Older people find it difficult to keep up with young people. This happens not so much because of the difference in mentality, but because of differences in vocabulary, specific manner of communication. Each generation invents its own marker words, designations for long-known objects. And what is “sizhki”, individual citizens can only guess based on life experience and obvious harmony. And you can run into a request to share them on the street, while relaxing, and even at work. How to understand what they want from you?
Word evolution
Guessing to nothing! We are talking about standard "smoking sticks", cigarettes or their analogues. In principle, any fan of tobacco has at least once come across this original term, since it is quite common. Its popularity is growing against the backdrop of a number of musical compositions, films, and other works of modern art. The metamorphosis of the word went through three stages:
- “Cigarette” - “whitefish” - “sizhka”.
Half is cut off from the classical definition so that the word becomes short, more capacious. This form is also periodically used in communication with people of their circle. And then they add notes of ease with the suffix -k-, because you need to demonstrate to others your adulthood, a carefree attitude to a bad habit.
From criminality to glamor
Certainly, jargon was born in a marginalized environment. They know well what “sizhka” means, small criminal elements: from ordinary hooligans from your area to professional thieves and robbers. Authoritative representatives of the dark side of society do not need to try to stand out from the crowd. And since the communication on the streets is informal, people of different social strata meet, some expressions migrated.
Do you want to be cool, cling to the courtyard celebrities? You behave badly and say “sizhka”. Subsequently, adolescents grew up, some turned into musical performers and began to include terms from childhood into creativity. This natural process brought the concept under study to a new level, transferred it from the gateways to nightclubs, and made it a part of the slang of teenagers from decent families.
Courtesy rule
In a Russian-speaking society, requests to smoke by themselves have dubious fame. And even though the stranger knows perfectly well what a “sizhka” is, he will react with prejudice to the questioner. Just because of stereotypes! Try to exclude such a designation from your vocabulary so as not to spoil the first impression. Or use it in a narrow circle of friends, where everyone is perfectly familiar and do not pay attention to some of the nuances of speech.