Global slang

☠ Deadphr.✎ 2

Just Looking Like a Wow

A Delhi boutique owner's live sales pitch — 'so beautiful, so elegant, just looking like a wow' — clipped in late 2023 and repeated by Bollywood, cricketers and every brand account in India until the words lost meaning and only the cadence remained. The record's entry for the phrase, and for the tone, which it still hears.

▸ 2023peak 2023†2024

☠ Deadphr.✎ 2

Moye Moye

'Moye moye' — the Indian internet's hearing of 'moje more' ('my nightmare') from a Serbian pop song, attached in late 2023 to every reel of a plan going wrong, until a whole country was singing a Serbian lyric it had misheard. The record's entry for the meme that gave a Balkan ballad a second life in Hindi.

▸ 2023peak 2023†2024

● Aliven.✎ 3

Kick (Platform)

The streaming platform that offered creators 95 per cent of subscription revenue, backed by a gambling company, and signed several of Twitch's biggest names in 2023. The record's entry for the rival, for the 'Kick deal' as a phrase, and for the argument about what it cost.

▸ 2022peak 2023still up

● Aliven.✎ 2

Discord Kitten

A person, usually young, who receives Discord Nitro from an older user in exchange for attention — a Discord kitten — as the 2021–22 meme about the platform's strangest economy. The record's entry for the term, and for the Nitro, which was the currency, and for the discomfort, which is the record's.

▸ 2021peak 2022still up

◐ Dyingn.✎ 3

Hot Tub Meta

Streaming from an inflatable hot tub, in swimwear, under the 'Just Chatting' category, as the spring 2021 trend that made Twitch create a category for it and the internet argue about it for a month. The record's entry for the meta, the tub, and the category, which is called 'Pools, Hot Tubs and Beaches'.

▸ 2021peak 2021still up

● Aliveinterj.✎ 2

Ay No

'Oh no' — the Spanish sigh, delivered with a hand to the face, which Spanish-language TikTok around 2020 turned into a reaction and the wider app then borrowed for anything cringe, sad or both. The record's entry for the two-syllable reaction that needs no translation and got one anyway.

▸ 2020peak 2022still up

◐ Dyingphr.✎ 2

Bhai Kya Kar Raha Hai

'Bro, what are you doing?' — the Hindi phrase of baffled concern, drawn from a viral reel and repeated as a reaction to anything foolish on Indian internet, from a cricket shot to a relative's forwarded message. The record's entry for the question that expects no answer and gets none.

▸ 2020peak 2021still up

☠ Deadn.✎ 2

Binod

A YouTube commenter named Binod who wrote only his own name under videos, and whom a 2020 video mocking pointless comments made, for about a fortnight, the most-typed word on Indian internet — spammed under everything, including a police department's post. The record's entry for the man who became a word by writing his name.

▸ 2020peak 2020†2021

● Aliven.✎ 3

Chat (Address)

'Chat' — the audience of a stream, addressed as one person: 'chat, is this real?' — which escaped the stream in 2023 and is now said by teenagers to nobody, in real life, as if they were always live. The record's entry for the audience that came with the person, and for 'chat' as a pronoun for the void.

▸ 2020peak 2023still up

● Aliven.✎ 3

Sapa

Brokeness, personified — 'sapa' is the state of having no money and the spirit that puts one there, discussed on Nigerian Twitter from about 2020 as if it were a person who visits ('sapa don hold me'). The record's entry for the noun that turned poverty into a character, which was somehow funnier and no less true.

▸ 2020peak 2022still up

● Aliveabbr.✎ 3

FYP

'For You Page' — TikTok's algorithmic front page, and the acronym users hashtag in the hope of reaching it, which from 2019 replaced 'the feed' as the name of the place where the internet now happens. The record's entry for the three letters that describe both a page and the ambition to be on it.

▸ 2019peak 2021still up

● Alivev.✎ 2

Japa

To leave the country — the Yoruba word for running away, made a slogan by a 2018 song and then, from about 2021, the name of a whole Nigerian emigration wave, discussed online as 'the japa syndrome' with humour and no small sadness. The record's entry for the verb that means 'run' and is spoken about like a visa.

