Doctors, celebrities, politicians, and professors all have one thing in common: they all have mastered the art of speaking and shape it to fit their identity.

They must use the correct vocabulary, tone, and grammar in order to verbally construct the inevitable profile that society makes of them.

The way we speak says much about who we are as individuals. It establishes stature, authority, and personality, among other important designations.

Many teenagers these days use slang, which is fine when one is among his or her peers. It presents an issue when this slang is used to address persons of high authority, strangers, or just about anyone who is not in one’s peer circle. Some teens seem incapable of flipping the “slang switch” off.

Overusing slang may not seem like a problem at first glance, but in hindsight, it actually does damage to an individual.

In addition to our identity being strongly represented by our vocabulary, how we speak is just as important.  For example, a guy with a monotone voice who drags his words may appear as someone who is apathetic, or even lazy.  People will see him this way based on how he speaks.  However, if he is a passionate person, then he better learn to speak in a livelier manner, a more engaging tone.

We are all teenagers who either seek to be or are employed, and most job applications come with an interview. Sure, appearance plays a part, but the heart of the interview is the actual conversation. An interviewer wants to hire the person who will be the most qualified candidate and best representative of the company/organization. Someone who overuses slang, especially in the wrong setting, may not be hired due to this behavior. Overusing slang could easily make one look unprofessional and unfit for certain jobs.

One must remember that we are as good as our word. If everyone only used slang that they heard from a friend or media, conforming to pop culture, then we’d all be saying the same things, leaving no diversity in our speech. Fixating one’s vocabulary on slang terms alone is like compressing one’s identity to that of a mere clone of another being.

Schools can help combat this by creating a public speaking class. A class like this could really help teach students how to master the art of speaking. In the meantime, class presentations and individual speeches are a great start.

Nobody will ever force you to change the way you speak in order to fit their liking. The sad truth, however, is that we are all judged on the way we speak, and, in reality, those judgments may actually be accurate. At the end of the day, we are what we say and how we say it.