Post to the Host
Host Garrison Keillor answers your questions about life, love, writing, authors, and of course, A Prairie Home Companion.
Youthful Speech
March 3, 2003 |
Dear Mr. Keillor,
I am 43 years old. Recently, I have noticed that my speech is full of what I would call "young person's expressions" - such as cool, sweet, totally and bummer. I really think I should do a better job with my vocabulary. Could you please suggest a few replacement phrases.
Lisa B.
Rochester, NY
Lisa, "cool" is just a tic, not really vocabulary at all. "Sweet" is a perfectly good word. "Totally" is about as expressive as a grunt. "Bummer" is pretty much empty, too. What is it exactly you're trying to say? Maybe nothing. Isn't that the whole point of teenspeak? To turn a blank face to the world and hide the fact that not much is happening behind it? At 43, you're selling yourself short if you stand around talking dumb talk. You've been living a life, right? So express it in whatever terms seem to evoke what's on your mind, your feelings, passions.
|
Previous Post: |
Next Post: |
Post to the Host Archive
- The Lake Wobegon Effect
- Longevity
- Abdication vs. Retirement
- Our Lady of Perpetual Responsibility
- Memory
- Sarah Bellum
- Starting Over
- Do you get to laugh?
- Keep Looking Ahead
- Big City vs. Hometown
- Awful Timing for Love
- Write Funny
- Telling a Story
- Fathers and Daughters
- Big City Yearnings
- Performing in Public
- Visiting Denmark
- Breaking into Show Business
- Moving Back with Mom
- Surviving as a journalist
- Advice for a Competitive Campaign
- A Life-Changing Moment
- In Search of a Wedding Poem
- Trying to turn a passion into a profession
- Spring Break
- American Jokes
- Norwegian Immigration to Lake Wobegon
- One thing leads to another
- All Good Writing is Rewriting
- The Goodbye To Childhood You're On Your Own Now Ceremony
- Skiing in the Alps
- Competing against the young
- Finding confidence
- The value of public universities
- Ruining Lutefisk
- A Christmas Blizzard
- Memoirs
- How do I get noticed?
- Poetry and the Fairer Sex
- Developing a natural voice
- Pentecost
- Boycott
- Anonymous in the Big City
- Thanks to Ford
- Offended
- What happened to that "Sweet Biscuit Fiddle?"
- "Tom and Sally"
- NOTE FROM THE HOST
- SFX Lady??
- Missing The Old Scout
- Live in San Diego
- So Where's Sinclair?
- This is my first big trip away from home. Any advice for a first-time traveler?
- How come the house band is called The Shoe Band?
- October 21 Cinecast
- Getting into the Radio Business
- On the 12th Floor of the Acme Building...
- Going to the Big City!
- 73 Days of Summer Vacation
- Help with a Eulogy
- Where Do I Start?
- Fantasy League Whippets
- Clergywomen in Lake Wobegon
- The more you write, the better it gets
- The Voice
- A Note from GK about Retirement
- Low Self-Esteem
- Useless Degrees
- Car Bomb
- The Dog-Ears of Summer
- Dealing with Disappointment
- Rejection Letters
- English Majors Strike Again
- 7th Grade Report
- GK Responds to Cinecast Posts
Complete Post to the Host Archive
