When my family was visiting two weekends ago, we were having a conversation on the train ride home from the city, and I said something along the lines of “We totes have to do that!”
Blank stares.
Totes?
Yes! Totes! Like a shortened version of “totally” – it was added to the dictionary last year! (duh)
They didn’t believe me. I had to look up an article saying it was added to the dictionary, and show it to them*.
I tried to get them to add it to their vocab while they were visiting, but I don’t think it stuck. Darn. Maybe when I see them next week, ha!
So I was thinking about all the stupid little words I say that are shortened versions of longer words. I knew I would be able to make a long list of them, but they just weren’t coming to me. Muah ha ha. A few days with Gina fixed that. Because we sometimes** talk and act like children, and the words were coming out left and right!
However, I think most of these are slang and some of them are made-up. So… you won’t find them in the dictionary, Mom, Dad or Grandma Pete, but you will hear me saying them!
Kim’s list of shortened words she uses that make her sound über intelligent:
totes
fab
deets
jeal / jelly
prezzies
obvs
cray
fave
bestie
brekkie
din din
pajays
fajayjays / fajays
fo sho
delish
hilar
coo
buh
selfie
adorbs
goob
graz
stats
compli / complis
girlies
pita
bevi***
Edited to add:
def
ridic
halfie***
legit
probs
vacay
merch
sammie
cardi
fam
inapprops
obnox
sig
pic
heli
rents
vid
cred
biz
temp
furn
cous
anni
bday
peeps
cellÂ
mugÂ
rec
rollies
hood
Do you say any of these words (or any different ones)? Or are you an actual adult, who thinks it is annoying and immature when people talk this way?
I also have a list of words that Steven and I pronounce incorrectly to each other on purpose… which is unfortunate, since I already cannot pronounce most words!
I bet posts like this make you REALLY want to meet me in person, if you haven’t already. I just sound like such a delight to talk to! Oops! Totes a delight! Obvs. Fo sho.
For what it’s worth, I don’t talk like this all the time, and try not to be too ridiculous at work!
*Ahh, smartphones – can always use them to prove yourself right, or, err, sometimes WRONG!
**Meaning usually.
***A word Gina uses, but I don’t. Yet.
lmao “My daughter is an idiot” aahaha.
I TOTES shorten words. It’s ridic to say the full word sometimes. Sometimes, you’re just tired, you know?
I CANNOT believe I forget ridic! Derp! I edited the last to add it 😉
Redic! That is another one! Totes redic that I forgot about that one!
This post was hilar, btw.
Graz 😉
This post was totes awesome. Whatevs is probably the most frequently used slang that I use. Well, besides an offensive term that involves the letter d and the word bag. Most of the time I’m mispronouncing words to make fun of my kid or using codes to hide things from him.
I unfortunately say the d word a lot too. We have turned it in to douchentasha, which… is still bad. Ha ha ha.
Okay, I do use that a lot, but I actually prefer d-canoe (I know it’s longer than the original, but funnier to me).
D-canoe! FUN!
Ahhhhh! I hate the d-word so I will only say “DB” 🙂 My close (in town) friends have adopted that (at least when they are around me) b/c I actually hate the d-word THAT much!
Um, we make up words sometimes… nothing I feel comfortable posting here. 😉
What is “fajayjay”? I know the “va-jay-jay” from grey’s, but is fajayjay like fajita? 🙂
Exactly 😉 Like “Let’s totes may fajayjays for din din!”
(I would never say that, it would be “Do fajayjays sound good for dinner?”)
brekkie – like breakfast? I never knew how to spell it so I always thought it was breakie. lol I say girly a lot but other that those two I don’t think I abbreviate many words.
Yeah, brekkie is breakfast 😉
I’m guessing these abbreviated words starting getting popular around the time people were texting more.
I use totes, naners (for bananas), cray-cray (which is actually longer than crazy so that’s funny), and Paul and I both use f’real. I’m sure there are others I’m missing too!
