Much like “shade” (as in throwing it) and “dead” (as in, of laughter). Not to forget “tea” (as in, gossip). Now along comes “slap” — to be excellent or amazing. It’s reminding me of the Words with Friends game, where you win by knowing the incorrect spelling of words that don’t actually exist.

I really haven’t much considered the word “extra” as anything other than “additional.” In today’s lingo, it’s come to refer to as “going too far” … overly dramatic. You know, like so many mothers-in-law and/or their daughters-in-law. Which reminds me of a DIL story: To prepare the server about her mother-in-law, she tipped the waitress lavishly in advance of a family dinner out. “Anything to keep the peace.”

In the continuing search for clarity on the language of life today, I came across the term “hack.” I was fairly certain that I knew its current meaning — something about knowing how to break into software code and/or protected devices. (As opposed to its prior meaning, loosely, to cut into in order to clear away.) So. I was wrong. The word “hack” today has what I would consider a counter-intuitive meaning. Take a look.

Mothers-in-law make a fair point. Today’s Millennials and Gen-X’ers don’t always speak the same language as their baby boomer parents and in-laws. It’s not like they are speaking in code. It’s more that they just love to take perfectly good words and mangle them into something altogether different.