‘Woteva’ iPhone App By Saga Review

TEEN language is not a new thing. Teens have been coming up with their own slang words and phrases for generations, but things all got a little bit silly during the mobile phone boom and it appears that teens, powered by texting, have now gone into overdrive.

I’ve always felt text language was something that was grossly over-exaggerated. I was 13 when I got my first mobile, and whilst I was guilty of using LOL as much as the next teenager, I never really felt like I was speaking in a language that adults would struggle to decipher.

But now linguists over at Saga, the over-50s group that sells holidays in Guernsey and car insurance, has launched an iPhone app that translates hundreds of slang words and phrases used by teens.

The voice is the same bloke who does all the ridiculous announcements at the start of X Factor, or at least does a rather good impression of him.

It’s called ‘Woteva’ and enables users to search or scroll through a dictionary of words and their meanings.

An audio function speaks aloud the words, and there are over 500 words on there, although not all of them have the audio function available. The voice is the same bloke who does all the ridiculous announcements at the start of X Factor, or at least does a wonderfully good impression of him.

What’s more, translations can be shared via text, email, Facebook or Twitter, meaning that the over-50s social networking community will soon crack down on particularly tricky words and phrases.

Sage Woteva App Homepage

A couple of examples then, to give you an idea of what I’m talking about:

Hiberdating - Someone who suddenly drops all their other friends when they start dating.

Dissociative Facebook identity disorder - Someone whose Facebook image and real life image is completely at odds.

Geekstress - A female geek. These can be very intimidating to teenage boys, especially attractive ones.

Woteva - Whatever – a catch-all phrase often signifying reluctant agreement.

Vromp - Strung together variously, will make up the beat of just about any Dubstep track. But then you won’t know what dubstep is, will you? Google it. What’s Google? Oh dear…

Some of the entries can be particularly patronising, but the app is free to download (presumably to stop over-50s trying to push pound coins into their USB ports) and most of the entries are rather humorously written. I’m 25-years-old and was unfamiliar with almost all of the ones I came across, but don’t take this app too seriously and it’s a fun little dictionary to have to hand.

So, it makes complete sense then. All confused over-50s have the practical translation tool they’ve been looking for, and the under-50s have a concise comical read.

I think it’s great, and I’m definitely going to recommend that my granddad downloads it to his iPhone…oh…hang on an minute.

Follow David on Twitter @DavidPMcCourt