Slang, word usage-generational definer?

[msincredible]

Do the Irish string all their sentences together without end?

No, but every sentence sounds like a question.

[VeloVT]

I used to work for a political organization. We would organize volunteer phonebanks sometimes. The volunteer training for these events always included the "dammit rule." **IN YOUR HEAD** (and only there), say "dammit" after every sentence.

Hi John, my name is Liza, dammit, and I'm calling with the xyz party, dammit. I wanted to let you know about an event we'll be holding next monday, dammit.

It's pretty hard to do "upspeak" this way .

[malkin]

My experience with Irish conversation is that everybody gets to talk all the time, beep or no beep.

[OakLeaf]

Like, I'm almost 50, and everyone my age says this stuff?

Seriously, I would say the age divide is closer to 60 or 65 for the usages you're describing, in the USA. But I remember in the past, noticing that Canadians spoke a lot more "cleanly." So maybe it just takes 20 years for our slang to work its way north.

I did notice that when I retired from practicing law and quit hanging out with so many lawyers, I definitely had to clean up my language. It's like whenever we were in casual conversation, we got the courtroom behavior out of our system by having every other word be "f***." It didn't take long to find out that that kind of language isn't considered acceptable among non-lawyers.

[shootingstar]

But I remember in the past, noticing that Canadians spoke a lot more "cleanly." So maybe it just takes 20 years for our slang to work its way north.

I did notice that when I retired from practicing law and quit hanging out with so many lawyers, I definitely had to clean up my language. It's like whenever we were in casual conversation, we got the courtroom behavior out of our system by having every other word be "f***." It didn't take long to find out that that kind of language isn't considered acceptable among non-lawyers.

Methinks, Oak it may depend which region of Canada and which groups of people both socioeconomic and age groups in Canada.

For past 3 yrs., in work commute, I took a bus which included some regular rougher folks in terms of language and attitude. Many of the workers were labourers and factory workers..I could tell where they got off, what they talked about often, etc. Profanity every 5th word and "like", and "so" sprinkled often. Not an inspiring thing to hear at 7:00 am every morning even before starting work.

But yes, usually these folks were a minority not majority on bus. I think most people were half asleep or pretending to shut off the uninspiring dialogue.