Foreign Students Learn to Dig American Slang

“A creep is a man you don’t like. Women are not creeps, we have other words for them, but we won’t learn those in this class . . .

“So-and-so is the whatchamacallit, the thingamajig, the doohickey of humanity--it means the people who aren’t that important to you.”

Ed Tack is teaching foreign college students the basics of American slang in a program sponsored by the United Campus Ministry of Pittsburgh.

“I get a kick out of teaching this class,” he says, using another colloquialism. “We kick around some ideas.” In the space of 30 minutes, Tack explained at least 10 different meanings for the word kick. There’s kickback, kick in, kick the bucket, kicker, kick the habit, kick out and kick off, which has at least two different meanings.

He tells the eight foreign students--three from Japan, three from Portugal and two from Taiwan--that there are two things to remember: “We’re striving to learn these words but not to use them. The other benefit is when you get out into the American workplace, Americans speak slang. It’s most important to be able to communicate, to be able to understand.”

Tack finds himself on the spot from the moment he walks into the classroom.

“Every move I make has educational value to these students. I become an actor with my gestures and movements. I try to make it as clear as possible. It’s hard to have to remember that what’s funny to us is deadly serious to the foreign students . . . until I make it funny.”

When the first student walks in for the two-hour class, Tack asks her, “What’s up? You look beat.” The student looks at him in puzzlement. He explains the slang to her--”How are you? You look tired.” She nods yes and in halting formal English explains her long day.