Well...

We've all been there. Everyone has had a parent who at one point embarrasses us more than we thought possible by throwing out phrases like...'bees knees'...and the ever horrendous...'see ya in the funny papers!'

Languages evolve. There are no two ways about it. From the days of 'far out' and 'groovy' into the more modern phrases of 'ballin' and 'tighhhttt,' (yes, it must be spelled like that...) language changes along with the generations that speak it.

So it happens that we are embarrased by phrases not even 40 years of age, and at the same time would not be caught saying 'bling - bling,' because ever since 2006, its been shortened to just bling. Duh. Language changes as fast as people speak it. Back in sixth grade (an eternally long 5 years ago) I would not have been able to define the word 'ballin.' But now, I can easily say that ballin is in fact, the act of being fly, just off the top of my head. And what about urbandictionary.com? They have an impressive online business, solely based off of user-submitted slang that is 'cutting edge.'

In the same vein, the English language changes when being used in different settings. Unless a person is making a futile attempt at being funny, you will never hear a person say 'rofl!' in any hallway of any high school. But, online, you may type and receive it ten times in a conversation, and think nothing of it.

So here's to the English language - abbrev.'s, sayings, slang and all. May we never stop shortening phrases into clever acronyms.