Lucas is Hipper than Me
Apparently, Lucas is up on all the latest slang–much more so than I am.
I mentioned that he dubbed my brother’s girlfriend, Courtney, “Bou.” It seems I’ve been spelling it incorrectly.
Here’s what the Oxford English Dictionary has to say:
boo 2
• noun US informal a person’s boyfriend or girlfriend.
— ORIGIN 1980s: origin uncertain; probably an alteration of French beau ‘boyfriend, male admirer’. (<–Careful and geeky readers will note the British punctuation here.)
Also, Lucas informs me with deadly certainty that the word “awesome” means yucky or bad, and that the word “awful” means good. It has a certain logic to it when you consider the meanings of “loathsome” and “wonderful.”
Kids these days…
I'm a busy freelance editor and writer, wife to Ian, and mother to two precious boys. I am living each day to the fullest and with as much grace, creativity, and patience as I can muster.
"Love doesn't just sit there like a stone; it has to be made, like bread, remade all the time, made new." —Ursula K. LeGuinn
January 19, 2006 at 2:59 pm
“Boo” is in fact, urban slang. If you listen closely to hip-hop, or R&B hits, you will hear it in song lyrics. There is even a song that is a duet between Usher and Alicia Keyes called “My Boo” How your 3 year old son knows about this, I can’t tell you. Maybe the kids at pre-school listen to a lot of Usher.
January 19, 2006 at 4:19 pm
Um, yah, do you know any black people?
January 19, 2006 at 4:32 pm
Yeah, that’s not the music I listen to. So, let’s say urban slang is not exactly my speciality: I wouldn’t try to edit a book full of it.
January 19, 2006 at 4:32 pm
Not many. But then, I don’t exactly get out much.
January 20, 2006 at 12:26 am
I believe “Boo” clumsily crossed over into mainstream culture with the first screening of “Bringing Down the House”
Seriously, it’s going to sound like a foreign language to you by the time he hits his teens.
January 20, 2006 at 11:00 am
It’s probably your husband’s musical influence.