Introduction
In a social setting, people interact with each other and their surroundings. They employ words when interacting with other people. Language has a crucial function in all societies that use it since it provides a means of interacting with others, particularly in communication. People in their civilization require a language for communication with one another. Some cultures use mononyms for names, whereas others allow people to have many words. A name is involved in footing in that it invokes and enacts particular social roles and relationships among people (Goffman, 1981). Those with multiple characters can obtain them in various ways and patterns over time. Every single country had a national language as an identity or trait to separate itself from others, so everyone in the world spoke their language. Kiesling says naming can be an addressing term, discourse, or stance marker (Kiesling, 2004). In today’s world, there is a wide range of languages often used by some persons or groups of people in their daily conversations, and slang is a type of language (Rymes, 1996). This paper aims to investigate and discuss the slang word ‘bro.’
Methods of Data Collection
Self-report surveys, observational data, and media usage were the primary data gathering methods used in this study. In observational data, the researcher tracked the word ‘bro’ usage in 24 hours, areas of use, and the people addressed using the word. In the self-report survey, I surveyed five other users of the word ‘bro’ using a survey modified from Kiesling’s Dude article (Kiesling, 2004). In media usage, the term ‘bro’ was looked across by the researcher in three media forms, and the researcher collected the occurrences of its use.
Findings
Observational Data
When talking about going to the mall at a friend’s house with the friend and her sister, I used the word ‘bro’ about three times. At home, I used the phrase ‘bro’ twice when talking to my brother about driving me to school. I did not subject my mother and father to the term. I used ‘ bro ‘ three times while texting and talking on the phone with a friend about bread and joking. When my brother played video games at home, I overheard him say, ‘bro.’ My two brothers once used the term ‘bro’ in a conversation at home when the elder brother was urging, the younger brother to finish the dishes. I used ‘ bro ‘ four times while talking about the amount of work I had to do for my other classes. I used ‘ bro ‘ slang once when discussing our research with a friend in my senior seminar class. I also used ‘bro’ to myself once while prepping for a presentation for a research project, but while in the mosque, I never used ‘bro.’
Self-Report Survey
The first survey was with a 52 years old white Arab female who is a doctor. She never uses the word ‘bro,’ and she is not likely to address anyone through this word. She thought that teenagers use the word ‘bro’ frequently. The second self-report survey was with a 22 years old Egyptian Arab female who was a student. She said she uses the term ‘bro; many times each day. According to her, she could likely address a close friend and sibling, both male and female, using the term. She was not likely to use the term while addressing a romantic partner, a stranger, acquaintance, boss, or professor. She could also use the term ‘bro’ while addressing her parents. She said she usually uses this term when annoyed or trying to address someone funnily. When annoyed, she could use the term to buffer her tone, and when being funny, she addresses her close friends using the word ‘bro.’ She thought funny people or people who use slang to address each other use the term bro frequently.
Another survey was with a 25 years old Arab male who is a doctor. He said he uses ‘bro’ many times each day, and he is likely to use it while addressing a close male friend, a male acquaintance, and a male sibling. He did not use it while addressing a female stranger, parents, boss, and a professor. He uses ‘bro’ moderately while addressing a male stranger and a female sibling. He said he uses the term ‘bro’ because it is a universally used and understood term that can serve as an identifier for anyone. He thought young adults and teenagers use ‘bro’ frequently. The following survey was with a 22 years old Asian female who is a student. She used the term ‘bro’ about once a week. She was likely to address a close friend, romantic partner, and a male sibling using the word ‘bro.’ According to her, anyone who is chilled, relaxed, and friendly could use ‘bro’ frequently.
The last survey was with a 24 years Egyptian female who works as a clinical research assistant. She used ‘bro’ many times each day. This participant is likely to address both male and female close friends, siblings, and parents using ‘bro’ and uses the term ‘bro’ because it is easy to handle close people. She said ‘bro’ is informal, and instead of calling the person by the person’s name, she could say bro. According to her, ‘bro’ is a transitional word at times. She thought a person under 40 years and someone familiar with English slang uses ‘bro’ frequently.
Media Forms
I used a YouTube video and two articles in this study. From a YouTube video, US President Barack Obama declared that the word “Bro” means indispensable partner when referring to UK Prime Minister David Cameron (The New York Times, 2015). The US President used ‘bro’ while addressing the UK Prime Minister, his close friend, and his work associate. In an article by Rolling Stone, Snoop Dogg, a renowned rapper, also used ‘bro’ while apologizing to his fellow Eminem. “I Was Wrong, Bro. “We love each other,” “We’re brothers, man” (Hiatt, 2021). In an article in The Globe and Mail, the bro became popular as a social type because of ‘How I Met Your Mother’s womanizing’ by Barney Stinson, and society has battled to understand him (Mcginn, 2015). ‘Bro’ refers to a male friend or a male sibling. This article explains how society has coped with the word ‘bro’ and sports ‘bros,’ money ‘bros,’ fraternity ‘bros,’ and other types of ‘bros’ exist nowadays, raising what a ‘bro is.’
Data Analysis
From the findings, individuals use ‘bro’ in particular contexts. From the results, people primarily use it at school with colleagues and home with siblings and friends. In the findings, individuals use ‘bro’ to address and initiate a relaxed and chilled conversation (Kiesling 2004). They use this term mainly while interacting with people of the same age bracket, mostly below 30 years. From the observational data, ‘bro’ was used primarily with friends who were age mates and natural brothers. In the self-report survey section, ‘bro’ was used while interacting with close friends and siblings. Three females and one male use ‘bro’ to address males but not females from the surveys. There are moderate cases of using ‘bro’ with male strangers, acquaintances, and parents. In the case of the 52-year-old, she never used ‘bro,’ and she thought the slang term was mainly for teenagers. It might sound unethical to address the elders or non-close associates using slang terms, and therefore each slang term has its users and audience.
In media usage, individuals use slang terms while addressing men, and society is learning to cope with these terms. ‘Bro’ is used by men who are close friends while addressing each other. The US President and Snoop Dogg used ‘bro’ to interact and improve their relations with their close male friends. ‘Bro’ is used more often when addressing males than females. Females use it as well while addressing their male friends. These findings relate to the Footing article since the phrase ‘bro’ fluctuates across different contexts and expresses relationships between people (Goffman, 1981). In terms of race, people from almost all races use this slang term. Only one participant said she uses the word ‘bro’ when annoyed.
Conclusion
The term “bro” has varied connotations in different parts of the world. Brothers are two male-gendered individuals who have the same parents. The word “Bro” is an abbreviation for “brother” and has a variety of connotations. Nowadays, a “bro” can be a stranger; one’s biological brother, a close buddy, or a fraternity brother. The word ‘bro’ originated from the word brother, although its meaning has evolved significantly through time.
References
Goffman, E. (1981). Footing: In Forms of talk (pp. 124-157). University of Pennsylvania Press.
Hiatt, B. (2021). “I Was Wrong, Bro”: How Snoop Dogg and Eminem Squashed Their Beef and Recorded a New Song. Rolling Stone. Web.
Kiesling, S. (2004). DUDE.American Speech, 79(3), 281-305. Web.
Mcginn, D. (2015). Everyone has their definition of ‘bro.’ what does the term mean? The Globe and Mail. Web.
Rymes, B. (1996). Naming as social practice: The case of little creeper from the diamond street.Language in Society, 25(2), 237-260. Web.
The New York Times. (2015). Obama on the use of the word “Bro” [Video]. Web.