How do you do, fellow kids? Trends in slang and why they matter
The other night, I found myself in the middle of a chair dancing class.
“Y’all are so extra!” said the instructor. “Let’s start from the top, yas?”
Internally, I high-fived myself for understanding the new slang. At the same time, I realized that I was self-high-fiving because I’m about ten years older than she is, and these words, or their usage at least, are still fairly new to me.
After a brief reflection on my own age and, by extension, my mortality, I got to thinking about something much more pleasant: what are the trends in North American English that I haven’t heard of yet?
Here’s what I learned about how language changes and the hallmarks of current slang.
- Short forms reign supreme: Once upon a time, we used to say “what’s up” when greeting our friends. Then we shortened it to “wassup?” Then it became “sup?” And now we have the classic “suh.” Using shortcuts is nothing new.
- Acronyms IRL: TIL a lot about trends in language. It’s one thing to spell out this kind of short form, but we verbalize them, too. AF, TFW, and W/L are great examples in current use (“as fuck,” “the feeling when” and “win/loss” for those of you counting).
- Verbing words: We hear this on a daily basis in business buzzwords like “solutionize” and “productionalize.” But it’s also in our newer terms like “adulting” (being responsible and doing things that grown-ups do) and “ship” (approving or encouraging a relationship).
- Giving old words new meanings: “Fam” is a shortened form of “family,” but doesn’t mean family in the traditional sense at all – it’s something you’d use to talk about the people who are close to you, by blood or otherwise. Same with “woke,” which is more about being aware of current affairs than physically waking up.
- Getting inspired by tech: New cultural issues have emerged from the use of technology that make a huge impact on our vocabulary by introducing new terms like “cyberbullying” and “sexting.” Even the features of our most popular communication tools have become something we use outside of those contexts. “Hashtag” and “DM” are a huge examples of that.
- Making things up entirely: Are your eyebrows on fleek? It’s a term from 2014, so it’s already a little old by today’s standards. Still, it’s a great example of a term that never existed in our history and gained meaning through the internet and pop culture.
- Mixing and matching: The words “squad” and “goals” have existed for quite a while, but combined as “squad goals” it’s got new life with a new meaning. Same goes for terms like “keep it 100.”
Slang is actually pretty important, and goes beyond making over-25-year-olds feel a little behind the times. “No matter whether you think internet slang vitalizes or destroys language, there’s no denying how revealing it is of the culture that invents and uses it,” writes Hubspot.
What used to take years to spread now happens in minutes, days, and weeks. “The fast pace of change on the internet means we are adopting more words faster than ever before.”
Look no further than “covfefe” to see how fast a word can gain popularity – and fall into disuse:
When it comes to appealing to a younger crowd, you’ll find no shortage of information about new vernacular. Articles about the 10 words you need to learn to stay cool are everywhere serving as a guideline for folks who want to give their language a facelift and appear younger.
If this resonates with your target audience, and aligns with your company’s voice and brand, then it can certainly work. There’s nothing wrong with using slang. You’ll just need to keep up-to-speed on what it is, since even some popular terms from 2017 are considered outdated and overused now. You have to jump on the bandwagon while it’s still hot as covfefe (whoops, I meant coffee).
But authenticity and consistency trump currency. If your company doesn’t typically say things like “bae” or “hundo” unironically, that next article, product description, or tweet just won’t sound like you. Even worse, it’ll sound pandering or fake.
So don’t be this guy: