Friday, June 15, 2007

Keeping Fresh

Being a young adult author, I make a point of listening to teenagers, college students and the media to make sure I don’t fall too behind the times. (I swear, my characters would never say “groovy” or “right on” unless they were caught in a time warp.)


But lately I’ve come upon some words and phrases that are new to me, and thought I’d share them in test form and see how all of you do!

1. TO CRO means:
a--to wake everyone up, crow like a rooster
b--to stick to someone excessively, like Velcro

2. INQUANT means:
a--someone who knows all the local gossip
b--a deliriously silly and laughing state, from lack of sleep

3. TO BE AMPED means:
a--to get excited
b--to pig out

4. TO BEAST OUT means:
a--to study to excess or be over-competitive in your school-work
b--to tell someone off

5. OVERSTAND means:
a--worn out from excessive exercise
b--to understand something completely

Check "comments" for the answers. Then tell us, how did you do?

And just as importantly, how did I do? Did anyone catch me using one of them wrong? Please--tell me now. It’s like Kelly and I always say we critique each other’s chapters: we’d rather hear it now (and get a chance to correct it) than from our editors!

Have a great Father's Day Weekend!

8 fresh comments:

TinaFerraro said...

The answers are:

B, B, A, A, B.

Kelly (Lynn) Parra said...

Okay, I got: B,A,A, B,A. So I'm way off! LOL! Fun, Tina, thanks!

Megan said...

Uh, I'm 14, and I've never heard of any of these.

TinaFerraro said...

Hi, Megan!

You and me both...I'm like, "inquant"?!? But it's kind of fun to guess, huh? Thanks for joining in!

Sara Hantz said...

Yikes, I've never heard of any of them.....

TinaFerraro said...

Well, Sara, you DO have that other-side of the world, other hemisphere excuse... :)

Kiki said...

I've heard 1 and 5, but I've never heard of the other ones.
I guessed them though. ^_^
But seriously... *inquant*?
That's why I always make up my own words (it's a looooong-standing tradition). That way *I* decide what's out of fashion... =P
This was fun though!

TinaFerraro said...

Thanks, Kiki! You knew 1 & 5. The only one I sorta knew was 3.

I've heard other authors talk about making up words...in fact, I did that in PROM DRESS with "bimbacious" which was sort of bimbo + bodacious...