▸ 2018peak 2022still up

● Aliven.✎ 3

Just Chatting

Twitch's category for streams with no game — a person talking — which became the platform's most-watched category, beating every game. The record's entry for the discovery that people would rather watch a person than a thing, and for the category that made talking a job.

▸ 2018peak 2021still up

◐ Dyingn.✎ 2

Lodi

'Idol', spelled backwards — Filipino slang of 2017 for a person one admires, born of the Tagalog fondness for syllable reversal and spread by Twitter and a few politicians who should not have used it. The record's entry for the word that peaked the year it was born, alongside its partner 'petmalu'.

▸ 2017peak 2017still up

◐ Dyinginterj.✎ 2

Nani?!

'What?!' — the Japanese interjection, shouted, as it was in a 1984 anime whose famous exchange became a 2017 meme. The word has since been used by anglophones for any surprise at all, usually in a bad accent. The record's entry for the loanword that is always in capitals and always mis-stressed.

▸ 2017peak 2018still up

● Aliven.✎ 3

Nitro

Discord's paid subscription — bigger uploads, animated avatars, custom emoji everywhere — and, more importantly, the gift that is given in every server: 'who wants Nitro'. The record's entry for the subscription as a social object, and for the fake Nitro link that has been clicked by everyone.

▸ 2017peak 2021still up

◐ Dyingadj.✎ 2

Petmalu

'Excellent', 'fierce' — 'malupit' with its syllables swapped, the 2017 Filipino slang that went everywhere with 'lodi' and, like it, was retired by the people who invented it within about a year. The record's entry for the adjective that a nation used, enjoyed, and put away.

▸ 2017peak 2017still up

● Aliven.✎ 3

Raid (Twitch)

Sending one's audience to another stream at the end of one's own — a raid — as Twitch's kindest mechanic, in which the word for an attack became a gift. The record's entry for the raid, and for the small streamer who received one and cried.

▸ 2017peak 2020still up

● Aliven.✎ 2

Streamer Mode

A setting that hides personal information while live — streamer mode — and, by extension, the state of being careful because you are being watched. The record's entry for the feature that became a phrase: 'I'm in streamer mode' means 'I cannot say that right now'.

▸ 2017peak 2020still up

● Aliveabbr.✎ 3

BYF

'Before you follow' — the companion to DNI: a notice, usually linked, telling would-be followers what to expect (frequent posting, spoilers, a particular ship) and what will get them blocked. The record's entry for the abbreviation that made following an account a terms-of-service agreement.

▸ 2016peak 2020still up

● Aliven.✎ 2

Bits

Twitch's tipping currency, bought with real money and given in chat with an animated cheer — bits — as the record's entry for the coin that is not a coin, and for the sound a hundred of them make, which every streamer's audience knows.

▸ 2016peak 2019still up

● Aliveadj.✎ 3

Boujee

Fancy, luxurious, a bit above oneself — 'boujee' — from 'bourgeois' via AAVE and a 2016 rap hit into every caption about a nice brunch. The record's entry for the class term that became an aesthetic, and for the fact that 'boujee' now means 'has avocado'.

▸ 2016peak 2017still up

● Alivephr.✎ 3

Clip It

'Clip it' — the chat's instruction when something worth keeping has happened on stream, and 'clipped' as the state of a moment that will now be on YouTube forever. The record's entry for the memory as a verb, and for the streamer's dread when chat says it.

▸ 2016peak 2020still up

● Aliveabbr.✎ 2

DNI

'Do not interact' — the bio notice, from mid-2010s Tumblr and Twitter, listing the categories of person the account owner does not wish to hear from, usually in a linked 'carrd'. The record's entry for the abbreviation that built a fence in a bio, and for the era in which everyone had one.

