I have faced the embarrassing truth that OMG has become a part of my life. I say OMG on almost any occasion—over text, Facebook chat, Instagram comments, and out loud in everyday conversations. Even amongst my classmates “text-speak” has unfortunately started to slip in. I, however, do not face this embarrassing truth alone; all of us at Grady must come to terms with this fact. The English that many Grady students speak today is a vat full of slang, butchered terms and sayings most teachers and adults can’t comprehend. From where does our slang originate and what does it mean?

When several teachers were asked the meaning of commonly used terms at Grady—such as OOMF, HMU, SMH, Bae, and finesse—many were at a loss for words. Advanced Placement Environmental Science and Oceanography teacher Korri Ellis guessed the meaning of OOMF and HMU.

“OOMF could be when you see someone cute, and you say OOMF,” Ellis explained. “HMU could mean ‘hold my underwear.’”

Valiant guesses, but Ellis was wrong with both of them. OOMF is an acronym which stands for “one of my followers,” meaning a person who follows another on Instagram, Twitter, or a social media site. HMU means “hit (or hook) me up”. HMU is commonly used at the end of a brief conversation in which one person wants the other to contact them later.

Advanced Placement Calculus teacher Andrew Nichols took a shot at guessing the meaning of SMH, which he described as meaning “so much homework.”

SMH stands for “shaking my head,” and can be used when one has no words for an action that may be considered ridiculous or silly.

Science teacher David Olorunfemi tried to determine the meaning of slang terms at Grady by using the forms in sentences.

“Boo could be used as ‘kiss my boo’ or something like that,” Olorunfemi said.

Although many of the terms that the teachers are trying to explain usually show up via text messaging and over social media, the majority of “Grady dialect” originates from famous rap songs. Because Grady is situated in urban Atlanta—an area where rap is popular—Grady is exposed to rap artists such as 2 Chainz, Chief Keef, Kendrick Lamar, Drake and many others whose songs have infiltrated day-to-day conversations.

Rap music constantly changes, frequently ushering out old styles and ushering in new ones. These changes often introduce new terms and slang that expand into mainstream usage. Terms such as ratchet (Ghetto diva), flex (a lie), swerve (to dodge someone) or even the exhausted term of 2012, YOLO (you only live once), all originated as the center of focus or an adlib in a recent rap song.

Grady’s dialect, likewise, evolves with the shifting popularity of rap songs. Terms end up sharing a dumpster with other outdated hip-hop slang such as phat or bling.

Eventually there will even come a time when Grady students will grow to adulthood and dismiss the younger generation’s slang and gibberish. Grady alums will be puzzled and try to make sense out of the new lingo (language of a specific people) similar to the fruitless efforts of some of the teachers at Grady.