Hmm
It is reputed to have given the world the word “chav”; now Cheltenham Ladies’ College is teaching it to talk teen, thanks to a pupil. The A-Z of Teen Talk, by 13-year-old Lucy van Amerongen, has been
www.thetimes.com
Lucy came up with the idea for the
The A-Z of Teen Talk after her parents complained they could not understand her conversations with her sisters Rosie, 11, and Amii, 23.
To those who wonder whether a girl from a posh school can really speak the language of the streets, she says that her book does not try to translate “gangsta” slang, just the words that ordinary teenagers are likely to use.
She spent a year picking friends’ brains to come up with a list of about 300 words and phrases used by teenagers, but which are generally unintelligible to anyone over the age of 20.
They include the word “chav” for the working classes, which is supposedly derived from Ladies’ College slang for “Cheltenham average”.