This post is ridic hilar and made me laugh on the metr. 🙂
Totes was already a word, as in the plural for a bag. 🙂
I really don’t abbreviate much (unless I’m texting, since the swype texting on my phone just gets annoying). In fact I just had a conversation with a co-worker about how annoying it is that our company tries to abbreviate or make an acronym for EVERYTHING, and sometimes it just doesn’t work out.
Clearly this is a generational difference between us 🙂 But I’m so happy to have learned fajayjay! That’s AWESOME and I will totes be using it!
Someone did think I was talking about the bag when I said totes this weekend. LOL!
We abbreviate and make acronyms for EVERYTHING where I work, which I think it is another reason why I talk this way sometimes 😉
Does your company have an acronym look-up tool that has its own acronym? Because yeah, we’ve got that.
OMG, we do too! And it is a MASSIVE glossary!
“We need someone with RMS or NPD to run ROI and track KPI’s”…blergh!
I have one that I created on my own. But it does not have an acronym for a title. Damn.
I use tons of shorthand when speaking also. Maybe that is one of the reasons we get along so well! My cousin uses one that I’ve never heard anyone else use. “I’m going to hop in the show” as in short for shower. That is certainly one I don’t hear often.
Ha! I am NOT adding that one to the list. No me gusta. LOL. How does she pronounce it?
It is pronounced like “shouw”… basically like “shower” but with no “R”… I wouldn’t expect you to add that one to the list. It is a strange one 🙂
The list is hilarious!!!
Adam and I do have a few words which we mispronounce on purpose based on the phonetic pronunciation – most notably lasagna and gyros. Adam also pronounces pumpkin “pump-uh-kin.” Then, my dad pronounces rotisserie as rositterie, and my friend Mark pronounces breakfast as breafkast.
Totally random, I know.
Ha ha ha! We say la-zag-na! Is that how you say it?!
I don’t know if I abbreviate so much as inappropriately mispronounce or make up new words for things. We do tend to use “double words” when talking to our dogs “Do you want a treat-treat?” “Let me get your leash-leash” (And others) WOW…I can’t believe I’m admitting that to the internet.
haha! It seems that once more I am the grumpy old one. I actually hate it when people use those abbreviated words. It seems that teaching the most spoiled undergrads in the entire LA, the capital of pretentious fake-cute girls, has ruined it for me. Plus, what is it with the refusal to use any multi-syllable words in this country?
We’re Americans – trying to find a shortcut for everything 😉
FINALLY! someone who speaks my language! 😀
I need to print this list out and start using some of these words. I want to be hipper fo sho!
There are probably some words I use IRL that are shortened or slang, but I mostly use them when leaving comments or in emails to certain people. Although, Jason and I call bagels “beagles” because in college that was what the cafeteria put on the menu board one day. And we like to say “shrimps” instead of shrimp thanks to The Birdcage (and ’cause we think it’s hilarious).
You forgot my most despised one: Sammie
Ahh! How could I forget sammie?!??! Added.
I totes use PITA all of the time! I also use the word breke (breakfast)
Ha! Totes! I’m totes gonna use it! I use whatev too. All the time. I also use ridic, bestie, and vacay that are on your list. Funny, when I type my “words” they are all underlined in red telling me they are misspelled. It’s obvs word check and I don’t speak the same language!
Hmm, something is totes wrong with your spell check! Hee hee.
The convo bubbles on your parent’s pic are too, too funny!!!
And, yes, I shorten way too many words for a thirty something.
My fave phrase lately is TOTES JEALLY. TOTES love it.
This is hilarious! I have made up words that my kids and I say and often forget that they are not real words until I say them in front of others and they look at me funny.
Ha ha ha. That is awesome! 🙂
This whole post just made LOL! 🙂 My husband gets SOOOOO annoyed with me because I shorten words ALL the time. I always say WHATEVS instead of whatever and tried to call Jack in the Box JtotheB for the longest time. He could never figure out what I was talking about and then woudl just get frustrated. And sometimes I think Cray Cray in my head for crazy, but can’t actually get myself to say that one out loud. ha ha!