I think I’m doing myself a favor by keeping some favorite websites on the down low. The last thing I need are parents who are not only super-fluent (superfluously so) in every one of the many grammatical, pronunciation and stylistic quirks in the English language, but can also communicate their ways through its substratosphere of pop culture references and lingo. It is for my own sanity that I keep Urban Dictionary my own little vocabulary secret.
Then the New York Times blows my cover. Tom Cruise jives on Oprah’s couch, inspiring a new way to say “lost your mind,” “took some crazy pills,” or “gone off the deep end” and my dad reads about it. He also learns about “jump the shark” and he and my mom practice using their new hip phrases by referencing every favorite TV show I’ve ever had; Felicity, Gilmore Girls, even Dr. Quinn. They can name the precise moment when each one jumped the shark, usually when the inevitable couple-to-be gets together and the whole series has lost the plot.
Go ahead, parents, use “lost the plot” in a sentence!
