Anyone who comes into contact with young people regularly will be well accustomed to their subversive use of the English language. To them, ‘sick’ no longer means feeling ill; ‘sound’ has nothing to do with what you can hear; to be ‘wicked’ does not mean you are bad. Then there is the derogatory use of the word ‘gay’ in the ‘banter’ they so like to indulge in. This is, of course, not a recent phenomenon. Since the beginning of time each new generation has developed its own use of slang to promote and develop its own individual identity.