As I discussed in my Conversation Partner (3) blog, I took it upon myself to teach my foreign exchange partner slang words in English. One of the obvious choices to teach her was the infamous "YOLO", coined by the rapper Drake. Just incase you are culturally inept, YOLO means "you only life once." It has been equated to the carpe diem of our day and age, urging people to go out and seize the day and do something crazy because.... you only live once.
I was that annoying girl in high school that would say YOLO to anything anyone said, just because I wanted to grind people's gears. To say I love this saying is an understatement. I think it is so tacky and overused that it has become funny to me. Seeing that I already has a base appreciation for the word, the events that unfolded created a perfect situation for unrestrained laughter.
I explained to Vena that the next word I was going to teach her was YOLO. I tried to explain that it was an acronym; however, that concept was a little over her head. I broke it down by drawing her a diagram and showing her how the letters related. She got the acronym concept, but didn't seem to grasp the meaning of the saying. I asked her if she knew what it meant. She confidently looked me in the eyes with her sweet and innocent eyes and said "yolo is when you really hungry, but you don't know what you want to eat."
Reflecting back on it, it really isn't that funny, but I cracked up. I just could not stop laughing. Overtime, my incessant laughter caught on and we were both busting up in laughter as she realized what she said was pretty far off. For me, the pure incongruity between what she thought it meant and the real meaning was so funny. I just couldn't fathom how she possibly could have even made something like that up. To say that I wasn't expecting that response would be an extreme understatement. The incongruity of the situation for me resulted in unrestrained laughter, not at her expense but instead at the cultural differences that existed between us.
The affects of this experience were two fold. First, I was really able to see how laughter is uncontrollable. It is simply just a bodily reaction that is triggered inside of us. Seeing Vena bust out in laughter, even though she really had no grasp on what was happening showed me that sometimes we can simply just laugh because others our laughing. Second, just as with the last experience, the situation created a large bonding effect between us. Now YOLO is kind of like our inside joke. This fit of unrestrained laughter was able to give us a bond that could only be created by the universal language of laughter.
Teaching slang words is such a great idea! I wish I had thought of that. I think it is hilarious when cross cultural confusion happens. I also use YOLO as a staple in my vocabulary as well.
ReplyDeleteI laughed when I read this, but can see how the humor is magnified if you are there when it happens. Curious how you responded to her YOLO example. I think Vena was on the right track with YOLO as it relates to food. YOLO is when you're really hungry and you eat everything in sight.
ReplyDeleteI had similar experiences with my conversation partner, Omar. I can't count all the times I said something from the American vernacular that would draw an inquisitive look from him. Regardless of how many language courses one takes, it's nearly impossible to fully grasp every part of a language. There is always new slang or saying being introduced by someone highly qualified to enrich the English language...like Drake.
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