語言的變化飛快，新詞匯可能會讓家長嚇出一身冷汗，好似一門全新的語言，家長經常為孩子講話時夾帶的奇特詞匯困惑不已……

To me, it meant stolen goods; but what did it mean to my teen son?2

How rich American slang3 has become. I feel as if I am hanging on for dear life as the language shifts and morphs around me, leaving me at sea in an increasingly unfamiliar vernacular.4 Such are the wages of the passing years.

The latest fragment to arrive on the shores of my ignorance is "swag."5 When my 16-year-old son first uttered it, I was caught off guard.6 Here's what he said in reference to one of his friends: "Jesse's got swag."7 Now, in my experience, swag has two meanings: It refers to either stolen goods or a collection of goodies, such as the boxes of toiletries that colleges distribute to students at the beginning of the school year.8 But when I said to my son, "Where did Jesse get it?" he regarded me with a pained expression and asked, incredulously, "What are you talking about?"9

When I explained what I understood "swag" to mean, Anton laughed – laughed! – at me. Then he shook his head. "OK," I said. "Then what does 'swag' mean?" His answer: "If you had it, you'd know."

There it was: I had to first have swag in order to know what it meant. A perfect Catch-2210. So I sought another route to enlightenment – the seventh-grader I mentor in the local middle school.11 During one of our sessions, as we pored over his Spanish homework, I broached the delicate topic.12 "Do you know what swag is?" I asked him. "Sure," he said. "It means that you're cool."

Ah, so simple, but yet so proprietary that my own son couldn't admit me to the cabala of its meaning.13 Pressing my luck, I swallowed my dignity and quietly asked my mentee, "Do you think I have it?" Without taking his eyes from his work, he shrugged, "Yeah, you've got a lot of it."

Glowing, I communicated this intelligence to Anton at my first opportunity. 14"Ricky said I have swag," I announced as he hovered15 in front of the open fridge. "A lot of it."

Anton shook his head, as if he didn't know what he was going to do with16 me. "How old is Ricky?" he asked.

"Twelve."

Anton let out a deprecating17 breath. "Twelve?" he echoed. "What does he know!"

Hmm … swag was clearly in the eye of the beholder, and seemingly difficult to earn or get credit for.18 The next day, as I was chatting with my students in the college biology class I teach, I was moved to ask them about this word. They were, of course, familiar with it. Then one of them asked why I wanted to know. I didn't feel it appropriate to tell them how haunted I was by the realization that I might not possess swag, so I dodged the inquiry and commenced the lesson.19

Well, no matter20, I told myself. I had lived in blissful ignorance of my swaglessness until now, so I was sure I could continue on intact.21 But some perceptive, caring soul in my class must have detected my note of despondency in mentioning the elusive quality.22 The next day, when I came to school, there was a multicolored sticker affixed to my office door: I'VE GOT SWAG.

Need I mention that when I returned home I lay in anxious wait for Anton? As he came through the door, I accosted him with, "Someone put a sticker on my office door. It says, I'VE GOT SWAG."23 What I didn't add by way of emphasis was, "So take that!"24

"It doesn't matter," said Anton as he headed for the fridge.25

"Doesn't matter?" I already felt my heart sinking.

"No," he said offhandedly26. "Swag is out. There's a new word now."

"A new word?" I echoed. "What is it?"

Turning to me, Anton's eyes were once again filled with pity. "You mean you don't know?"

1. in search of: 尋找，尋覓；swag: （俚語）贓物；很酷的。

2. 對我而言，它不過是贓物的意思；但對我那十幾歲的兒子來說又是什么意思呢？

3. slang: 俚語。

4. 身邊的話語不斷地轉換、變化，我好像在舍命堅持，本土語言卻讓我感覺越來越不熟悉，我茫然不知所措。hang on: 堅持；for dear life: 拼命地；morph: 變化，變形；at sea: 茫然，不知所措；vernacular: 本地話，本國語。

5. fragment: 碎片，片段；ignorance: 無知。

6. utter: 說，發出聲音；caught off guard: 猝不及防，麻痹大意。

7. in reference to: 關于；Jesse’s got swag: 杰西酷斃了！

8. goody: 想要的東西；toiletries: 化妝品，洗漱用品。

9. regard: 注視，打量；pained: 痛苦的，傷感情的；incredulously: 滿腹狐疑地。

10. Catch-22: 《第22條軍規》，美國作家約瑟夫?海勒（Joseph Heller）的代表作。按照“第22條軍規”，瘋子可以免于飛行，但同時又規定必須由本人提出申請，而本人一旦提出申請，便證明你沒瘋。于是，這條表面講究人道的軍規就成了耍弄人的圈套。

11. enlightenment: 教化，啟蒙；seventh-grader: 七年級學生，美國的初等教育包括一至兩年的學前幼兒教育，一年的幼兒園，六年的小學教育，中等教育包括七年級到八年級的初級中學教育，以及九至十二年級的高級中學教育； mentor: 輔導，指導老師。

12. session: 一堂課，一段時間；pore over: 仔細閱讀，審視；broach: 提出討論；delicate: 敏感的，微妙的。

13. proprietary: 私有的，專有的；cabala: 卡巴拉，與拉比猶太教的神秘觀點有關的一種訓練課程，指神秘的或費解的學說（或原理）。

14. glowing: 容光煥發的，熱情的；communicate: 傳達，使某事物被人知曉；intelligence: 情報。

15. hover: 徘徊，躊躇。

16. do with: 對待，處理。

17. let out: 釋放，發出；deprecating: 不以為然的，挖苦的。

18. 嗯……酷范兒被人看在眼里，但似乎很難贏得或獲得贊揚。in the eye of: 在……看來，從……的觀點來看；beholder: 旁觀者；seemingly: 表面上看來，似乎；get credit for: 因……而得到好評，獲得聲譽。

19. 我感覺不適合跟他們說我所受到的困擾，因為我擔心自己可能并沒有那種酷范兒，于是我回避了這個問題，開始講課。haunted: 為……所困擾；dodge: 閃爍其辭。

20. no matter: 沒關系，不要緊。

21. blissful: 極快樂的，幸福的，in blissful ignorance: 處在有福氣的無知狀態；intact: 原封不動的，完整的。

22. perspective: 透視的，有洞察力的；caring: 關心的，在意的；soul: 人，家伙；despondency: 失望，沮喪；elusive: 難懂的，難以捉摸的。

23. come through: 通過，穿過；accost: 與……某人搭訕，攀談；

24. by way of: 經由，通過……的方法；So take that: 接招吧。

25 head for: 朝……方向走去；fridge: 冰箱。

26. offhandedly: 立即，隨口。

（來源：《英語學習雜志》 編輯：Julie）