Language I have discovered makes remarkable alterations in our conversations and expressions. New and unheard of vocabulary suddenly starts to take shape, abhorred by the elders, welcomed by the new. A sense of identity is established among the creators. Those that follow and adhere to it, become part of a movement or in more plain terms, part of the ‘gang’. ‘Gang’ was as civilized as we could get in our time. In today’s time its thought moronic almost to fall prey to it. There are other more subtle and dramatic expressions, at least to my ears, of reference to fraternity. The ‘gang’ has an altogether more sinister meaning.

I used the word ‘chill’ in one of my tweets, in an effort to display my somewhat non acceptable membership to the elite of genX ! Notice how effortlessly I have submitted to the brevity of expression in what I must believe is a ‘with it’ statement. I was hoping that there would be a roar of appreciation, that, even in this advanced age, would have signalled my compliance with norm, with protocol. Sadly there was no such exuberance. On the contrary, I sensed a repulsion to the usage and a reprimand followed.

” Sorry to say Sir”, it proclaimed “but you should not be using the expression chill. It does not behove someone of your stature” !

Does not behove someone of my stature ? What stature are we talking of in any case ? And why the objection ? And then I came across some reading which defended in a way, what I was facing and gave me  a few thought provoking tuitions. And here they are ~

‘Leave it to the evil young to get all of us old people addicted to e-mail and then to abandon the form in favor of texting, Twitter and FaceBook. It is proving to be one of the Great Age Divides. Old people cannot figure out why anyone would text, tweet or whatever other verb in use, if at all it is one, instead of email. How can you articulate while typing with your thumbs. Why would you want everything you say to be public ?’

Ha Ha … ha ! So correct and true .

Back to the vocabulary and expressions matter then, and it is  believed that - ’slang is now a short hand way to let other people know how old you are. Using too-young slang, for instance, can very easily backfire and make you seem older not younger, than you are. You are obviously trying too hard to be comfortable with something that was obviously minted by and for a generation that came way after yours.’

‘The word awesome is a prime example. Few people over the age of forty can say ‘awesome’ in what sounds like their native tongue. For the most part, if you are older than forty, do not even attempt to say anything more modern than ‘cool’.’

‘Of course you do not want to swing too far the other way and use outmoded words like keen, neat, or smart. It goes without saying that you must avoid such adolescent and hipster lingo as dude, phat and dope. It may however, be possible to successfully straddle the young-old slang divide and come up with something both cool and age-free by using outmoded words with confidence and irony !’

The young say Dude. Old say, Man and the so old it’s young again, would use Baby.

And the same would be for Whip me, Can I hitch a ride ? and Can I get a lift ?

Its a wicked description to all of how not to act old. So there !!

I do not desire youth and the young in expression to confirm I am not young. But what harm if I did ! Any deliberate attempt on my part would rob me of my naturality, even if it was being faked. I would not make effort to impress public vision on my revolutionary genX or Y or Z incubation. It would be private perhaps and better among those close enough. The others would not need it.

Give me then the liberty to indulge within the portals of my extended, with what I believe should be before us. Slang or Staid would surely have to be a decision, personal in nature. So chill ! There ! Did it again ! And who cares. I am within my family. Am I not ??

Love and more and … what would be slang for GN !!

Amitabh Bachchan