like, I can't help it, you know?

Zach said something to me the other day to which I replied, "I'm jelly."

There was a pause, and then, "What? What does that mean? Like you're soft?"

"No, like I'm jealous."

Longer pause....

"WOW."

He shook his head with an incredulous expression on his face and turned away from me, muttering something about how I've taken it to new heights.

It, being the latest word I've incorporated into my everyday speech...but only with Zach. Trust me, I KNOW it sounds ridiculous when words like "craycray", "jelly", or "bidness" come out of my mouth, so I try not to subject the latest trends in colloquial speech onto my friends. I even feel weird calling my friends "girlfriend" or "chica", only using them every so often in texts and emails and then feeling pretty dorky about it afterwards.

It's just really fun to get a reaction out of Zach.

He's an even bigger nerd than I, so I have the pleasure of exposing the latest pop culture trends to him, including what the cool kids are saying these days. Two days ago, he asked me what it meant when you describe someone as a "hot mess". I love how he raises an eyebrow when I pointedly say that Louie is acting "emo" or Addie is getting all "aggro" on me. I'm not even that up to date on these things (who knows, maybe all the words I'm mentioning here are so 2009?), and I actually pick them up from my friends, not TV or the interwebz.

Which leads me to last week when Zach agreed with something I was talking about and I replied, "RIGHT?"

But I guess it came out more like a ditzy Valley Girl when I said it. Like, "riiiiiiight?"

So that was on purpose, right? Riiiiiight? Um, sort of.

I admit some California-speak is rubbing off on me. Especially when I'm around certain people. What I realized is that my speech/tone adjusts to whatever circumstances I'm in--depending on whether I'm around Zach, my close girlfriends, mere acquaintances, or strangers at a party. I can turn on Dorky Ariel or Serious (Quasi)Articulate Ariel. Some conversations call for words like "vitriol" and "obsequious", whereas others need "whomp whomp" and "bitch, please!" I don't really believe there's a lexicon hierarchy, they're all necessary in different contexts. And language is fun, kids!

Oh, and here's a hilarious SNL skit that illustrates what I mean...

Happy Sunday!