On Friday 4 November students from Worthing High School visited the Healthy Living Centre for a programme entitled ‘Generations United’. The session, introduced by teacher Steve Jeffery, was about how language has changed over the years with the development of slang and how it has always been owned by the younger generation.
The students joined older people at their tables and through discussion compared different words from ‘Toodle oo’ to ‘Catcha laters’. It was discovered that the words ‘magic’ and ‘amazing’ were now known as ‘sick’ and ‘wicked’; ‘mum and dad’ had become ‘oldies’ and that if you were ‘well brought up’ you are now known as ‘posh’. Percy Chesson, from the Healthy Living Centre said ‘the slang word comparisons were really good fun.’
Lauren Potiphar said ‘It was nice to hear how it used to be and the words they used. I’ve taken advice away that will be useful in the future.’
The young people explored how they could be more helpful in the community and both age groups debated the popular misconceptions of youth.
The young people took away some good advice such as ~
- Keep in touch with your family
- Say what you think in conversation
- Be respectful
- Share experiences
- Don’t judge people – accept them for who they are
- Don’t live beyond your means
‘We’ve had lots of good advice and wisdom this afternoon and put a smile on their faces’ said one student and the general consensus from the Healthy Living Centre was that most teenagers are decent and they don’t all wear hoodies.
Student Judah Billen confirmed that it had been a very, very good afternoon and very encouraging to have the opportunity to be with older people. He said ‘I have found out a lot about the war and when they were teenagers and how it changed them. They said how important love was and that we should be kind and do our best in everything.’