GRUPS

Let's throw a new word into our lexica, shall we? My favorite new word of the moment: grups.

According to a recent article in New York magazine, an ongoing "rock star-ification of America" is, essentially, erasing the generation gap. Today's 30-, 40- and even 50-somethings are watching the same movies and tv shows, listening to the same music and wearing the same clothes as people in their late teens and early twenties. Adam Sternbergh, who writes the article, came up with the term "grup," to describe these hipsters. " 'Grups' is a nerdy reference to an old Star Trek episode in which Kirk and crew land on a planet run entirely by kids, who call grown-ups 'grups,' " he explains. "All the adults have been killed off by a terrible virus, which also slows the natural aging process, so the kids are trapped in a state of extended prepubescence. They will never grow up. And they are running the show."

So, as cool a noun as "grup" is, let's try to make it a verb (a la "google," "Anna Nicole Smith" [this noun becomes a verb when one tacks on the pronoun "it" to it] "dipstick," "bookmark," and "kung fu").

For instance: "Mom totally surprised me by grupping it and buying a Franz Ferdinand t-shirt instead of another one of those Eileen Fisher blouses that literally LITTER her wardrobe!";

or: "J's never going to find romance in Manhattan unless she grups herself up!";

or: "I grupped around all day, hence, the abundance of shopping bags in my hands! SOME HELP HERE, PLEASE!"

or: "Didn't anyone tell him that suits are for wusses? I'd give anything to grup him!"

and, of course: "My great-aunt MEANT to give the church auxiliary group members a symbolic 'grup you,' when she walked into the meeting wearing oversized sunglasses, an ironic vintage t-shirt, shredded jeans, and cowboy boots."

As for this movement of grup, I LOVE IT. I mean, seriously folks, at 27, the nerd isn't getting younger and has always been an advocate of maintaining hip-ness regardless of age. I'm so gonna be a grup when I grow up and my future babies will wear rockin' clothes like the ones shown here: http://www.samandseb.com/index.php?cPath=21.