Testing Teachers on Slang?

Are teachers caught up on recent slang or do they need to do their homework on this generation’s favorite phrases? I took five slang words that have been popular with teens  either on social media or in daily conversation and quizzed teachers on their meanings. On a daily basis teachers have to listen to students using the same slang, but do they really know what these words mean? 

The first word that I asked them about was “cap.” I assumed that cap would be the easiest phrase for them to answer as it is the most commonly used. As expected, when asked what something being “cap” meant, AP U.S. History teacher Adam Henry confidently responded with, “ it’s a lie.” However, Tom Miller, a science teacher at BHS, responded with “capitalization.”

The second word that I quizzed these teachers on was “fam.” I figured that this word would also be pretty straightforward and that the teachers would not struggle too much to determine its meaning. During his interview, Adam Henry answered my question by saying “family.” On the other hand, Mr. Miller simply shook his head.

Next, I asked the teachers to define the word “goat” which is an acronym for the “greatest of all time.” I was unsure whether or not the teachers knew this word, but Mr. Henry proved me wrong by easily answering my question, “greatest of all time.” However, Mr. Miller said, “I have no idea.”

For the final two words, I decided to quiz them on phrases that are typically used on social media rather than in everyday conversation. I started by asking the two teachers what the slang for “Roman Empire” meant. Seeing as they are teachers, it was unsurprising when they both responded with similar answers. Mr. Henry said, “The Roman Empire is a really important civilization in ancient history.” Similarly, Mr. Morgan also said that it was an ancient civilization. While the Roman Empire is in fact an ancient city, its slang meaning is something a person often thinks about or is of great importance to them.

Finally, I asked the two teachers about the word that I believe to be the hardest on this list, “Beige Flag.” This is a phrase that was trending for a few months on TikTok last year, meaning a trait that is neither good or bad, but is somewhere in the middle. When I asked them the meaning of this statement they both said that they had never heard of the phrase. This is unsurprising considering they would have needed to have come across the trend on social media in order to know the meaning of the term. 

At the end of my interview with Mr. Miller, I asked him whether or not he ever used slang in the classroom. After he confirmed that he in fact did not use slang, I asked whether or not he thought his students would like it if he did. To this he said, “My job is not to entertain, it is to teach,” leaving little to assume about his opinion on slang phrases.

After interviewing the two teachers, I decided to ask a student what their opinion regarding teachers using slang in the classroom. When Mira Tomer-Lawhead was asked whether or not she found teachers using slang to make classes more entertaining she responded with “Yes, because sometimes it’s funny.” Thus, it seems like students have more positive attitudes towards the use of slang in the classroom than  teachers do.

I can now conclude that our teachers  are most familiar with words such as “cap” or “fam” which are both commonly used among students. However, they are less familiar with phrases used mainly on social media. This shows that most teachers' knowledge of slang comes from their students' usage rather than their own indulgences. If these teachers want to improve their knowledge of students' vocabulary, they might want to engage in a few lessons of their own.

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Written by Adaia Ivory

Photography by Adeline Elder