I was listening to a group of young Americans the other day which, actually, isn’t all that surprising since I’ve been in the USA for nearly a week now! In fairness, I’d like to clarify that statement slightly since I wasn’t listening in the sense of making a conscious effort but in the sense that I had no choice. The sound of conversation, as with most groups of people, particularly young (and dare I say, female) was fairly noisy.

The debate, lively as it was, seemed somewhat straightforward and simple consisting principally of a mere three phrases, namely “omigad, Iwaslike or aresum!” sometimes one or two at a time and sometimes all together but in no particular order. To add further variety an occasional “really” was added either as a question or as a point of emphasis. A clearly versatile word, it can be placed at either end of a sentence or inserted in the middle.

Such conversations seem to be best spoken loudly and quickly and at a high pitch. I have no idea what any of it meant and I’m not overly convinced that it was, in fact, strictly English but the users seemed to be able to understand one another, despite the fact that they all spoke at the same time!

Next time I’m, like, in a similar situation I must try and join in. Really, aresum!