As probably the world’s greatest word-maker-upper, I have quite the eye for real vs. made-up terms. That being said, I am human. Every once in awhile, I have a hard time deciphering. For example, crapulous sounds like a certified “made-up by Christy” term, but it is a real word (not to mention one that I should start using more).
Due to my humanisticism in regards to the occasional questioning of legitimate words, when my daughter showed me her spelling list (which was handwritten by her teacher), I thought that maybe “hym” was a real word. The fact that they are currently working on silent letter words kind of threw me for a loop though. Which letter in that word is silent? Is it pronounced “hi” or “yim”?
I took a minute to do some research, which I rarely do because I have no desire to be a real journalist. I mainly did it because I was slightly concerned that my daughter’s teacher was attempting to overthrow me as the world’s greatest word-maker-upper and I needed to confirm or deny this.
According to a Google search, “hym” is an acronym that teenagers use which stands for “hate your mother”. Used in a sentence that could be found on a teenager’s cell phone; “Yo! I c u r grndd dis wknd. Do you totes hym rn?” Translated for normal speaking, non-teenagers; “Hello friend! I see that you are grounded this weekend. Do you totally hate your mom right now?”
This doesn’t explain why it’s included in a lesson on silent letters, but it does make sense to teach kids that acronym early on. It is commonly thought that the teenage years start at 13, but in actuality, the teenage years start at about 3 years old. A lot of parents know this. That’s why “three-nagers” is quickly becoming an often used word … though still not a real one.
I know for a fact that my oldest became a teenager at 3 because that is the year that she started telling me that she hated me. It broke my heart at first, but I reminded myself that her claims for hating me stemmed from my refusal to allow her to go to the store naked. I quickly realized that I might be doing it right if my kids hated me occasionally.
Anyway, I am OK with this acronym being taught to my second-grader, but it might be awhile before she uses it because I’m not buying her a cell phone anytime this century. Then again, when she is forced to write old-fashioned notes on real paper, she will know how to write, “Yo! Hmm r n. She’s totes kpin me n da 14th cntry by nt $$ me a cell!”
For questions, comments or to have me translate that last sentence for you, e-mail me at christyrasmussen@yahoo.com.
Disclaimer: My daughter has really, really fabulous teachers who I hope do not fail her because she has a mom who despicably exploits an honest spelling error for a column.
As probably the world’s greatest word-maker-upper, I have quite the eye for real vs. made-up terms. That being said, I am human. Every once in awhile, I have a hard time deciphering. For example, crapulous sounds like a certified “made-up by Christy” term, but it is a real word (not to mention one that I should start using more).
Due to my humanisticism in regards to the occasional questioning of legitimate words, when my daughter showed me her spelling list (which was handwritten by her teacher), I thought that maybe “hym” was a real word. The fact that they are currently working on silent letter words kind of threw me for a loop though. Which letter in that word is silent? Is it pronounced “hi” or “yim”?
I took a minute to do some research, which I rarely do because I have no desire to be a real journalist. I mainly did it because I was slightly concerned that my daughter’s teacher was attempting to overthrow me as the world’s greatest word-maker-upper and I needed to confirm or deny this.
According to a Google search, “hym” is an acronym that teenagers use which stands for “hate your mother”. Used in a sentence that could be found on a teenager’s cell phone; “Yo! I c u r grndd dis wknd. Do you totes hym rn?” Translated for normal speaking, non-teenagers; “Hello friend! I see that you are grounded this weekend. Do you totally hate your mom right now?”
This doesn’t explain why it’s included in a lesson on silent letters, but it does make sense to teach kids that acronym early on. It is commonly thought that the teenage years start at 13, but in actuality, the teenage years start at about 3 years old. A lot of parents know this. That’s why “three-nagers” is quickly becoming an often used word … though still not a real one.
I know for a fact that my oldest became a teenager at 3 because that is the year that she started telling me that she hated me. It broke my heart at first, but I reminded myself that her claims for hating me stemmed from my refusal to allow her to go to the store naked. I quickly realized that I might be doing it right if my kids hated me occasionally.
Anyway, I am OK with this acronym being taught to my second-grader, but it might be awhile before she uses it because I’m not buying her a cell phone anytime this century. Then again, when she is forced to write old-fashioned notes on real paper, she will know how to write, “Yo! Hmm r n. She’s totes kpin me n da 14th cntry by nt $$ me a cell!”
For questions, comments or to have me translate that last sentence for you, e-mail me at christyrasmussen@yahoo.com.
Disclaimer: My daughter has really, really fabulous teachers who I hope do not fail her because she has a mom who despicably exploits an honest spelling error for a column.
