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Website teaches teenspeak to parents

Anyone having trouble understanding teenagers, whether they be work experience students, shop staff, or even your own offspring, should check out www.gotateenager.org.uk.

The site, set up by the charity Parentline Plus, provides advice for parents of teenagers, offering tips on dealing with bullying, school, or drugs. The new jargon buster aims to help mums and dads stay in touch with their kids.

It aims to help parents learn how their kids use words such as “blud” for friend, “butters” for ugly, or “phat” for cool.

Creator Nikola Mann said: “You realise how out of touch you can get when you read some of the words teenagers use now.”

Some of the definitions appear to be obvious - “dry” for boring and “funds” for money, for example, seem fairly straightforward. Others, like “butters” for ugly and “bare” for many, would be indecipherable to those not in the know.

Other words include “tight” (close), “bait” (obvious), and “rents” (parents). There are also translations of “on their jays” (on their own), “flossing” (showing off) and “hench” (to be strong).

The new site has a long way to go before it reaches the heights of the Urban Dictionary, though…

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .