Totally
Totally! Toooooooootally.
Probably the most used word in my lexicon and the most stolen. And why not. Totally is the greatest word in the English language (personal opinion) for its wide variety of uses.
Someone says something you completely agree with? Totally!
Someone speaks over you just to make the same point you were trying to make and then looks at you for agreement? Totally…
Someone says something so ridiculous that an argument would do nothing but cause you to break your jaw on impact from hitting the floor? Totalllllllllly.
In college I made an active effort to stray away from words such as totally, like, fabulous, or any other words that gave away that I was a girl with a girly vocabulary. I thought it would make people take me more seriously if I used words that made me sound a little shakespearean. Instead it made people call me aggressive and bossy. So I overcorrected, I added filler words to soften what I said, finished sentences with exclamation points, and prefaced every question with “if you don’t mind”. I thought it would make people think I was kind, instead it made people think I wasn’t intelligent. Agh! The double edged sword of womanhood.
The female lexicon has often been shamed, discussed, and rarely studied. As women there is often no winning in vocabulary, so I propose we no longer try to win but rather just exist and enjoy our life and our words.
There are some words out there, so feminine, so omnipotent, and so perfect for almost every situation we can do little else but thank all the young girls out there who have infused their personality, charm, and love for life into the words they use and thank all the not so young girls out there who continue to use these words, despite all the backlash.
