Dude, what does that even, like, mean?

In response eXplorations and eXtensions, pg 133. Slang, Colloquial Language, and Popular Expressions

I think that pretty much whatever I say about this will be ironic in the fact that I use slang on an everyday basis. Saying that, I think that it's a natural part of life. We can't eliminate slang from our lives, it's just not possible.

One of the most popular words that people use way too much is the word "like". We have distorted the meaning of this word in to one of the most vague terms we use. It used to refer only to feelings, but now we use it as, like, a filler. I can't even say anything bad against it! Because I do it too. My friend once decided to count the number of times certain people said the word "like" during class. By the end of class, some had used it more than twenty times.

Another example of overused phrases is "Achilles' heel". My coach was talking to my team one day and he mentioned that one dive would be the Achilles' heel of the team. After he said that he asked if everyone knew what that meant. I was the only one. Aside from being absolutely horrified that my teammates had seemingly no knowledge of Greek Mythology, it really made me think about all of the phrases we use that we don't really know what it means. But I think we still use them because they're just so familiar. As a society we have placed a general meaning on words and phrases, so even though we don't know what a phrase may actually refer to, we know what most people will think of when we say things like "Achilles' Heel" or "case in point" (as the packet pointed out)

One more thing I want to mention is that words fade in and out eventually. In french class, we were taught that one word meant "cool" (as in "Oh my gosh, that is so cool!"). But this year, my teacher told us that no one in France uses it because it is to them what "groovy" would be to us. It's old, and it's a little silly. Another example is from the book The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan. At one point in the book, the main character finds himself in a casino with tons of video games. However, time doesn't effect the people in there. He starts playing some games with a kid from 1977 One passage reads:

"We played a game of sharpshooters together and he said 'Groovy,man.'...
    Groovy?
    Later, while we were talking, I said something was 'sick' and he looked at me kind of startled, as if he'd never heard the word used that way before" (pg 261-262)

I guess "groovy, man" would today translate to "Dude, sick!" It really makes you think about how we speak.

Finally, I asked my neighbor (he's in 7th grade) if he had heard any "interesting expressions" lately. He told me two that he personally had made up. If you every want to tell someone you understand what they're telling you, you can try
"I'm smelling what you're stepping in" or
"I'm eating your mashed potatoes"

How's that for creativity?