Morphology Activity

Emma Rapier
Los Angeles Pacific University
Morphology Activity

I conducted this project while sitting in my bedroom and

listening to my brother chat with his friend in his room next
door. They are seniors in high school, and it is always
interesting to hear them talk to each other. Although I am
only a few years older, I was surprised on how different
their language can be from mine. For some definitions, I
asked my brother to elaborate, and others I researched
online.
“Simp/Simpette”

● “He just bought something for a girl he barely knows,

again, what a SIMP.”
○ Simp is a play-on word for “Simpleton.”
○ A simp/simpette is someone who might be known for doing idiotic
things, especially in front of other people.
“Simping/Simpin’”

● “He did something stupid, he’s SIMPIN’ so hard.”

○ Simping is the verb form of “simp,” meaning that someone is doing
something pretty dumb or idiotic.
○ When my brother explained the meaning of these words to me I thought
it was hilarious. They had taken the word “simpleton” and changed it
to make it fit into their language.
“Sent”

● “This SENT me.”

○ Means that something seen or heard made you laugh really hard.
○ For example, if someone sent me something that I thought was
particularly funny, I could say, “This sent me.”
“Snatched”

● “Wow you look so good today, and your hair is SNATCHED.”

○ Snatched is another word for looking good, or fashionable (Urban
Dictionary).
○ This can refer to clothing, hair, makeup, pretty much any physical
aspect of a person. If something looks good, it can be called
“snatched.”
“Reply Guy”

● “He replied to every one of her posts? He is such a REPLY

GUY.”
○ A reply guy is someone who comments or responds to every post that
another person makes. For example, if a girl posts a picture every
few days, and someone always comments below every one, that person
would be a reply guy.
“Slaps”

● “This song SLAPS, I like it a lot.”

○ If something slaps, it means that it is good. Usually used to discuss
music, it usually means that the song has a beat is really upbeat and
seems to “slap.”
“Yurnt”

● Everyone was going crazy, that party was YURNT.”

○ Yurnt is actually based off of another shortcut that a lot of people
use, “turnt.” Both mean that an event or party is more fun and
entertaining than usual and “turned up.”
“Wig”

● “Wig” can be used by itself as a statement, such as,

“WIG!” or used to give more of its meaning, such as, “WIG
flew!”
○ Wig is a sort of short cut that someone can use when something
amazing or shocking happens, meaning that you are so excited that
your wig flew off (Urban Dictionary).
“Shade”

● “Wow, did you hear what she said? She threw so much shade
his way.”
○ Shade is a term that means hateful or critical language. “Throwing
shade” means that you were to say something to someone that could be
considered a low blow.
○ For example, if I knew one of my friends crashed his car, making a
snide comment about his driving skills would be throwing shade.
“Tea”

● “I am in the mood to gossip, spill the TEA!”

● “The TEA is hot today.”
○ Tea is another word for gossip. “Hot tea” could be gossip that is
very dramatic or shocking.
Expectations

My brother and his best friend are always goofing off and
playing video games, and the rest of my family always laughs about
the way they talk to each other. After listening to them, I
sometimes feel as though I went back to highschool, so I figured
that they would be the perfect candidates to eavesdrop on to
complete this project, as they would probably provide me with a lot
of interesting choices, though I would have to pick out the “PG”
ones.

They definitely gave me a lot to work with and also were a

lot of fun to talk to afterwards to discuss what I heard. Out of all
I heard, I chose all of the “PG” words I could!
Teen Language

This project made me realize how much of teen language is

just abbreviated versions of words or statements that a lot of
adults use in their everyday language. This shows me that their
minds work quickly, so abbreviating things that they have heard
before makes it more useful for their personal style.

Using these abbreviated terms in their conversations makes

them quick and catchy, so these terms grow in popularity quickly.
Also interacting online is made easier, and instead of typing out a
whole sentence about how shocked they are about something they can
simply use a single word.
Personal Experience

I believe that I did have a similar experience when I

was a teenager. I am only 21 years old, so a lot of the
language my 18 year old brother uses can be found in my age
group as well. When I was a teen, shortening words like “are”
to “R” or “you” to “U” was more popular. This was most likely
because kids my age were just getting into texting and social
media, and shortening words by using a single letter that
sounded like them was useful for typing. In both experiences
however, abbreviation seems to be very popular and useful.
Morphology

Morphology has taught me a lot about using the different

parts of words to determine what a whole word means (Yule,
2017). In this application, it seems as though kids are
taking separate parts of words and creating new words,
“simping,” for example. This shows that new words can be
created using the same root of a different word, to expand
the word or allow it to change parts of speech.
Applying what I learned

This project taught me that kids use shortcuts a lot when creating a
language that is comfortable for them, and that if I do not know what
something means, to ask! I think that I will experience confusion quite a bit
in my classroom as I get older, so simply asking my students what they mean
will be helpful. Also, using context clues is very important. Even if I do not
fully understand what something means, I will still probably be able to
determine if the language being used is positive or negative.

After this activity, I will be much more focused on the context clues and
different parts of the words that my students are using, since the two
together will most likely give me an understanding of what is being said by my
students. I was surprised to find how much of teen language is simply
abbreviated adult language, so that will be useful information as a teacher.
References

Urban Dictionary. urbandictionary.com

Yule, G. (2017). The Study of Language 6th Edition. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge
University
Press.
“Sent” https://psiloveyou.xyz/im-not-funny-but-laughing-is-my-super-power-
bb6aa6edb245
“Reply Guy” https://waterfordwhispersnews.com/2018/10/04/local-man-doesnt-
like-texting-answering-phone/
“Tea” https://www.dictionary.com/e/s/weird-words-gossip-came/#origin-story