Modern slang goes beyond just words; it embodies who we are and where we belong.
“You look snatched today,” a teenage girl might say to her friend. As her friend blushes over the compliment, the middle-aged man sitting next to them scratches his head in confusion. “What is snatched?” he might think to himself. “Why don’t they just say what they mean?” Why is this man so confused? The girls used what we call slang. Slang refers to language particular to a specific group, meaning that it can effectively function as a secret code that people use to communicate with each other. While new slang terms might sound strange or even absurd to those who don’t use those terms, slang creates a sense of belonging among those who do. Assistant Professor Lisa Morgan Johnson (Sociolinguistics, Varieties of English) shares her thoughts on the spread and function of slang, along with how it creates belonging and contributes to the constant evolution of language.
Johnson says that slang typically spreads from smaller groups to larger groups. Small groups, such as friends, church communities, ethnic groups, and geographical communities, create slang to foster solidarity and to better communicate with each other. When people outside of these groups hear them use these words, the outsiders might adopt these words into their speech. Johnson says, “Over time, they [slang words] become used by a wider public and are not necessarily associated with that group anymore.”
For example, speakers of African American Vernacular English (AAVE) create many of the slang words that become popular for those who don’t speak AAVE. Examples of this include turnt (meaning “to be energized, likely under the influence of drugs and alcohol”), shade (meaning “gossip about another person or organization”), and bad (meaning “good or attractive”).
Because of the constantly changing and spoken nature of slang, linguists struggle to track when or where slang comes from. Johnson says that when she studies slang and teen speech, she uses Urban Dictionary as a resource to understand when and how people use certain words and phrases. But sometimes even Urban Dictionary does not always have a good definition of new or local slang.
Sometimes, we use slang words so often that they lose their distinctiveness, and we adopt them into everyday language. Certain groups of people used to use gig and cool as slang, but now, the average person uses them. Johnson says, “Some of those things might die out, so you can hear somebody using slang from two years ago, and it can sound really dated sometimes, right? And other things just become part of the everyday lexicon and don’t seem like slang anymore. . . . So, you just have to see what stands the test of time.” Dictionaries constantly update and look for new words, which allows slang to develop into everyday speech.
However, before a word transitions into everyday speech, Johnson has found that many people consider it incorrect language, particularly in teenagers’ speech. When Johnson tells people that she studies the way teenagers talk, she says, “They say something like ‘I hope you teach them to talk correctly.’ . . . I try to explain to them that, first of all, linguists don’t believe in correct and incorrect language. We’re very interested in what people do with language.”
One of the biggest things people—particularly young people—do with language involves creating slang. Every generation has created slang words specific to their age group. For instance, many people in older generations will remember using words such as far out or groovy as teenagers, which likely confused their parents. Today, teenagers will say things such as simp or bussin’, and while those words may sound unintelligible to outsiders, they communicate very specific, clear ideas to those who do understand them. While Generation Z may invent new slang today, they will inevitably get older and become unable to understand their children’s language.
100% and rizz epitomize slang used by Generation Z that could baffle older generations. 100% (said “hundred percent”) often means “absolutely.” For example, if your friend asked you, “Should we get pizza tonight?” you might respond with, “Yeah, 100%.”
If someone has rizz—short for charisma—it means that person has superior flirting skills or has a lot of romantic interests. If someone says, “I was sitting in class, and this girl asked for my number,” his friend might say, “W rizz.” (With W indicating that the friend has a lot of charisma, or rizz).
Older generations might harrumph about young people using these new words or phrases, but slang will always exist. We don’t need to understand what slang means, but we can understand its purpose. So, rather than correcting someone’s use of slang, consider looking it up and learning something new that day. You might find your new favorite word.
Check out The Oxford Dictionary of Modern Slang and Jonathon Green’s Dictionary of Slang to learn more about some slang words we use.