I was finalizing details with a customer, an average guy in his late 20s. I told him that later in the week we would evaluate where we were and “hook up.” He gave me a slight smile but said nothing.

I suddenly realized that we were not only in different worlds but in a different time zone in a different universe. I have a 20–year-old grandson so I know what hooking up means to young whippersnappers these days.

I smiled and told him we would get together later in the week; no hooking up would be required. If you are reading this and don’t know what hooking up means in today’s cool culture, ask a teenager. If you are male and over 40, you might want to be careful how you inquire. You might end up on the sexual predator website. One of the problems with constantly changing language and longer life expectancies is how confusing communicating with someone from a different place and time can be.

Cool still means what it did when it was invented by Frank Sinatra in the 40s, but what is cool has changed considerably. Few other words can make that claim. Cells are no longer tiny bits of life, but a lifeline one is required to carry around wherever one goes. In the 60s if you asked someone to give you the time, you found out what time it was. If you do that today you will likely find out what hooking up means.

Amazing used to mean something really amazing, like going to the moon, Roberto Clemente, or color television. Now people use it to describe the most mundane things. Gum, underwear, and salads are all described as amazing in our current over–hyped world.

Isn’t it ironic we place so much emphasis on words, and they change so fast? We have a list of unmentionable words that will get you banned from polite company, ticketed, and slapped by your grandma. Most entries on the list change from decade to decade. There are also synonyms for each of those forbidden words that are accepted in public. Very confusing.

Our culture also seems to be getting more sensitive to words. I’m not that old, but I remember a time when words were not so damaging. We were taught to dismiss anyone who called people names and consider a person’s actions instead. Today, we not only castigate a person for what is said, we analyze what he might have meant and criticize him for that, too. How is that possible if the offending word will be benign in 20 years?

Today, a muffin top is unsightly and not very tasty, a nearsighted date is one you barely know, and the most popular dance in South Carolina is another name for hooking up in England.

And whatever you do, don’t use the English slang word for cigarette. You’ll be charged with a hate crime and imprisoned. You won’t like how the inmates hook up.