Growing up is never an easy thing.

We all must learn the dangers of falling asleep with gum in our mouths, the dangers of slap-on bracelets, and that yellow snow is indeed not a defect in the slushy concoction.

As we progressed through our school years we also learned how to write in cursive, only to stop using it after junior high, and that you don’t spell potato with an e at the end.

And for those of you who don’t believe me, let’s write a “Dear Dan Quayle” letter, but later.

However, as we progressed in school and began watching MTV, something odd occurred.

We shortened our language.

Let us go back to age 8, the year in which many of us discovered that the New Kids on the Block were the best band ever and that Vanilla Ice was indeed “back with a brand new invention.”

At this time, we were taught the proper way of greeting someone.

“Hi, how are you?” or “Greetings fellow colleague, might I interest you in a fruit roll-up?”

Flash forward ten years. How do we address each other? Now the basic answer is “Sup.”

What the heck has happened? From age 8 to 18, we went from four syllables to one, and that’s not even because Sup is a word…we merged the ‘s’ into up to form a condensed version of “what’s up.” Have our lives become so fast paced that we can’t even speak four words to our fellow comrades?

Are we running out of Red Bull? But the oddity does not end here.

One of my guilty pleasures is to watch Total Request Live (TRL).

Yes, I know what you are thinking.

You’re asking how such a super cool person such as myself, is watching a show where they only show 10 seconds of a video and go into 80 hours of commercials.

Well, the answer is simple, but you don’t get to find out until you journey around the world and fetch me the Maltese Falcon or if you can locate me a vending machine that dispenses Coca-Cola.

TRL showcases young people introducing their favorite videos, but rather than re-enact a Murphy Brown performance, they follow their “shout-outs” with a scream.

What is that? You aren’t selling extreme dental floss, deodorant, or soft drinks. The fact is that your screaming doesn’t make me want to go out and buy a CD.

Rather, it inhibits my ability, as well as that of every other television watcher, to hear the brief video instead. Yeah, I may not want to hear Britney Spears “My Prerogative” but I want to make sure I hear it first and then make fun of it later appropriately, along with toy poodles.

I will be the first to admit my lethargic tendencies, but even I have standards.

If the only reason I know you said “sup” was because of a head nod or handshake, perhaps we should all stick to instant messages.

At least then we have a visual aid at our disposal and if you have to break up with someone you can do it faster than an e-mail.