I’m 31 and “fire” is a word “kids these days” and even those my age use, but I don’t. I understand it just fine, but it’s not a term I could see myself using. I think the “newest” word I use is “sus”: That Nigerian prince email looks sus.
Curious how those with over half a century of experience handle new language, or when you stopped caring about what’s hip and happening.
35 comments
None of that is new it’s all older than you actually.
I’m 40 and do it mostly to annoy my wife. Something like “On God, these tacos are bussin’. Just gonna yeet a little Cholula on there.”
Only ironically
I learn it so I can understand my kids. I don’t use it …. unless I’m trying to embarass said kids in public.
fr fr, no cap!
I pick slang up because my kids use it.
I’ll use new slang terms as soon as I feel comfortable using them naturally – usually because I’ve heard them used enough times in conversation. And comfortable tends to be right around the time they’re phasing out.
I was excited to use “on fleek” at one point when it felt appropriate but it had passed in popularity about a year prior. Still can’t say “sus” naturally, though I’ve tried a few times.
I can use “yeet” easily, but does anyone still say that?
When do you stop? I’m 43 with a suit and tie job that says “dude” “dope” and “sick” way too much.
Hell yeah fam. I only use based slang. I only pick the most cringe things I can think of, that way my kid knows what I’m capable of and keeps his ass in line or I’ll use it in front of his friends.
So ironically, and only with kids to make them uncomfortable. I’d never annoy my wife with it.
Mostly no, but I’m a fan of “delulu”
fire is older than sus
– a 33 year old former snowboard instructor lol
As someone around your age, it’s funny to me how these words are not remotely new. Like *maybe* fire is “newer”, but sus is by no means something modern.
What I will say is that slang and what’s perceived as “new” has definitely been affected by the internet. I definitely think a lot of words that were more niche/regional have gotten a lot more widespread.
Not only do I not keep up with it… I fully spell out and punctuate my text messages.
I have 3 teen boys so to make them cringe I use some slang. Sometimes it creeps in unironically. No cap.
My use of cringe is itself cringe. Meta-cringe.
I feel like, for most people, whatever was the thing in our teens and twenties is what gets baked into our personalities the most and that’s the foundation for how we speak and act. Sure, some new stuff creeps in over time but often in an ironic way to the point that it becomes post-ironic.
I told my 13 year old son a few days ago that something was ‘pretty sus’. He almost threw up.
About 20 years ago a young, new coworker said “no worries”. I had only heard “no worries” from Australians, I guess from *Crocodile Dundee* or something. So I asked him if he’d been to Australia and he gave me a confused look and said no.
Now people use it all the time but I’m sticking to “no problem.”
Frankly once I turned around 25 I stopped being “with it”. And what “it” was become wrong and scary to me.
I still have only vague ideas of what slang means like “bussin” (good I think) or “no cap” (no shit?).
It’ll happen to you one day!
I’m 49 & still say how stoked I am for everything. Or sweet. IDGAF what anyone else is saying. I have heard people say some really stupid things like “adorbs” & “totes”. Glad those words phased out. I work with 20 somethings & I’m a foreign object to them. I have no idea what words they say because they won’t talk around me.
I’m 37 and I still have to ask my daughter what “say less” and “no cap” mean.
I didn’t think us millennials would ever turn into the olds.
I am 50, and it feels as if the youngins of hip hop hijacked some of the slang I always used. For reference, I grew up in NYC in the Bronx (deadass lol!)
Yes but only ironically because it’s so stupid it’s funny.
Only to pissed off my teens. Thats based
I’m 42, and I don’t know when I stopped. But I definitely still use the old slang when the mood strikes. Word. Dope. Bumpin’. That’s about it, tho. Spent my formative years in Houston, and Texans do not seem to care about anyone’s judgement.
Your dialect freezes on your last day of formal education, be it high school or college. Pretty sure that’s the rule.
Only to horrify my teens.
‘Fire’ is a pretty old slang term. I remember using it twenty years ago.
Probably 25 is when I stopped. I’m in my mid-40s how.
“Hella” and “Ick” are the ones that set off my middle aged man rage.
I am not near 50, but I never used slang even in school. I speak very standard English. I always thought of slang as being kind of strange. I am sure there are moments I might slip and say something slang like, but I keep everything standard as possible.
That question is mid. See I can.
I find that things slip into my vernacular because I watch a lot of rupaul’s drag race, so anything they say on there ends up coming out of my mouth at some point lol. I end up saying “it’s giving [whatever]” a lot.
I’m 38 and it really depends on the slang. There’s some that I just think is stupid and won’t say it. If it leaks into my vocabulary naturally I won’t stop it but some things I just see myself saying. For example, you won’t catch me calling people fam lol
I’m 42, but…
I think I still incorporate new slang into my speech from time to time. I fancy myself a word nerd and new words I encounter are like catnip to me. I notice them and I’m fascinated with them; they often really delight me. I often use them ironically until it blurs into just actual usage. But I’m sure I am not super up-to-date on the latest terms, and I’m cool with that.
I also like to mix in old timey slang that no one uses anymore, and minced oaths, for my own amusement.
I’ll pick up new slang if I hear it enough. The challenge at this point (I’m 49) is that I don’t get exposed to a ton of new slang.