I'm a native English speaker but there are days when nothing but the verb is coherent in other people's sentences. Even when I was in high school, I didn't really like using super new slang when I talked. It wasn't that I was resisting being like everyone else. My desire when I communicate was that no one needed a secret codebook to understand what I was trying to say.
Now with the online games/hackers who use L33t speak, pop culture, and texting shortcuts, I'm screwed because I don't have the same lexicon as everyone else it seems. For example, I posted on my Facebook page about how my wireless cut out but I was still listening to Pandora. Someone wrote the comments, "Buffering FTW!"
I stared at in and thought, are they dyslectic because I know WTF, mate but that is not appropriate for a response. (see if somehow I'm slightly more hip that you & you haven't seen it yet)
My friend looks over, sees my befuddled face, reads the text, and explains, "For The Win, Melissa."
Right, isn't that just obvious?
Seriously, an acronym for 9 letters and 2 spaces? Are people wanting to be misunderstood? That's why I am always on the lookout for a better word to use that fits like the last puzzle piece when I talk. Maybe I'm retro in how I talk and but the meaning of the word you can't understand in my sentence, can be found in the dictionary and not some vague cultural reference that only a few plugged-in people will get.
I guess my quest for a better word will leave me with a constant I-think-that-was-English face when speaking to those who don't want to enrich their vocabulary with words that actually exist.
Adieu,
Melissa