▸ 2016peak 2020still up

● Aliven.✎ 2

Ping (Discord)

A notification from being @mentioned — a ping — and 'don't ping me' as the boundary, and '@everyone' as its violation. The record's entry for the ping as a small violence, and for the person who pinged the whole server for a question nobody could answer.

▸ 2016peak 2020still up

● Aliveabbr.✎ 3

WBK

'We been knew' — the stan-Twitter acronym for 'this is not news', deployed under any announcement that a fandom had already worked out, and adopted by the wider internet as the smuggest possible way to say 'obviously'. The record's entry for the abbreviation with a deliberate grammar of its own.

▸ 2016peak 2020still up

● Aliven.✎ 3

Bev

A beverage, usually a beer — 'a bev', 'a few bevs' — and, in the 2019 series of Love Island, an attractive man, for reasons nobody has explained. The record's entry for the drink that became a person, and for the sentence 'he's a bev', which was, briefly, everywhere.

▸ 2015peak 2019still up

● Aliven.✎ 3

Chamba

Work, a gig, the hustle — the Latin American slang for a job that bilingual internet uses for the specific grind of having several, and that crossed into English-language posting around 2020 alongside 'no chamba, no cheese'. The record's entry for the word that means employment and sounds like a dance.

▸ 2015peak 2023still up

◐ Dyingn.✎ 3

Cheeky Nando's

A visit to a chicken restaurant, described in so much British slang that Americans asked for a translation, which produced the most British paragraph ever written. The record's entry for 'a cheeky Nando's with the lads', and for the explanation, which was untranslatable on purpose.

▸ 2015peak 2015still up

● Aliven.✎ 2

Chisme

Gossip — the Spanish word that Latino internet used untranslated because 'gossip' is too small, and that mainstream English social media adopted around 2020, along with the accompanying tea and hand gestures. The record's entry for the word, and for 'cuéntame el chisme', which is how the record begins every conversation.

▸ 2015peak 2022still up

● Aliven.✎ 3

Habibi

'My darling', 'my dear' — the Arabic endearment, used to friends and strangers, that meme culture adopted in the mid-2010s as a general 'buddy' and that a 2021 'Habibi, come to Dubai' meme made unavoidable. The record's entry for the word used sincerely by a billion people and ironically by the rest.

▸ 2015peak 2021still up

● Aliveadv.✎ 3

Highkey

'Openly', 'very much' — 'highkey' — as the back-formation from lowkey for the feeling you are not hiding: 'highkey obsessed'. The record's entry for the confession without the hedge, and for the fact that it was invented because 'lowkey' needed an opposite and 'openly' was too plain.

▸ 2015peak 2017still up

● Aliven.✎ 3

Role (Discord)

A coloured label on a Discord user — admin, mod, regular, 'certified goblin' — as the server's hierarchy and its joke, and the record's entry for the role as an identity. 'Can I have a role' is the first thing every new member asks and the last thing they should.

▸ 2015peak 2020still up

● Aliven.✎ 3

Server (Discord)

A community on Discord, called a server though it is not one — 'join my server' — as the unit of internet friendship since 2015, with channels, roles, and a mod who is also, usually, the owner's friend from school. The record's entry for the server, which is a room, which is a family.

▸ 2015peak 2020still up

● Aliven.✎ 3

Yer Da

'Your dad' — as the subject of a Scottish insult about a hypothetical father who sells Avon, drinks Irn-Bru from a bag, or has opinions about immigrants — 'yer da'. The record's entry for the imaginary father that Scottish Twitter built and everyone else's da now resembles.

▸ 2015peak 2017still up

● Aliven.✎ 3

Aunty (Desi Internet)

The aunty — any older woman with opinions about one's weight, marriage and career — as a character of South Asian internet comedy from about 2014, a figure of dread, affection and impressions, and now a global type via diaspora TikTok. The record's entry for the relative who is not a relative and who has already asked.

▸ 2014peak 2021still up

☠ Deadadj.✎ 3

Fleek

'On fleek' — perfect, flawless — coined by a teenager on Vine in June 2014 about her eyebrows, used by everyone by 2015, and dead by 2017 when a fast-food chain said it. The record's entry for the word, its inventor, who was never paid, and its killers, who were.

