Millenialspeak

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India Ross APRIL 20, 2018 Print this page49 Literally This means figuratively, not literally. It can also mean “I fervently agree”. Babe This is a mode of address that, despite its implied intimacy, bears absolutely no relation to how well one knows the addressee nor how much one likes them. “Babe” can be used when speaking to colleagues, strangers, superiors, parents and pets. It is interchangeable with “bbz” and, on occasion, “hunnay”. Facts These are not facts but opinions with which one strongly agrees. Dying This does not mean to reach the end of one’s life. Rather, it is a means of expressing appreciation for a joke or a meme. Interchangeable with “yelling” and “screaming”, it is used to imply that one is so overwhelmed by another person’s comic brilliance that laughter alone will not do them justice. I feel like This does not relate to how one feels but rather is used as a primer to set up an intellectual argument, as in: “I feel like Beyoncé is this generation’s Che Guevara.” Lit This does not mean “on fire”. It is an expression of appreciation, often for an event or a joke, and is one of many to invoke ideas of mortal peril as a result of the heat emanating from the thing in question (alternatives include “flames” and, increasingly, “fuego”). Woke This is a word that has been lifted from African-American culture and which is used semi-ironically to signal one’s socio-political awareness. Often misused, it can have the unintended effect of signalling the exact opposite. Slap This is a verb meaning “to be very good indeed”, as in: “This DJ Khaled song really slaps.” Iconic This means “memorable”. It can be used to refer to situations that are memorably good or memorably bad, for instance an “iconic” outfit worn by Rihanna, or an “iconic” video of a child falling from a building. Yas This means yes. Only more so.