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Robert Rosenthal

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'Weed' And 21 Other Definitions That Don't Translate From My Dad To My Daughter

Posted: 10/29/11 12:34 PM ET

To my father, Spam was canned ham. To my daughter, it's naughty, annoying email. Here are 21 more expressions which mean something totally different to him than to her.

Tweet
To my father: what a bird says.
To my kid: what Kim Kardashian says.

Tea party
To my father: knew it as an afternoon gathering of ladies eating finger sandwiches.
To my kid: thinks it's a gathering of angry people holding up misspelled signs.

Pre-game
To my father: the period before the actual game began.
To my kid: drinking before the actual drinking begins.

CD
To my father: 'certificate of deposit,' a financial product that once earned interest.
To my kid: what parents used to listen to music on before iTunes.

Stream
To my father: running water in the woods. (Later in life, the efficiency of his bladder to evacuate.)
To my kid: what gets Justin Bieber performing on her computer screen.

Like
To my father: a positive sentiment, generally about a person, place or thing.
To my kid: a "button" (on Facebook) expressing one's vote of agreement.

Text
To my father: the original words of something written or printed.
To my kid: phone message made up of the letters OMG, LOL & WTF.

Junk
To my father: the stuff in one's attic.
To my kid: the stuff in one's pants.

Chat
To my father: what you do in person with friends.
To my kid: what you do on a computer with buddies.

Social network
To my father: friends and neighbors with whom you actually hang out.
To my kid: people you "know" on Facebook and Twitter, most of whom you've never met.

#
To my father: number sign
To my kid: hashtag

Roaming
To my father: What the buffalo did on the range.
To my kid: Excessive phone charges, paid by parent.

Swipe
To my father: to steal.
To my kid: what you do with a credit card, also paid by parent.

The shit
To my father: what a dog left on the sidewalk.
To my kid: something awesome.

The bomb
To my father: Hiroshima.
To my kid: also something awesome.

Reality
To my father: the state of things as they actually exist.
To my kid: TV shows that bear no resemblance to the state of things as they actually exist.

The Jersey Shore
To my father: The beach where Jersey people went in the summer.
To my kid: A "reality" show featuring halfwits exhibiting bad behavior.

The situation
To my father: A state of affairs.
To my kid: Asinine guy with great abdominals, exhibiting bad behavior.

Digital
To my father: A thermometer.
To my kid: An entire way of life, dude.

Arnold Palmer
To my father: best golfer ever.
To my kid: iced tea and lemonade.

Weed
To my father: what grew on the lawn.
To my kid: what the kids bring to school.

What others can you think of?

 

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To my father, Spam was canned ham. To my daughter, it's naughty, annoying email. Here are 21 more expressions which mean something totally different to him than to her. Tweet To my father: what a...
To my father, Spam was canned ham. To my daughter, it's naughty, annoying email. Here are 21 more expressions which mean something totally different to him than to her. Tweet To my father: what a...
 
 
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10:04 PM on 11/03/2011
Adorable article, Robert; I got a few chuckles reading it and some of the comments. I'm not as clever as you are, but I thought of a couple, since another poster already mentioned thongs!!

Crash
To my father, a car accident.
To my kid, Aghhh...my computer!

A mouse in the house
To my father, I'll set a trap.
To my kid, please buy me a new one.
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HUFFPOST BLOGGER
Robert Rosenthal
12:09 PM on 11/04/2011
thanks Mary, appreciate it.
08:44 AM on 11/03/2011
How about "friend"?
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HUFFPOST BLOGGER
Robert Rosenthal
11:24 AM on 11/03/2011
Yes.
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MSROADKILL612
am not convinced geothermal energy is above ground
03:24 AM on 11/03/2011
Well hung referred to a correctly installed door
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MSROADKILL612
am not convinced geothermal energy is above ground
11:48 PM on 11/01/2011
grommet is a young novice surfer here in OZ
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MSROADKILL612
am not convinced geothermal energy is above ground
07:06 PM on 11/01/2011
cant re-find the post bi liked it

father - moderately difficult word i forget
son - unknown

me - dont bother with anthropomorphism then
GraceNotes
We live for books.
02:29 PM on 11/03/2011
The word "cant" originally also meant slang. Or, every word in the article above.
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MSROADKILL612
am not convinced geothermal energy is above ground
11:46 PM on 11/03/2011
well sort of. One of its many meanings is a private language of a particular class. Once it becomes generally known, it is no longer cant it seems. So lame e.g. is not cant tho once was.

fanned
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MSROADKILL612
am not convinced geothermal energy is above ground
06:53 PM on 11/01/2011
mate, the fishing was so bad, even the liars werent catching anything - OZ
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MSROADKILL612
am not convinced geothermal energy is above ground
06:50 PM on 11/01/2011
a nip and tuck is gender reassignation surgery
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MSROADKILL612
am not convinced geothermal energy is above ground
06:43 PM on 11/01/2011
PS - if you speak formal english texting & emailing - u need a life
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MSROADKILL612
am not convinced geothermal energy is above ground
06:41 PM on 11/01/2011
to all the grouches out there - set a good example & speak correct english yourself & teach the a passion for reading - they are not as dumb as you think unless you really insist & create a self fulfilling prophecy - they know the difference between formal & fun english - worst you can do is underestimate & undermine them
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MSROADKILL612
am not convinced geothermal energy is above ground
06:35 PM on 11/01/2011
i told some thai friends we came back to OZ via the suez - caused some very puzzled looks til the penny dropped for me
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MSROADKILL612
am not convinced geothermal energy is above ground
06:24 PM on 11/01/2011
snapping handbags - crocodiles in north OZ
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MSROADKILL612
am not convinced geothermal energy is above ground
06:23 PM on 11/01/2011
wrinkles - old people
07:51 PM on 11/01/2011
pimples: Young people
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
homerc85
06:17 PM on 11/01/2011
Worst article ever...I now feel dumber for reading almost the whole thing.
10:06 PM on 11/03/2011
I thought it was a nice respite from all the other crap going on in the world.

Instead of being so negative, you could have joined in and given us some word variables to smile at.
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MSROADKILL612
am not convinced geothermal energy is above ground
06:02 PM on 11/01/2011
lame meant a leg injury
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Kirtai
05:37 PM on 11/01/2011
This is stupid. Almost as pointless as me commenting on the pointlessness. My 78 year old grandma knows these things. I was expecting some slang that kids use that people in their thirties don't understand. For instance, the children at the school I work at use the terms "beast" and "Caliswag."