Slang throughout the years

Gnarly means “treacherous.” An acceptable synonym is “hairy.” Surf punks use gnarly to refer to any wave over two feet

Wow, man! That’s totally gnarly!

Unknown origin, probably related to boogie-woogie music.

Let’s boogie!

(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.

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.

The most common use of “yeet” is as an exclamation when you’re throwing an object. However, the word isn’t limited to being associated with objects, as you could also say, “I’m going to yeet myself into the pool.”

I just yeeted my cat across the room. (not advised.)

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.

The origin of skivvies, a North American term for underwear, is unclear.

We stripped down to our skivvies and went into the pool.

The adjective phat has emerged from hip hop, a cultural movement originating among young African Americans in the United States and associated with rap music, graffiti art and breakdancing.

Taylor Swift’s new album is well phat.

One early person to use stan for an obsessed fan was the rapper Nas in a 2001 track where he raps: “You a fan, a phony, a fake, a pussy, a Stan.”

An Urban Dictionary entry describing stan for intense fandom was added in 2006, and one of the first tweets using stan as a verb for greatly liking someone came in 2008.

Everyone knows I stan for Taylor Swift!

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.