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[mango drank]

(modified observation) Over the last 5-10 years, it seems like there's been an explosion of new slang vocab making its way to mainstream consciousness. Slang seems to be added to the mainstream pool faster than it has in past generations. (Yeah yeah, slang can originate farther back in the past, and have only obscure / regional use, but over time that slang can sometimes bubble up into the mainstream, and that's what I'm talking about here.) What's behind this recent surge? Something to do with social media becoming its own virtual nation with its own language, and making it easier for slang to spread and catch on? Gen Z trying hard to differentiate itself from its elders? Or is this all just my imagination? A small sampling:

bae
deadass
extra
fam
lowkey
no cap
salty
(x) slaps
sus

 

[Cravis]

I think Gen Z is just stupid. Plain and simple. They don’t mean to create this new vocabulary it’s just they got simplify and dumb shit down to their level.

Spoiler

no offense meant to any Gen Z’ers here

 

[Robot Carnival]

part of the issue is the flow of information is at a speed that's unmatched in any previous generations. we keep getting new tech and new cultural inventions which kinda given more opportunities for young people to create new slangs.

 

[The Pleasure]

I think Gen Z is just stupid. Plain and simple. They don’t mean to create this new vocabulary it’s just they got simplify and dumb shit down to their level.

Spoiler

no offense meant to any Gen Z’ers here

This post is sus as hell. You a super calafragalistic extra sonic boomer, everytime you hear bout avocado toast it gives you another tumor?

 

[EverydayBeast]

I enjoy slang especially when fused with regular language.

 

[mango drank]

I think Gen Z is just stupid. Plain and simple. They don’t mean to create this new vocabulary it’s just they got simplify and dumb shit down to their level.

I wouldn't go that far. I think new slang tends to be treated with derision by elders across all eras. New gen wants to distance itself from its parents, and in turn its parents dislike change and treat it with distrust. Seems to be part of some larger natural order--get the young to separate from the old, so they can learn to find their own resources, then reproduce and keep the species going.

 

[zeorhymer]

It's all the YT/Twitch/TikTok/Insta "influcencers" that propagate the words.

 

[synchronicity]

I boomba flibble how you squibbled that?

 

[Spaceman292]

When I was younger, I don't remember using all that much slang that felt new at the time. A handful of words here and there sure, but not like today. Over the last 5+ years, it seems like there's been an explosion of new vocab, as if Gen Z is trying to differentiate itself from its elders faster than past generations. What's behind this? Something to do with social media becoming its own virtual nation w/ its own language, and making it easier for new slang to spread and catch on? Or is there more to it? Is this all just in my imagination? A small sampling:

bae
deadass
extra
fam
lowkey
no cap
salty
(x) slaps
sus

No you're just getting older. It's been this way for thousands of years, old man.

 

[godhandiscen]

A language evolves as it is being used. The internet increased our communication rate. This is a symptom of that.

I certainly can’t understand a small number of posts on social media anymore. I didn’t get “jeet” for a year. I thought someone was making fun of disabled people or something.

No you're just getting older. It's been this way for thousands of years, old man.

No kid, you don’t understand how much the world has changed. When you were still in your dad’s balls, we didn’t even have smartphones, and that was only 15 years ago.

 

[GymWolf]

Nah, you are overthinking, bromigo.

 

[dr_octagon]

thread is lit

 

[Spaceman292]

A language evolves as it is being used. The internet increased our communication rate. This is a symptom of that.

I certainly can’t understand a small number of posts on social media anymore. I didn’t get “jeet” for a year. I thought someone was making fun of disabled people or something.



No kid, you don’t understand how much the world has changed. When you were still in your dad’s balls, we didn’t even have smartphones, and that was only 15 years ago.

'Grrr grrr back in my day...kids these days with their smart phones and their rap music and fortnights...listen here, sonny'

 

[Dream-Knife]

Internet makes things happen so quickly. It's also the reason why we haven't had a 'culture' in the last 15 years.

