Q deleted
- Thread starter Emily Patrice
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(Lit) Ex. "Nick's party was lit. Did you go?"
(Sick) Ex. "I just watched the new Marvel movie. It was sick! I might watch it again."
(Dope) Ex. "Bro, Anne's mom's food is so dope."
But slang tends to become dated extremely quick.
(Sick) Ex. "I just watched the new Marvel movie. It was sick! I might watch it again."
(Dope) Ex. "Bro, Anne's mom's food is so dope."
But slang tends to become dated extremely quick.
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Buzz Nichols
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...Those, absolutely. But they're always recycling words, too. I've heard my teenage students say "bitchin'" and "tits" to mean awesome, both of which were slang from my (now distant) youth.
Same for bomb, whip, and rad.
Poppin' and bangin' have gotten some traction recently. And, in the burgeoning Canadian hip hop culture "blessed."
Go figure.
Same for bomb, whip, and rad.
Poppin' and bangin' have gotten some traction recently. And, in the burgeoning Canadian hip hop culture "blessed."
Go figure.
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That's poppin' my lit fam.
My best guess is this translates into "I appreciate the efforts that you are making my intimate companion."
My recommendation is to not worry about the slang all that much, by the time the story is distributed the parlance will have changed anyway. (Chances are it's already changed while I was composing this message)
My best guess is this translates into "I appreciate the efforts that you are making my intimate companion."
My recommendation is to not worry about the slang all that much, by the time the story is distributed the parlance will have changed anyway. (Chances are it's already changed while I was composing this message)
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When did it go out of style? I use rad constantly, said it to a 70 year old woman last week and even she snickered about how dated it was.
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Like, totally!
Word up!
Not sure about American teens, but I got a hand-written thank-you note (complete with a drawing) from a five-year-old last night, wherein I learned that I was ossom.
Took me a moment or two to decode it.
(It was from the same child who gave me a hand-made Christmas nativity scene last year, made entirely out of empty toilet-roll tubes. Now, that was ossom!)
Took me a moment or two to decode it.
(It was from the same child who gave me a hand-made Christmas nativity scene last year, made entirely out of empty toilet-roll tubes. Now, that was ossom!)
Dope is coming back. Lit is out. Haven't heard sick recently. (I teach college freshmen. They keep me spry.)
I would actually just go with "awesome" as it's still widely used. It's kind of a classic. Never goes out of style. Even when 'dope' started coming back it was in an ironic use, so it might be a little dangerous to try to nail it exactly on the head.
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'Fam' refers to friends, family, acquaintances that you like. It's short for 'family'. But people on twitter call anybody fam.
And don't forget 'sis'. Sis is genderless. Anybody can be referred to as 'sis'.
Speaking to a male friend with relationship problems: "You need to break up with her, sis."
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Been reading this thread with amusement - wish I was still awesome, hip, off the chain, or whatever...
My initial interpretation wasn't different words for awesome, but more pronunciation. So, with that in mind - I've heard:
Ahhhhhh-sum
Awe-sum
and
ahhsum-sauce
My initial interpretation wasn't different words for awesome, but more pronunciation. So, with that in mind - I've heard:
Ahhhhhh-sum
Awe-sum
and
ahhsum-sauce
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I actually hear The Kid use this one (she's 13).
I asked her this question over the weekend. She said yes to "awesome" and "lit." She also mentioned "savage," although she mostly sees that on line.
Another she mentioned: "on fleek," usually in reference to someone's hair or makeup. I will admit that one made me feel the gaping generation gap. Spouse and I have been using it in front of her since then, and I think she's ready to disown us.
The thing with using slang terms is that even if they are true to the time period you're writing in, your reader needs to get them. If you go too outside the box, the dated term could become unknown. But context should help.
That said, some slang is also cultural or regional. Terms tend to move from the city out and be somewhat racially or socioeconomically divided. At least this used to be true. But there are terms above I've never heard and my kids are 16 and 13.
That said, some slang is also cultural or regional. Terms tend to move from the city out and be somewhat racially or socioeconomically divided. At least this used to be true. But there are terms above I've never heard and my kids are 16 and 13.
I was surprised the first time I realized how widespread slang phrases have become. Twitter has removed the regional boundaries that contained certain slang words to the area they originated from. Now folks from different sides of the world use the same slang without issue. And as soon as a new slang word goes viral (Ex. Fleek) EVERYONE knows it. And everyone is using it within days.
Interesting. It used to be the kiss of death for a term was having everyone know it. At that point, somehow a new term would appear because the slang is a marker of street cred where it originates.
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According to The Kid, the shelf life of a lot of these expressions is pretty short. (When she told me she mostly heard "savage" on line at this point, she implied it would be Totally Not Cool to use it in the real world.)
OTOH, there's "awesome," still clinging to life.
Look, by the time you publish a story where a character says "That's super lit, homedog fam," all those phrases will become so overplayed and antiquated that the only people using them still are hipsters using them as the butt end of a joke or out-of-touch adults trying to connect with the hip young crowd.
My opinion? Capture the voice of the teen: the irreverent, half-ironic and half-sincere tone. The specific lingo is just dressing on top. Awesome is a pretty universal world, so you're safe there. But you wouldn't use "groovy" would you?
My opinion? Capture the voice of the teen: the irreverent, half-ironic and half-sincere tone. The specific lingo is just dressing on top. Awesome is a pretty universal world, so you're safe there. But you wouldn't use "groovy" would you?