As many of my friends know, I enjoy studying the behaviors and actions of people, commonly called “people watching.” Well, recently I’ve noticed a new trend in the speech behaviors of young college students, which intrigued me. All groups of people use different terms to refer to others, such as dude, man, homeslice, girlfriend, and many others. A new term, ‘bro,’ is becoming increasingly popular.

I must say I enjoy ‘bro’ very much because unlike some ways of greeting others, ‘bro’ is always positive and upbeat. While it is possible to use ‘bro’ in an angry sentence, you can’t turn it into a negative word. As a matter of fact, using ‘bro’ in place of any not so nice word could actually make a not so nice sentence a little more positive. For example, the sentence “What do you think you’re doing?” isn’t very happy is it? Let’s see the same sentence with ‘bro’ in it: “What do you think you’re doing, bro?” Much less threatening, eh?

I have personally always been an avid user of ‘dude’, but unfortunately, it has many negative connotations associated with it. Most people that hear someone use ‘dude’ automatically deduct a few IQ points and label them as either a surfer or a stoner. While I have no problem with any of those accusations, they are not necessarily true about me personally. Since ‘bro’ is still relatively new, it has no connotations one way or another. Because of that, it is harder for someone to make any sort of judgments from you using it.

Some adults feel that people of our age group use too many unprofessional words that make us appear uneducated, such as frequent use of the word ‘like’. While they may not like the way we express ourselves to others through our choice of vernacular, I think it’s here to stay. Bro is certainly another word that can be added to the aforementioned list of “forbidden words and phrases” that we will continue to use no matter what others say.

In support of outlawing all those out there who discourage the use of our culture’s unique vocabulary, I am starting a movement to spread the use of the word ‘bro.’ If you go out and get your friends to use bro and they get their friends to do the same, then pretty soon you’ll have people coming up to you saying, “Hey, what’s your major, bro?” Wouldn’t it be the most rewarding thing ever to have participated in the shaping of your nation’s vocabulary?

Now I know that our region already uses bro, otherwise I wouldn’t be writing about it, but I have reports from other parts of the country that they haven’t yet experienced the power of bro. That means that we already have our work cut out for us. In order to help our cause along, I will be starting a new Facebook group entitled “Students for the Spread of Bro” for all to join and invite friends for “Bro Education.”

I now charge you fine students of the University of Tampa to go out there and change the world with one word. Our goal will be to have widespread usage across the country by the end of the semester. This way, when you go home for winter break and everyone asks you what you did this semester, you can say, “I changed the world, bro.”