PHOTO COURTESY OF M. SVAJDOVA VIA PXHERE

Originally published January 25, 2022

Teachers and staff here at MBMS participated in a teen slang quiz that showed their true knowledge of Gen Z lingo. However, 141 out of 221 students that took a survey do not know where these slang terms originate from, nor how long they have been around.

“The origin of the word slang itself is obscure; it first appeared in print around 1800, applied to the speech of disreputable and criminal classes in London,” Britannica.com said. “The term, however, was probably used much earlier.”

Over the past two centuries, slang has evolved to a great extent and the meaning of “slang” has changed drastically. It went from a word for territory in Britain to what we now define as a more informal and lazy alternative to certain words and phrases.

“Slang tends to come from things like memes, social media influencers, or even just shortened versions of words such as ‘sus’ which is a shortened version of suspect,” Arrow.org said.

All slang terms come from different places such as social platforms, movies and tv shows, celebrities, etc. Some slang has been around for a long time, while others are making a comeback. Plenty of lingo from the 80s, 90, and early 2000s are starting to resurface the internet once again.

“The origin of ‘drip’ as slang is actually debated, but most agree it started in the rap scene in the 2000s,” 7esl.com said. “There’s disagreement as to where it originated geographically, with the two most common being Atlanta and New Jersey.”

A good deal of slang was created to be a more brief way of talking and communicating with one another. For example, some slang including ‘sus’, ‘mid’, and ‘ship’ is usually used as a shorter version of the meaning, or has some relation to the actual word and/or general meaning.

“A trending TikTok sound features the phrase ‘mid’ and users have begun using the audio to describe things they think are mediocre,” HITC said.

Although most terms have not made it to the dictionary yet, slang is an important piece of each generation's culture, and believe it or not, is a necessary tool for English learning. It can bring our generation together and is a way of understandable communication with one another.

"Slang makes it easy for you to communicate more freely and informally," Bric Language Learning said. "What's more, it also helps to figure out what to say."