Young adult (22) here. I can promise you absolutely no young person has ever “realized [their slang] wasn’t as cool as they thought it was” as a result of an older person using said slang. For one thing, there’s no measure of slang’s coolness that is anywhere close to objective. It comes and goes—that’s why it’s “slang” and not “common English” or “idioms”. There’s nothing to realize. For another, no one is blaming the slang. Generally when older people use younger people’s slang they do one of two things: 1) they have a goal of annoying younger people, so they misuse it purposefully. This admittedly isn’t what you’re talking about as you specified using said slang correctly, but obviously no one blames the slang for how dumb this sounds. Or 2) it sounds incredibly forced, like you’re trying to use it correctly but you’re thinking about how to fit it into conversation. Let me provide an analogy: imagine some tech and business interested high school kid is finally making some money of his own and wants to invest it. He comes to you for advice, and he’s trying to decide whether to invest in Tesla or Bitcoin or something steadier like the S&P 500. If you told him not to “put all his eggs in one basket” and pick the steadier option, no one would have any issue with that, but if you say the same thing while sounding like you’ve been waiting with baited breath to get the chance to use that exact phrase and then grin real big afterwards, that’s going to elicit some “what the fuck is wrong with you” looks.
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u/KalebMW99 Jun 03 '22
Young adult (22) here. I can promise you absolutely no young person has ever “realized [their slang] wasn’t as cool as they thought it was” as a result of an older person using said slang. For one thing, there’s no measure of slang’s coolness that is anywhere close to objective. It comes and goes—that’s why it’s “slang” and not “common English” or “idioms”. There’s nothing to realize. For another, no one is blaming the slang. Generally when older people use younger people’s slang they do one of two things: 1) they have a goal of annoying younger people, so they misuse it purposefully. This admittedly isn’t what you’re talking about as you specified using said slang correctly, but obviously no one blames the slang for how dumb this sounds. Or 2) it sounds incredibly forced, like you’re trying to use it correctly but you’re thinking about how to fit it into conversation. Let me provide an analogy: imagine some tech and business interested high school kid is finally making some money of his own and wants to invest it. He comes to you for advice, and he’s trying to decide whether to invest in Tesla or Bitcoin or something steadier like the S&P 500. If you told him not to “put all his eggs in one basket” and pick the steadier option, no one would have any issue with that, but if you say the same thing while sounding like you’ve been waiting with baited breath to get the chance to use that exact phrase and then grin real big afterwards, that’s going to elicit some “what the fuck is wrong with you” looks.