Tweenies
Do you know a Tweenie?
A tween/tweenie is someone who is between the ages of about 8 and 12… the in-between childhood and teenager years.
Tweens are sprouting underarm hairs and building sandcastles. They still build forts but they also have crushes. They still have stuffed toys and they’re also easily embarrassed by their parents.
(Philosophical sidebar question, are we ever not in between stages?! )
Do you speak tweenie slang? It’s an education! I caught up with a few of them recently. OK, full disclosure, I was giving them a lift and so basically they were held captive in my car and I quizzed them on slang words they’re using these days.
Yeet! Is an exclamation of joy or excitement. It seems to be onomatopoeic rather than an actual word word, if you know what I mean.
Cracked! Means you’re on fire, you’re really good at something.
Jumping! If someone is interrupting, you say they’re jumping.
Jacked! Has two meanings; one is when someone is really strong you refer to them as “jacked”. The second is when someone has taken something that doesn’t belong to them, they have jacked it.
And there you have it, for now. Some of these words meant something quite different when I was growing up… Is this what progress is?! Look after your tween and learn their language while you still can (ie: while they’re still talking to you). Enjoy the sandcastles and forts and general tomfoolery in their play, it doesn’t stay forever.
Long live play and tweenhood innocence!!
*Thanks for being here. The sibling series continues next week!