 

[dr_octagon]

ayyy, bruh, chill, doge, ez, ffs, gg, hoe, innit, jelly, kmt, lol, munny, nom, orly, peng, que, rahh, srs, trap, uggo, vegan, waccy, xmen, yolo and zoolander.

now i know my abc, y u no meme with me?

 

[eddie4]

this slaps, i'm deadass literally shaking at this thread bae, lowkey

am i doing it right?

 

[poppabk]

I think the new slang is mass fella lishty.
(This post would have made sense to people in my school back in 88 or so)
I think new slang is more homogenous now because you have worldwide communication and so we probably have less slang being created, but you read or hear it more.
Also I think the Brits may have exported our tendency to make up words at a rapid rate.

 

[mango drank]

It's also the reason why we haven't had a 'culture' in the last 15 years.

What do you mean?

 

[*Nightwing]

They ain’t got nothing in historical comparison:

 

[Dream-Knife]

What do you mean?

The 50s had a distinctive culture from 52-63, the 60's had a distinctive culture from 64-74ish, the 70's had their culture from 75-81, 80's from 82-91, 90's from 92-01. 2000s get more tricky as stuff already started speeding up. 01-05 was an adaption period, with the post-9/11 culture being largely the decay of the late 90s with nu metal and war culture. 05 -09 was post-hardcore/emo/metalcore. After 2010, there hasn't really been a 'culture' as society has become fragmented even more.

Of course none of these predominant cultures had everyone, but they added a flavor to the times. What has been the flavor of the past 10 years? SJWs? We had those idiots in the 80's and 90's as the evangelical right.

 

[FutureMD]

It's easier for new words to become commonplace due to a wider proliferation of social media. Before, a slang would have to go through word of mouth before it became commonly used. Now a couple of popular tiktoks/youtube vids and it'll be quickly picked up.

 

[mango drank]

They ain’t got nothing in historical comparison:

The thing is, were those slang words / expressions popularized all within the same 5-10-year span? I gotta imagine a bunch of the stuff in there comes from lots of different points in the history of English, it's not all from just the 1940s.

 

[bender]

for pliberty my bliberty, schmowk on, bramsey

 

[poppabk]

for pliberty my bliberty, schmowk on, bramsey

Someone had to say it. /Thread

 

[bender]

Someone had to say it. /Thread

Stonk'em

 

[IntentionalPun]

Some of these have been around for decades lol

I think slang is spreading faster.. but these examples are funny.

 

[Airola]

this thread is epic
epic for the win!

 

[T8SC]

 

[*Nightwing]

The thing is, were those slang words / expressions popularized all within the same 5-10-year span? I gotta imagine a bunch of the stuff in there comes from lots of different points in the history of English, it's not all from just the 1940s.

You’re absolutely correct. That was surely across a larger span of time and spread slower. Time is a difficult concept to grasp in my current altered state of mind. My bad and good catch!

 

[LegendOfKage]

They ain’t got nothing in historical comparison:

I don't think Tex Avery understood the difference between idioms and slang.

 

[99Luffy]

When I was younger, I don't remember using all that much slang that felt new at the time. A handful of words here and there sure, but not like today. Over the last 5+ years, it seems like there's been an explosion of new vocab, as if Gen Z is trying to differentiate itself from its elders faster than past generations. What's behind this? Something to do with social media becoming its own virtual nation w/ its own language, and making it easier for new slang to spread and catch on? Or is there more to it? Is this all just in my imagination? A small sampling:

bae
deadass
extra
fam
lowkey
no cap
salty
(x) slaps
sus

8 of these are millennial terms.
Only no-cap is gen z.

 

[TheMan]

I think it's more about dissemination. For example, some of the words you listed like fam and lowkey have been around for a loooooong time. I remember seeing people call each other fam on predominantly black message boards back in like 2003.

 

[Lanrutcon]

Basically we're living in an age where information spreads like wildfire.

Oh, and idiocy. Lots of idiocy.

