Where do new words come from? Hollywood, New York and Los Angeles are three cities that produce media to entertain the rest of the country. From movies to stage, songs and TV, the influence of big names and pop culture is heard, not just on the radio, but in how we speak.
Of course, this phenomenon isn’t new. Greek playwrights and Roman authors penned and molded their language even before Shakespeare created words. Regardless of history, each generation and their technology have increased the pace of change. Today, microtrends of slang follow seasonal patterns, falling out of fashion just as quickly as they come.
There are social media sayings—phrases that often have the shortest shelf life. These include “rizz,” “demure” and “Karen,” all trends that began as a sound bite or viral video that lost steam once the burst of popularity ended, ending up in the realm of cringy. Some do prevail and last, especially when they have a new niche. With changing censorship and algorithms, some words are created as a euphemism to get around blocks or create an “in” group. For example, when someone is “unalived,” they’re killed and if someone is a “bop,” they are promiscuous. These are often formed from visually similar words or added a negative prefix to the antonym of the intended meaning. Other phrases come from video games, like “bot,” “NPC” or “pro-gamer.” While video games are not typically considered a form of social media, platforms such as Twitch or YouTube introduce the terms to those who don’t play.
Many sources of everyday sayings overlap. TikTok posts and chart-topping songs are built to correlate, and songwriters are often inspired by social media. It’s a loop that feeds into itself to the point where phrases change meanings. As mentioned in NPR’s “The 2010s: Social Media And The Birth Of Stan Culture,” Eminem’s 2000 hit, “Stan,” for example, gave way to the intense and stalkerish “stan.” In the song, Eminem talks about a deranged fan, named Stan, who ends his life because of an unrequited obsession with the rapper. Now, many fans with parasocial relationships with celebrities or fictional characters are self-described “stans.” The origin of the “stan” is concerning, but through semantic changes, specifically “weakening,” the term has lost some intensity from insane and obsessive to a simple indicator of a high-level fan.
The film industry, both TV and movie, also produces slang. However, most don’t have as large of an audience as pop songs or short-form videos do. Because of this, there is much fandom-specific jargon. Some come from in-universe terms, like “fetch” from Mean Girls as mentioned by director Tina Fey. Others, such as “Encyclopedia Britannica,” “Forbes” and “Merriam-Webster” discuss, words such as “Gaslight,” “Catfish” and “Bucket List.” Which are all titles of movies, with the meanings coming from their plots. While these are often popularized by social media, they originate on the big screen.
English is a combination of many other languages and it is constantly changing. The faster additions in slang may be caused by a more interconnected society, new needs or shortening attention spans. Generational terms aren’t unique to the 21st century, but the sheer amount is. This has caused some debate in both academic and non-academic spheres, with the University of New England’s Jeff Siegel noting that much of what’s considered “Gen Z slang” originates in African American Vernacular English (AAVE), or colloquially ebonics, which is deeply interconnected in racism and segregation. Most of the argument revolves around the term “slang” being used to describe AAVE, playing into negative stereotypes surrounding the African American community. Similarly, the Queer community has also brought concern with the negative or derogatory use of the queer lexicon. RuPual, of RuPual’s Drag Race, is credited by author Lexi Pandel of Wired for bringing both communities into mainstream media and popularizing the different ways of speech.
The consistent and prominent relationship between popular culture and language is profound. While most of the dictionary feels like it’s been used forever, once out of formal speech, everyday language has a much more modern root. Every word was created through common usage. Philosophers, poets and bards were history’s influencers, and social media, video games or whatever else is future history. Language isn’t written in stone. It’s everchanging. There is no final draft of a dictionary; it’s constantly updating, and there are no made-up words, just those that don’t stick around. English isn’t just a form of communication but a lasting proof of identity and humanity. It shows what people need to know and how they name it, it shows what people wanted and saw, and it will show what we are going through now.