What is a contemp? Why am I being called that?
A ‘contemp’ is short for a ‘contemporary’.
‘Contemporary’ is an agreed-upon-by-the-MTPs cross-timeline classification for anything that has not come disconnected from its native thread and is currently in place in that thread. I.e., 99.99999% of everything that exists is contemporary.
This is distinguished from ‘displaced’ people and objects, which are still connected to their thread, but might not be in that thread or at the ‘wrong’ time in it. This means they will eventually become disconnected.
And ‘disconnected’ people and objects, which have, obviously, become disconnected. And disconnected people are legally temporal refugees, but anything can be disconnected.
You are not likely a contemp if you are reading this, unless somehow our information pamphlets have escaped into other timelines, or you’re a visitor who works for one of the TEAs. However, people likely will refer to you in that way for a couple of weeks, as it has also become slang that means ‘a very very new person who has no idea what’s going on’.
That sounds like contempt
It’s kahntemp (IPA: kˈɑːntɛmp) not kuhntempt (IPA: kəntˈɛmpt).
But, yes, it is close, and people have noticed that. There’s been a few alternatives proposed, but the problem is that ‘contemporary’ is a legally-defined term and isn’t going to go away.
There’s a bunch of other slang I don’t get.
That’s what happens when you cram together three very different timelines at three very different points in history. There are various primers out there that can be helpful, or just pick it up from context, and once you do, you won’t be called a ‘contemp’ all the time.