Copacetic was not a term in Severus' vocabulary. Neither were words like dude, cool, wow, hip, nice, fine, guy, or any other stupid Muggle popular expression.
And his husband adored using them. Not to piss Severus off; Harry had simply grown up using the words.
"How was your day?" Harry asked Severus.
"It went very well, thank you for asking. And yours?"
"Oh, it was copacetic," Harry answered immediately. "One of my students brought a picture of a cool exotic animal to class, and we talked about that. Not necessarily the brightest bulbs in the box, but nice guys nonetheless."
Severus blinked a few times. "Harry, can't you talk normally? At all?"
Harry furrowed his brows. "What do you mean?"
"First of all, what is a bulb? Unless you mean those things Sprout plants every year?"
"Oh, no, not at all. Bulbs as in light bulbs."
"There are bulbs that give off light when you plant them?" Severus wondered. Harry could tell Severus had virtually no contact with Muggle technology ever.
"No, Muggles use them instead of torches. They use electricity. The expression, 'not brightest bulbs in the box,' means not the smartest people in the group."
Severus sighed exasperatedly. "Then why can't you just say that? Why do you have to introduce bulbs and lights and electricity?"
"Severus, that's what makes language so rich. Using cool expressions."
Severus tutted. "Harry, the expressions are one thing. But I don't care if it takes me the rest of our married lives, I'm going to cure you of this awful habit of using words like 'cool.'"
"Cool's a perfectly fine word," Harry answered defensively.
"Fine is another one of those words," Severus groaned. "Hasn't it struck you yet that 'fine,' 'nice' and 'cool' are basically meaningless modifiers?"
"Not really," Harry replied cheerfully. "They serve my purpose well enough."
"My point exactly! What does that say about the level of your discourse if you are willing to use words like 'cool' to make your point?"
"It means I adapt to the times. I can accept that most wizards grow up around Muggles and use their linguistics. It means that the students don't see me as an old fuddy-duddy."
"I'm not an old fuddy-duddy! I simply deign to use the most precise and expressive term in my not inconsiderable vocabulary."
Harry looked at him pityingly. "Sev, love, I know that. But the students consider the teachers who can't adapt old. Dull. Pathetically old-fashioned. Personally, I kinda like your almost Victorian vocabulary – except when you're being fucked, and being fucked hard, but I doubt the students need to know that – but the students think that it's silly. Uncool, in other words."
"Using their words make us sound unintelligent."
"Teaching students in their language doesn't make us sound unintelligent. It's one thing to figure out what we're trying to say, it's another for them to have to figure out what the words mean."
Severus frowned. "I still don't agree."
Harry laughed. "I know. It's still copacetic."
Copacetic – adj. Very satisfactory; fine. Word of the Day, February 12, 2008)