i hear the word “treated” a lot at work and around the area i live. i really enjoy hearing it used and using it myself.

here are some thoughts on using “treated” as slang.

people usually say “treated” after someone verbally destroys a small part of another person’s thoughts, emotions or [anything else]. for instance, someone might be complaining about their boyfriend or girlfriend and someone else will just say, “yeah but you’re an ugly dumb ass and you only talk about facebook.” the person who has made this observation, has “treated” the other person.

generally, when someone gets treated, a third party, anyone observing, will either say “treated” out loud, or look at the person who was treated, and then say “you got treated.” we’ll start here.

saying “treated” out loud, implies that something universally accepted has happened. it’s like saying, “beautiful” when something beautiful happens.

the second way, simply telling the person who has gotten treated, that they’ve been treated, this implies something else. it implies an even further degree of stupidity on the part of the person who was “treated.” how? simply put, the one who has been treated, is so stupid, that they need to be informed. almost as if the treating was so severe it caused partial amnesia and/or the treated individual can’t even comprehend their treatment.

thoughts on the above ways of suggesting treatment: i really, and this is just my thing, i really like just saying “treated” out loud. i like just calling attention to it. let’s make sure everyone knows a treatment has occurred and i saw it and appreciated it. that said, there are a few ways to say “treated” if you choose that method.

after a really good treating, like a treating that threatens to erode everything about the person treated, i do a “booming, deep voiced” rendition. somewhat like an announcer at a sports stadium. usually, when i go with this method, i also pronounce it like “tree-TED.” i feel that this both let’s people know that someone got treated, but also gives honor to the treater, almost like saying “slam dunk” over the p.a. after someone slam dunks a basketball.

another way to do it is the “fast and merciless way.” where without looking up from whatever you’re doing, you just go “treated” as if driving by in a fast car. this is a good way of saying “hey, i’m here, i heard that treatment, and you can carry on.”

a third way i’ve been working on, is turning to the person next to me and doing something like “goodness, the…treatment.’ like it’s a horror movie and something bad is coming/already happened.

having looked at the actual moment of saying ‘treated” we can now look at some other interesting aspects of the word.

when heard, it’s not immediately clear whether or not in means “treated” as in “treated in such a way” or “given treats.’ it seems as if both are the same, but closer analysis suggests otherwise.

to be given a treatment, as in the first definition, initially means neither good nor bad treatment. one can be treated right, or treated poorly. i think we can look past this problem and just note that one who is being treated, is the recipient. to be treated is to be assaulted. it takes one from a certain place and changes it. it produces a change in being.

the second definition. ‘given treats’ sort of leads us back to the original definition. however, to be given treats suggests an even higher level of condescension. one is to be given the treat of mistreatment. in this way, the poor treatment of one by another, leads to the mistreated being given a new look at themselves, and consequently, an almost therapeutic perspective.

there are many other aspects to look at, such as ‘who am i to treat” ‘should i have been treated for x” and ‘where does treatment end, and violence begin.’ etc. but these have been some thoughts on using the word ‘treated” as slang.

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