Two nights ago, I went to see Jim Gaffigan. Needless to say, he was hilarious. And I’m not intending to write a review of his act. Although, there were two jokes he was making that lead nicely into a problem that it would be wonderful to eliminate in this new year.
He said that his daughter simply says, “On God,” which is supposed to be short for “I swear to God.” As if to imply fencing, he said he initially thought she was saying, “on guard” the first time or two that she said it. And in his defense, how is someone supposed to know what you mean – and not look at you strangely – when you come out with a strange expression like that?
I know, just look on Urban Dictionary, right?
| Related post: |
| Celebrate New Year's and Your Wins |
Gaffigan also took jabs at his kids using ‘sus’ (short for ‘suspicious’) and ‘ris’ (short for ‘charisma’) during his show on Saturday night.
Perhaps it’s comedians that are listening closest to the language that is being used today. Jim Florentine – the guest from way back on Episode 200 of my weekly “Now Hear This Entertainment” podcast – has a line in the open of his podcast each week where he’s referencing “It takes exactly one second to get it out of your mouth, you’re not saving any time, you’re not in a rush,” in referring to people trying to shorten things these days.
I get where these guys are coming from because I see it all the time and am left with a grimace. Over the weekend I saw someone in an Instagram comment use the (ridiculous) word ‘finna,’ which has been made up by Generation Z as short for “fixing to” or, more commonly, “going to.” Yet, in the very same sentence, this commenter said ‘gonna.’ Granted, English teachers aren’t happy with ‘gonna,’ but (a) it’s much better than ‘finna,’ and (b) you just acknowledged that you know ‘gonna,’ so why are you using ‘finna’?
On New Year’s I finally joined the ranks of the millions of people who are TikTok users. Rest assured, you will not see me posting content with ‘POV’ on it on the account that I created. Creators, I’m here to tell you, it has gotten out of hand.
When this trend first began, used properly it was unique. A singer on stage shows you how the audience looks to them from where they’re standing. In other words, we got to see the crowd from their, yup, point of view (POV). Now there are scores of people using that where it isn’t entirely relevant (or needed).
Similarly, memes are published regularly with “No one” with no text after it and then on the next line, “Me,” followed by a description. Let’s take that literally. If no one said anything, then what are you reacting to? It’s being used unnecessarily just because it’s the popular thing to do – yet without understanding. This all harkens back to something Florentine points out – being sheep (followers instead of leaders).
Why the rant this week about all this slang nonsense? It’s not a good look, but it also shows a lack of creativity from people who are supposed to be exactly that – creators.
It’s not unlike the irony in authors and songwriters having poor spelling or bad punctuation or both. These are people who write for a living, yet their emails or blogs indicate otherwise.
This might all sound trivial until the person guilty of these writing offenses gets turned down for job after job that they apply for because the potential employers are turned off by their abuse of and neglect for the English language.
I am often left wondering if people who so regularly use the ridiculous sayings on social media actually talk that way in person. For example, how did they sound around the dinner table over the holidays in talking with their relatives? And if they were perfectly normal in conversation, why can’t they write that way?
There are so, so many creators out there these days – creating podcasts, streaming on Twitch, producing content for YouTube – that it’s difficult enough to build and keep an audience. You don’t want to put yourself at risk of turning them off and losing them because of your slang that they need a decoder ring to figure out.
For more than twenty years I have been helping indie music artists, authors, actors, entrepreneurs, podcasters, filmmakers, small business owners, and more. What challenges are you having in your creator career that I can lend some insight to? Let’s get on a short call together so you can take advantage of all my experience, and I can help and keep you moving forward.