▸ 2014peak 2015†2017

◐ Dyingphr.✎ 3

Oui Oui Baguette

'Oui oui baguette' — the anglophone internet's entire impression of the French language, assembled from a word for yes, a bread, and sometimes 'hon hon hon', used from the mid-2010s in any thread that mentioned France, and now tolerated by the French with visible weariness. The record's entry for the meme that is the linguistic equivalent of a beret.

▸ 2014peak 2018still up

● Aliven.✎ 2

Saudade (Meme)

The Portuguese word for longing for something absent — which the internet's 'untranslatable words' listicles of the mid-2010s made famous, which Brazilians then had to explain was not that untranslatable, and which is now the caption under every photo of a beach one is not on. The record's entry for the word that went viral for being unexplainable, and was explained.

▸ 2014peak 2019still up

● Aliven.✎ 3

Scottish Twitter

The Scots dialect, typed phonetically, applied to everyday disasters — 'ma maw', 'a wee', 'yer da' — as the internet's most reliably funny community, whose screenshots travel further than any other's. The record's entry for the dialect that Twitter made a genre, and for 'yer da sells Avon', which is the genre's masterpiece.

▸ 2014peak 2017still up

● Aliven.✎ 3

Stream Sniping

Watching a streamer's broadcast to find and attack them in the game — stream sniping — as the streaming world's most-alleged crime, and the excuse for every death on stream. The record's entry for the cheat, and for 'I'm getting sniped', which is sometimes true.

▸ 2014peak 2018still up

◐ Dyinginterj.✎ 2

Cyka Blyat

The Russian curse that every Western gamer learned from voice chat in Counter-Strike and Dota 2 around 2013, and then repeated, badly, as the internet's stereotype of the Russian teammate. The record's entry for the phrase, which it will not translate, and for the accent, which it will not attempt.

▸ 2013peak 2016still up

● Aliveinterj.✎ 2

Davai

'Come on', 'let's go' — the Russian rally cry, the other thing Western gamers learned from Eastern European lobbies, used online for encouragement, impatience and, oddly, goodbye. The record's entry for the loanword that means 'go', 'give', and 'bye', and which anglophones use only for the first.

▸ 2013peak 2017still up

● Aliven.✎ 2

Lurker (Twitch)

A viewer who watches without chatting, and, on Twitch, a valued one — 'thanks for the lurk' — as the only place on the internet where lurking is thanked. The record has 'lurker'; this is the Twitch version, which is loved, and the record notes the difference.

▸ 2013peak 2019still up

◐ Dyingphr.✎ 2

Notice Me Senpai

The 2013 Tumblr cry of the overlooked — a plea to be seen by someone one admires, cast in anime terms and repeated until it meant nothing beyond 'please look at me'. The record's entry for the phrase that peaked in 2014 and has since become the kind of thing people say while pretending they never said it.

▸ 2013peak 2014still up

● Aliveadj.✎ 3

Timed Out

Temporarily silenced in chat by a moderator — timed out — as the stream's minor punishment, and the record's entry for the ten minutes of silence that every regular has served. 'Timed out for saying the game's name' is a specific injustice that everyone has felt.

▸ 2013peak 2019still up

● Aliven.✎ 2

Desi Memes

The meme culture of South Asia and its diaspora — parents, exams, cricket, arranged-marriage aunties, and the specific pain of being asked what one is doing with one's life at a wedding — which grew its own pages around 2012 and now reaches the global internet through Instagram. The record's entry for the genre with the most disappointed parents per post.

▸ 2012peak 2020still up

● Aliveinterj.✎ 3

Omo

'Wow', 'oh boy', 'mate' — the Yoruba word for 'child' repurposed as the Nigerian internet's all-purpose exclamation, opening a sentence of shock, sympathy or gossip ('omo, you won't believe'). The record's entry for the one-word sigh that half of Afrobeats begins with.

▸ 2012peak 2021still up