 

[mango drank]

Time is a difficult concept to grasp in my current altered state of mind.

Are we talkin DMT or what?

8 of these are millennial terms.
Only no-cap is gen z.

All right, maybe I shouldn't have mentioned Gen Z at all, but my original point stands--that it seems like a lot more slang is hitting the mainstream these last 5-10 years.

I think it's more about dissemination. For example, some of the words you listed like fam and lowkey have been around for a loooooong time. I remember seeing people call each other fam on predominantly black message boards back in like 2003.

Which brings up an interesting question--where is all this stuff coming from? When I was a kid / teen, a TON of slang seemed to come from rap and/or the black community in general. I wonder if that's still the case for a lot of the current slang. I wonder why.

(Looking up "salty" for example just now, dictionary.com says that comes from Black English too.)

 

[Mistake]

I think a lot of new slang is fun, but it’s extra cringe when it’s forced down your throat like the 5000 genders

 

[T8SC]

 

[PleaseDontBanMe]

dead ass has been NY slang since the 90s

 

[PSYGN]

This post is sus as hell. You a super calafragalistic extra sonic boomer, everytime you hear bout avocado toast it gives you another tumor?

 

[Blond]

dead ass has been NY slang since the 90s

Yeah and a handful of these we were saying in New Orleans in the 90s and 00s. Hell, SIMP being new to people makes me laugh because it used to mean “someone idolizing mediocre pussy” not white knighting like it has now.

All I see now is that people using these terms can see a guy from New Jersey on Facebook saying it and instead of the organic traveling now 100k people across the world use it and it spreads from there.

 

[Birdo]

I notice a lot of people say "Super" in front of everything now.

"That was super hard"
"This is super awesome"
"We were super late"

Just a random observation.

 

[The Pleasure]

Did that scallywag try to take my clout? Bitch I'm coming with the flame. Guess what? Your mom about to give me brain. My flex is mad insane. Knuckled up those bros gon feel the pain. Flex my pecs? Dad goes mad ashamed.

 

[I_D]

Slang has always developed among cultures, but it spreads significantly faster than in the past due to the internet. Media plays a huge role as well, and media has never been easier to access than it is now.



What I find interesting is that slang is developing so quickly that even slang is developing slang.

"Bruh" = Brah = Bro = Brother = Extremely close friend
"Lit" = Fire = Hoppin' = Bumpin' = Very fun (And I'm sure "The roof is on fire" is in there somewhere)
"Low key" = On the low = On the DL = On the down-low = Keep this between us

And so many more.

 

[Dr.Morris79]

 

[MaestroMike]

Agreed. Fukk does ratioed mean ?? Been noticing that one all of a sudden

 

[Soodanim]

Yeah and a handful of these we were saying in New Orleans in the 90s and 00s. Hell, SIMP being new to people makes me laugh because it used to mean “someone idolizing mediocre pussy” not white knighting like it has now.

That’s what happens every time without fail, worldwide, especially when slang crosses cultures. The most common misused slang I experienced as a teenager here in the UK is/was slang that came from Jamaican patois because it’s a semi-language barrier. When slang spreads (for example, away from London), the chance of people who don’t understand the slang but use it anyway increases quickly and you end up with it being used incorrectly more often than not until it sticks.

The idiots eventually get hold of everything. What you said about “simp” reminds me of “cuck”, which gets misused so often that the meaning might as well change at this point. People use it as a near generic insult now, without having any idea what the word means. They probably think it just rhymes with fuck and that’s enough.

 

[triplestation]

if you ever end up in a conversation with a zoomer this is the only arsenal you need:

 

[F31 Leopard]

Salty is not new. We've been using that term in Hawai'i since the 90s. Also Brah and Stay we've been using forever.

 

[Tschumi]

I think the events of the last year or two have had people from all over the spectrum thinking up a constantly adapting set of derogatory shit to win arguments with, yeah

 

[FreedomOfSpeech]

Most slang is very fetch