Sorry, JBiebs, but “swag” (/swaeg/ noun or adjective. 1. To be cool. 2. The quality of being cool. 3. Does anybody really know anymore?) “is obnoxious,” said Sasha Keenan, 18, who writes for our sister publication The Mash. And throw “bae” ( /b /, noun. 1. A beloved one.) away, too. Both of these terms are dead, done, gonezo.
When it comes to words, I consider myself to be pretty in-the-know. Journalist. Recent college grad. I get it. Or, at least, I thought I did. Then I sat down with a bunch of Chicago-area teenagers who write for The Mash to chat about the way they talk. Turns out being in your early 20s isn’t enough to hang with the cool kids anymore.
Don’t be shocked. Your Facebook feed, just like mine, is probably still full of passe terms, like swag, bae, “solid” (/’säl’id/ adjective. 1. Cool or good) and “bro” (/br¿/ noun. 1. A male friend). So, in an effort to help us all gain a little street cred from the 17-year-olds out there, I present you the slang of the times.
T’d /tee’d/ adjective. 1. Exciting (when describing an event) or excited (when describing a person). 2. Hyped up. 3. Very intoxicated.
Because apparently we needed a shortened version of turnt, which is the shortened version of turned up which can mean a number of different things. Turnt can be used to describe an event (usually a party that I would not have been cool enough to attend in high school). You can also spell out t’d with the tea emoji-apostrophe-d if you want to look super cool to the teens that follow you on Instagram.
In a sentence: “This party tonight is gonna be so t’d,” or “Let’s get t’d tonight.”
Lit /lit/ adjective. 1. Cool, exciting or fun (when describing an event). 2. Really cool or nice in quality (of a person or thing). 3. Very intoxicated.
Lit is truly a versatile word. “Lit can mean turnt, like a party,” said David St. Preux, 15. “Or if you’re talking about how somebody is dressing, that can be lit if their clothing is nice.”
Lit has been making its rounds, creeping into our vernacular for a while now. Even though it’s been co-opted by 20-something hipsters, teens in Chicago still use it, but now ironically.
Teens now sometimes use it to describe situations as lackluster, like their high school English class.
In a sentence: Literally just, “It’s lit.”
Tweaking /tweek’ing/ verb. 1. To be out of one’s right mind. 2. To be acting unusually.
If somebody is tweaking, they’re typically acting in a way that is bothersome to others. It can also mean to be messing up (sometimes in class, but that’s less likely), or being a nuisance to those around them.
“They could just be like, being goofy,” said Cami Grandgean, 17.
But to Jessica Bond, also 17, tweaking can be super annoying. “A lot of people say like, ‘I didn’t know what I was doing,'” she said. “They’re not in their right mind.”
In a sentence: “Shelly is tweaking, dude. She’s getting on my nerves.” Or, “Man, I don’t know what I’m doing right now, I’m tweaking.”
Extra /’ekstra/ adjective. 1. To be acting over-the-top in an annoying way. See also: Tweaking.
“Somebody who’s being extra is just being too much,” said Kanyinsola Anifowoshe, 14. “It’s just the same as tweaking.” See above in case you forgot.
If you tell somebody, “You’re being so extra right now,” they’d hopefully know to take it down a notch. Hopefully. Now you all know, too.
In a sentence: “Ugh, why are boys always so extra.”
Salty /’sôlt’ee/ adjective. 1. Feeling an emotion somewhere between annoyed and upset.
As Thomas Atseff, 16, put it, “If someone breaks up with you and then goes and dates your best friend, you’d be salty about it.”
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Salty is another term that’s been around for a while but is still persisting in the teen vocabulary, albeit not as frequently.
In a sentence: “Nah, I’m not salty. They can date whoever they want.” Yeah, right.
Wild /wIld/ adjective. 1. Crazy or weird.
While the teens I talked to were fairly clueless about the Nick Cannon classic show “Wild N Out,” the term “wild” is undergoing a resurgence in cool teen language. (“Wait, really?” Anifowoshe said when I told her about the MTV classic.)
In a sentence: “That’s wild,” or “We were wildin’ out last night.”
Sleep on /sleep ôn/ verb. 1. To not act on an opportunity. 2. To not value something.
While old, washed up grown-ups use “sleep on it” to mean take some time (or some zzz’s) to contemplate a decision, for teens in Chicago it means something else.
“If you’re sleeping on something, you’re saying that it’s really not that valuable to you,” said Jelani McGhee-Anderson, 18. “You missed your chance.”
If you were to not treat a significant other as well as they deserve, resulting in an eventual split, you’d have “slept on them.” If you were to not take advantage of an opportunity that presents itself to you, you’d have “slept on it.” Suffice it to say, sleeping on something is bad and should be avoided.
In a sentence: “Man, I totally slept on that [job application/girl/boy/homework assignment].”