{"version":1,"type":"rich","provider_name":"Libsyn","provider_url":"https:\/\/www.libsyn.com","height":90,"width":600,"title":"TLAs and FLAs","description":"Today's Keepin' it Real - the language of insiders. ----- I made a short statement the other day and my son immediately replied, \u201cThat\u2019s cap.\u201d C A P. Cap. I\u2019m unsure what it means. It\u2019s either \u201cthat\u2019s the gospel truth\u201d or \u201cthat\u2019s a boldface lie.\u201d I thought about it for a moment and decided I didn\u2019t want to know. For centuries generations have used hairstyles, vocabulary, music and clothing to separate themselves from adults just like my kids are doing today. We called things \u201ccool\u201d or \u201cgrody\u201d or \u201csick.\u201d Today my kids use Cap and \u2018lit\u2019. When I say someone was \u2018lit\u2019 it means they were very overserved. With the kids today, \u2018lit\u2019 means cool or fun or hip or exciting. There\u2019s a part of me that wants to adopt this language to try to stay young. There\u2019s a bigger part of me that says stay away. My daughter and her friends use the word \u2018like\u2019 as an opening quotation mark. For example: \u201cShe said like I didn\u2019t do it and I immediately said like it was you. I saw you. And then she said like, Well, that\u2019s cap.\u201d And again, I\u2019m clueless. The stay-at-home women in my part of town have starting using the expression \u201call the things.\u201d It means just so much of everything. \u201cI\u2019ve got so many chores and errands and the kids need me and you know, all the things.\u201d All the things. Listen for it. It will be coming from a SUV driver in yoga tights. Sociologists have studied that shared words and, specifically, acronyms self-identify people as part of an in-crowd. At a financial services conference I was amazed by the overflow of TLAs and FLAs. Attendees bandied them back and forth to say to each other, \u201cI am an insider\u201d and to remind outsiders like me that I\u2019m an outsider. Financial services love their TLAs, and when find a  tidy TLA won\u2019t do, they go to FLAs. Three letter acronyms and four letter acronyms, by the way. In a conference call a few weeks ago I was immediately told through the use of insider language that I was an outsider. It was a passive aggressive masterpiece. The TLAs and FLAs numbered in the dozens. The guy leading the call was letting me know he\u2019s my alpha. It wasn\u2019t like he was a silverback gorilla standing on a rock and beating his chest to declare his dominance but it was very much like a silverback gorilla standing on a rock and beathing his chest to declare his dominance. The evangelicals have an insider language, too. This may offend some of them, but you\u2019ll recognize the use of the word \u2018just\u2019 in your prayers. \u201cFather God, just just wrap us in your love and just heal our hearts with your manifest of greatness and just feed us with the bounty of your loving kindness as we just work to serve your steadfast love and just just keep your son in front of our eyes\u2026\u201d I stop listening and start counting. I can\u2019t help it. And I\u2019m pretty sure if the universe\u2019s editor in chief were to speak to us he\u2019d say \u2018what\u2019s with all the justs? The reason I don\u2019t answer your prayers is I lose focus counting.\u2019 I\u2019m Cam Marston and I\u2019m JUST JUST JUST just trying to Keep it Real. And all the things. ","author_name":"Keepin' It Real with Cam Marston","author_url":"https:\/\/cammarston.com\/keepin-it-real-with-cam-marston\/","html":"