the    sides

Jerry recently commented on a certain youthism that he is trying to figure out. Fortunately for Jerry - who is a fan of the G sides - he has come to the right place. For gathered here on these pages are close to 75 years of youth ministry experience.

If you count marko, that makes it 125. But he is a celebrity now and probably has little time for the fine art of deciphering youth slang. (Although once, he was a master. Plus he is on sabbatical and I miss his posts. Of course he is in Hawaii…so now that I think about that, I don’t like him as much.)

Hermenuetical Principles of Youth Ministry

1. CONTEXT
Context is everything. It is the sun, moon, and stars of understanding the youth world. So if you trip into a room and someone says “Doorknob” you can be rest assured it is NOT a compliment. However, if you make a particularly brilliant point and the response is “SHUT UP!!!” that, of course, means that you are off the hizzle.

2. Mountain Dew
MD is a close second. It seems to give the humor gland freedom to run and play. It makes things clearer and funnier. Especially if coming through the nose. (Which is akin to sticking a lit blow torch up your nostrils.)

3. Exhaustion = Humor
The later the evening, the more chance you have of understanding not only the meaning of key phrases but why they came into existence. “Sniffum” is not a particularly funny word. Neither is “tramdoof.” However, if you had stayed up till 3 AM driving across Kansas to go skiing it would even now bring back a snicker, perhaps even a giggle. See #4 for further explanation.

4. Lexicon Life Cycle…aka Beating the Dead Horse
The life cycle of a phrase is usually this - extremely funny the first 40 times. Midly entertaining the next 75. Complete annoyance and groan utterance the next 100 times. This of course is exactly the time when Junior Highers finally understand the humor and will begin using it constantly.

The next phase is dorminant. The phrase/word will go unused in the groups lexicon for some time…perhaps months, maybe years. As an adult you will think that finally the phrase is extinct. But you would be wrong and that would prove that you don’t belong in student ministry.

The next phrase is resurrection. Someone will uncover the phrase, use it in a new context and it will start the process all over again. Examples of this: Your mom, your face, for shizzle, dizzle.

5. Timing
What makes a phrase or word particularly powerful is timing. Very few students have this chronological gifting. It is closely related to Context. Sometimes a particular student will have comedic timing with one phrase but not another. This of course leads to the phenomon of “his/her phrase.”

That’s his phrase because, well, he is the only one who can say it right.

Jerry - I hope this primer has helped. For further dialogue and conversation I would encourage you to hit any of the other tour guides located in the sidebar as well. Or maybe they would leave a comment or nuance to the above principles to further help out.