
Where New Slang Comes From - wellokthen
https://pudding.cool/2017/02/new-slang/
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timpark
This reminded me of an article a couple of years back showing how deaf people
would come up with signs for internet slang. It'd be neat to see it updated.

[http://www.hopesandfears.com/hopes/now/internet/168477-inter...](http://www.hopesandfears.com/hopes/now/internet/168477-internet-
american-sign-language)

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mbubb
Pretty interesting attempt. The idea of catching where a word pops out of the
primordial psychosocial ooze and becomes a signifier is a compelling idea.

Cant help but feel that "Using Google searches for words’ definitions" is
catching these things when Memaw is looking them up not the kids...

The generation of slang that I have seen in life gets defined in practice.
When something is google search mainstream it has ossified to some extent.

I remember the first time I heard 'mansplain' and since i am an old dude
(older even than 'elder millenials' which is a term from the article that I
liked) - I am sure it was old when I heard it back in 2014 on twitter. At the
time I got it in the context of Lucille Ball saying 'splain me' in the way
that she did on her show...

In the context I didn't need to do a google search - I just laughed my head
off and found other examples on twitter and tumbler, reddit etc

For me at the time this was new and very funny. I would see it grow into other
variants 'x-splaining',etc. Occasionally I use it in speech, sometimes in an
ironic way when I am tasked with explaining something to a group.

I guess the point is that this is really intersting but i more phenomenology
than ontology. I think peak google searches are when this has reified into
something - first step into making it into the OED. When it is peak google the
word would get . disgusted eyeroll from your typical teenager.

Anecdotally I heard 'triggered' in a google social media (what was that called
again) discussion and mistakenly thought it was a joke. I got all kinds of
blocks and hate and learned that this was something that had actual currency
in certain circles and I should be aware of this in future conversations...

We coin these things all the time - most of them become private jokes, some
take off and become viral. Most dry up and blow away. Some make it to a
headline or a list of "10 words to knwo when you check your teens chats..."
But the actual origin is probably in some subredit , twitter exchange, etc.
These things dont pop up with definitions, and what is more interesting are
the connotations - the way something like 'deplorable' got whipped around
social media or a while and became a badge in opposition to 'sjw'.

That would be really interesting research - show clouds of meaning where these
things bounce around and get the secondary meanings and associations for the
brief flaring up before they become dank...

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BaronSamedi
The author of the article tries to identify "who" coined a particular slang
word. Some researchers believe this question is mistaken because, they posit,
these words evolve through a process similar to biological natural selection.
See for instance, "On the Origin of Tepees: The Evolution of Ideas" by Jonnie
Hughes.

Whatever process ultimately describes the evolution of language, I find it
interesting to consider it as possibly due to impersonal, natural forces. This
avoids the agency detection bias; one of our many cognitive biases (i.e., bugs
in our mental machinery).

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hyperpallium
Similar to inventions and discoveries: is it the "great man/woman" theory, or
just an idea whose time has come in the historical process?

Some work is simultaneous, like the discovery of pluto. Several ideas in
maths/science are named after independent developers. OTOH, sometimes
classified ideas still haven't been independently invented when declassified
many years later.

So, I guess it's the safe, boring answer: some is, some isn't.

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BaronSamedi
Even when we credit individuals, and rightly so, as we do, for example with
Einstein, ideas don't spring ex nihilo into existence. Rather, as I like to
think of it, they grow and emerge out of a certain intellectual environment.
There is a reason Pythagoras didn't discover the Theory of Relativity.

My point was simply that asking "who invented (discovered, created) X" is
almost always the wrong question. We have a strong tendency to assign credit
(and especially blame)to a person because that is what we are wired to do. One
thing science has showed us is that the world isn't that simple.

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ourmandave
This reminds of the current Motel 6 radio spot where Tom Bodett tries to speak
millennial lingo.

[https://audioboom.com/posts/5551957-motel-6-millennials](https://audioboom.com/posts/5551957-motel-6-millennials)

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jfaucett
Language is fascinating. I grew up in the deep south with both southern
redneck slang and hardcore ebonics which makes for some interesting slang. I
haven't lived in the US for a long time now though so I barely knew any of the
slang words in the article.

Anyways, some of the best redneck/ebonics stuff I remember were:

1\. I'm fixin' to take a shower. == I'm going to take a shower.

2\. She's a yappin == She's talking all the time.

3\. I got a hankerin' for some ice cream == I'm craving some ice cream.

4\. I didn't get a lick of that inheritance money == I didn't get any
inheritance money

5\. I done talked to hime == I talked to him (done can be placed before just
about any past tense verbe)

6\. What it is? == whats up

7\. I axed him == I asked him.

Anyone else got some great slang?

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mythrwy
The use of "be" to indicate action instead of state. (Often followed with the
word "like" which is another case study in meaning. Maybe "like" indicates the
speaker is aware the portrayal isn't exactly as represented but close enough
for the conversation?)

"I be like, you crazy".

"Bitch be all up in his face".

"He be walking home from school".

I don't think it's an error, but rather possibly a subtle meaning with this
use of the word "be". Something like at that time, the subject "is" their
action. And tense doesn't matter so much.

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johan_larson
I remember reading an article about this. I think the "be" form distinguishes
between current and habitual/regular action.

He working. ==> He is working right now.

He be working. ==> He works regularly./He has a steady job.

Or maybe it's the other way around; I read the article a long time ago.

~~~
jfaucett
Yes you are right on with your examples. That is the way be is used.

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careersuicide
I'm from the Bay where we hyphy and go dumb

From the soil where them rappers be getting their lingo from

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pacaro
The etymology of broccoli to mean weed, at least amongst my
family/acquaintances, comes from the practice of trying to persuade children
to eat broccoli by referring to florets as "trees"

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scandox
The Splendid Source and The Jokester just wouldn't work as stories anymore...

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sheharyarn
Disappointed to not find "Cuck" in the list

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WalterBright
Slang is everywhere. Even the university I went to had their own slang.

