More irrefutable evidence that I am becoming a miserable old sod. A couple of teenagers sat next to me on the train yesterday; a boy and a girl. The girl did all the talking:
“Anyway, like, she was like, you know, so like I was like ‘you’re so, like, you know, er .. you know’ and she was all like ‘yeah like whatever’ you know”
Amazingly, he claimed he did know. While he stayed on the right side of her by nodding periodically at her I was living the teeth drilling scene in Marathon Man. I simply couldn’t bear to listen to her nor could I block her out. I know I have alow tolerance for annoyance but even I was surprised at how agitated all this was making me.
My options seemed to be:
(1) Tell her that if she didn’t stop saying “like” I was going to push her off the train;
(2)Â Throw myself off the train;
(3) Just skip the warning and shoot her.
Then I remembered, o blessed thing, the fact I had my walkman with me. I fumbled in my backpack like a fox in a bin, whining to myself. Headphones on. Please please please let the batteries not have run down. “Yes!”, I made a little air punching gesture and as McLusky flooded into my ears I noticed that the pantomime desperation I’d been gripped by had actually drawn the attention of the torturess herself. She gave me a pitying look and pressed on numbingly.
anyway, like, it’s not like she were talkin’ ’bout like starwars like which would be like totally like so like sooooooo wrong. Would it not, Sir?
I remain..;…
I feel the force of your diapproval.
I too am struck by the lack of intelligent and literate words which do not seem to be a part of mainstream vocabulary anymore.
Your scene reminded me of an interview I conducted last week…where the “woman” who I was interviewing responded to my questions/statements with “Oh my gawwwddd”…”Cool”…”Oh yeah” and the terminable “Dude”. Yep…IN.AN.INTERVIEW.
Needless to say she did not get a job offer.
But…I must admit…then when I have had a few beers…I say “Dude” and “For fuck’s sake” repeatedly. I blame it on the alcohol! 😉
You have just described my daily bus-riding experience. I am plagued by the presence of teenagers on crowded modes of public transportation all the time. And while I love teenagers as a general species, being stuck next to one in a confined space is just about the most annoying thing there is.
Funny thing – the torturess probably thought you were “the crazy guy,” another bus phenomenon that is more entertaining than annoying … but arguably much scarier than the bubble-gum-snapping teens.
Jen – what amazes me is that despite an erosion of vocabulary that would have made George Orwell’s hair stand on end, meaningful communication still occurs. Neither of the teenagers ever said “I have no idea what you are talking about”.
Amanda – I thought I was the crazy guy until I realised that the man sat next to me this morning was not, as I had thought, talking on a mobile phone but was talking to himself. Key phrases included “50 million dead in just 5 months” and “not next Thursday”.
Walkman? Showing your age there a bit. If you are getting in with the kids it should be “Ipod, like, innit, yeahhhhhhhh” Of course teenagers can communicate – apes manage with grunts, don’t they?
UD- When I was a teenager, my mum informs me, I communicated by a morse code consisting of tutting and moans