How teens are sending secret messages in the Digital Age

Ask any non-English speaker: Idiomatic speech is one of the toughest codes to crack because the meaning is "stored" in the reference, not the language. Imagine deciphering these without knowing the idiom: "That takes the cake", "A stitch in time...", "Use the force, Luke", etc.

Drawing idioms and fragments of idioms from music and video games rather than larger culture is a brilliant way to fly under the parent's radar.