Slang throughout the years

Whether something is the cat’s meow or all that and a bag a chips, slang serves the purpose – splitting “those in the know” from “the others.” But how is your grasp on various slang throughout the years?


 

Results

Your knowledge of slang is bodacious!

Only the Queen’s English for you!

#1. fresh

Fresh is another way to say that something is “cool” or “great.” It is commonly used in reference to how someone appears, including his threads and kicks.

Many people recognize the term from, “The Fresh Prince of Bel Air,” a popular sitcom from the 90s starring Will Smith. The term is often heard in rap songs to brag about luxurious lifestyles.

For an old man he’s really fly. I’ve never ever seen him not looking fresh!

#2. boondocks

The boondocks is an American expression from the Tagalog (Filipino) word bundók (“mountain”). It originally referred to a remote rural area,[1] but now, is often applied to an out-of-the-way area considered backward and unsophisticated by city-folk.

They were in the boondocks with no cell service.

#3. woke

The phrase “woke” and to “stay woke” is not new — it began appearing in the 1940s and was first used by African Americans to “literally mean becoming woken up or sensitized to issues of justice

DeSantis leverages the woke agenda for his own purposes.

 

#4. shake a leg

The phrase is sometimes used to mean ‘get going’ or ‘hurry up’. It was explicitly defined that way in the New York Magazine in 1904. “Shake a leg … meaning to ‘hurry up’.”

Let’s shake a leg, you guys. We gotta be there in twenty minutes.

#5. shizzle

in the language of rap and hip-hop this means “for sure.” Shizzle, as a euphemism for sh-t, dates back to the ’90s. One can also be “the shizzle,” which is the best or most popular thing.

For shizzle my nizzle.

#6. slaps

Slap appears to start getting applied to music, specifically, by at least the early 2000s. Now, the origin of slang, especially successful and widespread slang terms like slap, are indeed hard to pin down, but the musical slap is often credited to Bay Area hip-hop slang. (Hyphy, anyone?) It was first entered into Urban Dictionary in 2004.

Rihanna’s new single slaps so hard, I can’t stop listening to it!

#7. cheugy

According to an April 2021 article in The New York Times written by Taylor Lorenz, the term cheugy was coined in 2013 by Gaby Rasson, a Beverly Hills High School student, who used it to describe “people who were slightly off trend”; an Urban Dictionary definition appeared in 2018.[1] Subsequently, it was mentioned in a TikTok video by Hallie Cain in March 2021,[3] inspiring explainers from various media outlets (including Lorenz’ own article).[1] The American Dialect Society voted cheugy its 2021 “informal word of the year“.[11]

She is so cheugy: she’s doing last week’s TikTok trend.

#8. don’t @ me

Expression: Similar to “No offence” or “back off”, “Don’t @ me” literally means don’t mention my name in a tweet, comment, etc., but is usually used in pretext of something predicted by the presenter to be offensive to a social audience of a specific type.

Donald Trump is the best president ever. Don’t @ me.

#9. glow-up

The phrase was popularized (and may have been originated) by rapper Chief Keef, who used the term (spelled glo up—now a common alternate spelling) to refer to a positive improvement in his 2013 song “Gotta Glo Up One Day.” Chief Keef’s play on grow up in the song was also a reference to his crew, known as the Glo Gang.

It’s been amazing to witness Grace’s glow up as she has transformed from an awkward tween into a TikTok trendsetter.

#10. ralph

(slang) To vomit. US 1960s, of uncertain origin, apparently derived from a use of the male name Ralph, but perhaps imitative.

After six shots, Jim spent the rest of the night ralphing.

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