Mathematical

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

Hi, Grant. My name is Kanai, and I’m calling from Youngstown, Ohio.

Kanai! What an interesting name. What kind of name is that?

Well, I’m Japanese, so it’s a Japanese name.

Very nice. Well, welcome to the program.

Thanks for taking the call.

What can we help you with?

I have two kids. They’re in middle school age.

And you know how they have the special lingos all the time?

Oh, yeah.

Oh, yeah.

And one of the things that really caught my attention was this. They use this as an exclamation. They say mathematical.

Mathematical?

Yes.

In other words, they can also say, that’s math.

That’s totally math.

To mean what, exactly?

Well, I found out, and of course I’m consulting with my experts here, my children. They’re 13 and 12. And they said that it’s like an exclamation.

So my take is that, you know, some years ago, maybe 10, 15 years ago, the kids were saying radical or rad.

Right.

And or maybe in our time or your time, it used to be groovy.

Mm—

Right?

Yeah.

As an explanation and something to describe totally cool, awesome, out of the world sort of way. But it has nothing to do with numbers.

So it just means groovy or cool.

Yeah.

And they’re 12 and 13. Do their friends do this? Is this some kind of joke between the two of them?

Well, apparently their friends do this. And then according to my experts, my children, it started out with this cartoon show that they were showing. It’s called Adventure Time. And in that show, they have a lot of, you know, dark humor, sarcasm and special lingos.

But one of those things that you were saying was mathematical. So, you know, if I say, kids, we’re having sushi for tonight’s dinner, and they’ll go, that’s mathematical, Mom.

Adventure time.

I’d say it’s more geometrical.

Yeah, or they’ll say, well, dude, did you see Stevie’s bike? That’s so math.

Have they been doing this for a while, or is this something new?

It is relatively new. However, I’m finding out that in the kids’ timelines these days, everything goes so quickly. And my older one, my daughter, told me that, oh, mom, that is so January.

Apparently, by the time parents are catching on, it’s past the prime.

Yeah, that’s absolutely true. As soon as they know that you’re on to it, it’s done.

That’s great.

And on top of that, you know, it’s okay for them to say that, but if their mom says it, it’s like, I killed the moment.

Yeah, don’t do that, mom.

It’s almost like, you know, you have to have a license to use these words, and license are only given to under 16.

Oh, yeah.

Very age-specific.

Very good way to put it.

That’s very cool.

I’ve never heard of math and mathematical used quite like this.

There’s something known as math rock, which is rock and roll for brainiacs.

Right. And yeah, I thought that maybe that was a way to promote math because a lot of kids don’t like math.

But and maybe that’s the idea. I don’t know.

Maybe the producers of that cartoon show are trying to promote math because I’ve also heard algebraic.

Algebraic.

Algebraic.

Oh, wow.

And I think it’s just crazy.

So I’m waiting for them to say, you know, what’s the next one?

It’s linguistical.

It should be.

It’s way wordier.

Right, right.

Geometrical.

I’m waiting for linguistic.

But, you know, I thought about a lot of times those young people’s culture are the ones that really drives the change in the language.

That goes to, I speak Japanese, too, that seems to go in any language.

Slang moves fast.

It’s mostly in the possession of young people because they are still exploring language. They are still learning about it.

And it’s become a tool where they start to realize that they’ve got this immense power because they are given this toolbox called language.

And it’s one of the things that is mostly not forbidden for them to use.

There are a few parts of it. We say don’t touch that part.

But, you know, that tool is not for you.

But they have a license, as she said.

They do.

They have a license to use most of English.

And they use it to the utmost because it’s wonderful.

It’s fun.

Wordplay is a natural part of exploring language.

And coming up with new words is part of wordplay.

That is so true.

I totally agree with you.

It’s fun.

That’s cool, Kanai.

Thanks for sharing all this stuff with us.

Well, thank you so much, guys.

It’s our pleasure.

Bye-bye.

Bye-bye.

Thanks.

Bye-bye.

Well, what are the kids saying out your way?

What’s the stumpers that the kids have for their parents?

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