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Slang Man

A profile of Berkeley High School teacher Rick Ayers — collector of teen slang.

Listen to this Commentary!

By Ben Simrin

Meet Mr. Slang.

Rick Ayers: Oh man, that's wickedy wack!… wickedy wack folio!

He's not what you'd expect. No baggy jeans for this guy. He wears Birkenstocks and has a receding hairline. But this Berkeley High School teacher knows what bling bling means. How does he do it? He's the hip teacher everyone loves to hang out with. But then there's the darker side of this teacher — he's the ultimate eavesdropper.

When he's on a slang sting operation, he butters us up with his catchy phrases that get our attention.

Rick Ayers: Students are really, really, strong at communicating. They are artist and acrobats within their own idiom.

This kind of flattery to get us to talk around him, and let him into our circle.

His other technique is to slyly say a slang word, and see if people respond. You know, like "Hey, that's the bomb diggity."

Rick Ayers: Some students think I am kind of crazy for trying to do slang and that I sound like an idiot, I always use it wrong and try to make fun of myself. Half the time I get it wrong. I'm not really a spy.

BUT from all his eavesdropping, he's come out with a dictionary - with words from annoyo to skrilla. Adults are snatching it up — even Websters — as they try to decode the average teenager. By understanding the way we talk, they try to understand the way we think.

Rick Ayers: For instance, there are a lot of words in this dictionary for friend, friendship, being a friend, being a good friend — because for teenagers that is a big deal.

He may be obsessed with slang, but the slang man is still an adult, and sometimes we can't really figure out what he's talking about when he analyzes our speech.

Rick Ayers: And these are all kind of ways to protest the limitations of the language and to be creative. And to take control of it instead of just saluting the authorities of the language. By saying this is ours and this is how we talk to each other.

Whatever that means. The latest Webster's dictionary includes several slang words from Rick Ayers and his students.

For Youth Radio, I'm Ben Simrin.