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American Morning

Teen Talk

Aired September 23, 2003 - 07:53   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Listen to these words. Nisel (ph), boo (ph) and Wodi (ph). What the heck am I saying? Well, these are all words used by California teenagers. And Mike Sugarman of station KPIX has learned that students at Berkeley High School have put together a helpful dictionary, so the rest of us won't be hella bootsy (ph), whatever that means.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MIKE SUGARMAN, KPIX REPORTER (voice-over): Classes are back in session. Time to get one of these for reference. Parents might want to get one of these: the Berkeley High "Slang Dictionary."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So, I sort of feel like a snoop, and I'm certainly a square. And they know that, and they tolerate my curiosity.

SUGARMAN: Rick Ayers (ph) is the dude who deserves props for the shitzalal (ph). He's not staging, no drama. Every year, this communication arts teacher chops it up with the set to get the down low.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Language is constantly growing and changing. It's constantly being invented, and it's often invented on the margins of society. Those are the people who come up with new words to express their reality.

SUGARMAN: You can gank (ph) the book if you got no scratch, but that would be whack. Here's a quick lesson: Swolles.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Swolles, noun, muscles, from swollen.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I've got like hella big swolles.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hella, adverb, very, extremely, in large quantities.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Those are hella nice kicks.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Kicks, noun, shoes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Those kicks are hella jankity.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Jankity, adjective, in bad shape.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, how much scrill you pay for those jankity kicks? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Scrill, noun, money, cash.

SUGARMAN (on camera): That's enough for the first lesson. Now, you try to form your own sentence.

(voice-over): Berkeley High "Slang Dictionary" is for sale. Five dead presidents get you the 411.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: Mike Sugarman of KPIX>

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.






Aired September 23, 2003 - 07:53   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Listen to these words. Nisel (ph), boo (ph) and Wodi (ph). What the heck am I saying? Well, these are all words used by California teenagers. And Mike Sugarman of station KPIX has learned that students at Berkeley High School have put together a helpful dictionary, so the rest of us won't be hella bootsy (ph), whatever that means.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MIKE SUGARMAN, KPIX REPORTER (voice-over): Classes are back in session. Time to get one of these for reference. Parents might want to get one of these: the Berkeley High "Slang Dictionary."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So, I sort of feel like a snoop, and I'm certainly a square. And they know that, and they tolerate my curiosity.

SUGARMAN: Rick Ayers (ph) is the dude who deserves props for the shitzalal (ph). He's not staging, no drama. Every year, this communication arts teacher chops it up with the set to get the down low.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Language is constantly growing and changing. It's constantly being invented, and it's often invented on the margins of society. Those are the people who come up with new words to express their reality.

SUGARMAN: You can gank (ph) the book if you got no scratch, but that would be whack. Here's a quick lesson: Swolles.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Swolles, noun, muscles, from swollen.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I've got like hella big swolles.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hella, adverb, very, extremely, in large quantities.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Those are hella nice kicks.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Kicks, noun, shoes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Those kicks are hella jankity.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Jankity, adjective, in bad shape.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, how much scrill you pay for those jankity kicks? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Scrill, noun, money, cash.

SUGARMAN (on camera): That's enough for the first lesson. Now, you try to form your own sentence.

(voice-over): Berkeley High "Slang Dictionary" is for sale. Five dead presidents get you the 411.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: Mike Sugarman of KPIX>

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.