Just go back to Whore Island

Apparently my teen-aged niece and her friends call each other "Ho." 

As in "whore," but shortened.

Her mom noticed it on facebook the other day and was like, "That's totally inappropriate, take it down," and my niece was all, "But mom, it's a term of endearment!"  You know, like, "Hey ho, what up."

Hm.

Anyway, her mom told her she didn't care one bit if it was considered a term of endearment, if the posts weren't removed then the facebook would be removed.  Permanently.

So Abby deleted the ho comments of course.  She's smart enough to know that her Mom wouldn't hesitate to remove the facebook forever and ever amen.  Now she just calls everyone hobo.  Which is slightly less offensive.

Anyway, I'm scratching my head here a snitch.  Because when I was fifteen-ish, if someone called me a whore I might mentally smack them in the face or cry into my pillow.  Because whore isn't exactly the nicest word out there.  Certainly not something we call our friends!    Right?

My oldest daughter, who is currently (and forever, I suppose) too old to be punished, sometimes calls her friends "Betch."  As in bitch.  With an e.  AGAIN, in my day (oh my Cod I sound just like my mother) the word bitch was NOT NICE.  It was a swear word, and also, it meant that you were a huge girl-jerk!  So like, how and when did these things turn into terms of endearment?

Should I walk around calling people names?  Like, when I run into my old boyfriend in the grocery store, should I be all, "Hey Asshole!  Long time no see!"  Do you think he'd think I still like him?

Like, what's the protocol?  What is off limits?  Is anything off limits?  The real question is, am I just OLD and hopelessly uncool?