You Got Chenned!!

I could have merged this post with the previous post, but I felt this deserved its own post. Within certain circles at the FRWY, a phrase that was coined by an 8 year old girl finds itself circulating. The phrase is 'You got Chenned!!', and it made its debut at the FRWY picnic a few months ago at Gage park. I don't remember what incited such a phrase and it's original intended use, but currently, it is used when someone gets 'dissed', jokingly mocked, or in cyber-language, gets 'pwned'. Personally, I think it's a kinda funny saying and I can think back to several instances where the use of such phrase made a funny joke even funnier.

But this evening, my friend Chris, who invited me over to share Thanksgiving dinner with him and his preggers wife, Terry, shared something with me I had previously not known. Although my last name 'Chen' is of Chinese heritage, he told me that the word 'Chen' also has a Hebrew meaning. He said that in Hebrew, the word 'Chen', in its noun form, means 'Gracefulness and Beauty'. Because he is not a self professed Hebrew scholar, he encouraged me to double check that and look it up, just in case he was wrong. Well, I did, and Chris was right on. Here's an excerpt from this site.



As I was thinking about this, I started to think about how the phrase 'You Got Chenned' is being used. Although it's being used in a fun and joking manner that is not meant to hurt the feelings of others, it's typically used to punctuate a good joke or dis on someone. I can take a joke on my behalf as good as anyone, and I for sure can dish it out and hang with the best of 'em, but if I could be completely honest, there have been times where the jokes may have been taken too far, and I am as guilty, if not more guilty of this than anyone else. At the same time, there have been times where I just wasn't feeling in a joking around kinda mood, but sometimes the jokes and smack talk still find it's way into conversations. Again, I'm sure I have done this more times than I can remember and am as guilty, if not more guilty of this than anyone else. But what if we did this:

What if we decided to change the way we use the phrase 'You Got Chenned' and have the word 'Chen' reflect the Hebrew meaning?

What if the connotation of the phrase took upon itself a sense of passing grace and beauty onto something or someone else?

What if 'Getting Chenned' meant a kind act of gentle word was heaped onto someone else?

What if people looked forward to hearing the phrase 'You Got Chenned' because it meant we were able to catch a glimpse of God's grace and beauty through being an extension of His grace and beauty?


If this is gonna happen, I know I will need to play my part in this verbal revolution, because I enjoy handing out as large a mouthful of smack talk as the next person. Maybe I don't NECESSARILY need to cut out all the playful jokes all together, but perhaps what I need is to up the amount of grace and beauty I give out to eclipse any hurtful remarks that seem to come so natural to me. Perhaps what I need is for someone to ask me 'Who've you Chenned recently?' and be my reminder that I need to reflect what my name saya and usher grace and beauty into a world that at times seems so devoid of such things.