YOUTH: To the Point

To escort young lovers through the delicate orthodoxy of England’s Edwardian era, G.R.M. Devereux synthesized in Lover’s Dictionary a comprehensive language of flowers. Each blossom wafted a specific message (dandelions: “go”), and the manner of handing it to the lady became part of the unspoken word. A flower inclined to his right said, “I love you,” to his left, “Thou art radiant with beauty.”

Lacking either a Devereux or Edwardian subtlety, youngsters at San Diego high and junior high schools have found a way to be highly explicit. A girl arranges the sword-shaped pins on her cardigan in a variety of patterns: 1) horizontally parallel (come on, she’s unattached); 2) parallel, but at an angle (she has a boy friend, but he’s not a steady); 3) swords in a V (she’s interested in going steady); 4) crossed swords (poison, she’s got a steady); and 5) single vertical sword (get lost, she’s married). The boys wear single swords in one of two positions—blade straight down if he is already married, up if he’s on the prowl.