Miriam
My vacay was totes cray-cray No, I didn't turn cray-cray (i.e. crazy) myself. I'm watching the TV series Lucifer and noticed that the language used there is quite different to the last series (Elementary) I watched. Are abbreviations like vacay (vacation), totes (totally) and cray-cray specific for L.A. or is that some millennial slang? Don't get me wrong. I'm not planning to incorporate such words into my active vocabulary. I'm only wondering what kind of lingo that is.
Apr 17, 2019 7:43 PM
Comments · 9

@Tanya

A linguistic article on this topic:

OMG the Word-final Alveopalatals are Cray-cray Prev(alent): The Morphophonology of Totes Constructions in English: <a href="https://repository.upenn.edu/pwpl/vol22/iss1/30/" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">https://repository.upenn.edu/pwpl/vol22/iss1/30/</a>;




April 28, 2019

@Tanya 

I found this article from 2012 today: <a href="https://www.chronicle.com/blogs/linguafranca/2012/01/20/totes-cray-cray-abbrevs/" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">https://www.chronicle.com/blogs/linguafranca/2012/01/20/totes-cray-cray-abbrevs/</a>. ;

@Abdullah

I think you're right about the character of Ella Lopez. 

April 28, 2019
I’m not familiar with the show, but I just saw a YouTube clip, and my conclusion is that she’s supposed to be a silly character who doesn’t take herself too seriously. She reminds me a lot of Jake Peralta in the show Brooklyn 99. He would also say things like “cray cray” in a goofy way. The point is that he acts like an adolescent in a kind of ironic way but he’s actually really good at his job. That’s the impression I get from Ella Lopez as well.
April 17, 2019

Maybe they're going for a certain feel. I definitely get annoyed when I hear these abbreviations/cutesy shortenings of words. It reminds me of a young mom that can't disengage from her children, or a newly moneyed businesswoman or such. Always a woman. I have heard men doing it though. People usually do it to be cool, like they're inventing their own dialect on the fly while talking to you that's separate from all around you.

I wouldn't be surprised if there's linguistic research on the subject.

April 17, 2019
I always thought that it's the Australians who abbreviate everything...
April 17, 2019
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