are also taken way out of context.

When we say “are you going to the jam?” peanut butter and jam sandwiches come to their mind. Then after further explanation, it only gets worse. “That’s my jam!” could refer to either my favorite song, my own party or an actual jar of jam.

The meaning of modern day teenager lingo is a world apart from what our parents’ generation is comfortable with, making communication even more difficult, misleading and baffling than before.