Yes = not cool anymore
No = still cool
As determined by my 17 year old teenage daughter and her high school friends and brother living in California on 3/31. She won't have access to this market and bets, I will simply ask her and friends to answer if each slang word is still cool. If the votes tie for a word, it's not cool.
Since most of these words are new to me, I am using https://www.merriam-webster.com/ to look up the meaning of each word. I welcome suggestions for better sources besides asking this group of teenagers directly.
I asked my 14 year old sister and 19 year old brother about these. We're all Californian.
Still cool:
- Gyatt (but ironic)
- Rizz
- Mid
Just words:
- Finna
- Chillin
- Fit
Uncool:
- Bussin'
- Sus
- Cap
- Based
My brother thought 'Drip' should be in Just Words, but my sister thought it was Uncool.
https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=bussin
Urban dictionary in general is a good source for slang definitions.
Rizz trending to no? https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/22/entertainment/zendaya-tom-holland-rizz/index.html
@MatthewLeong great question, yes, I simply asked them to give me some new words that are cool this year (2023). I also tried to ensure I got the spelling right, sus apparently has only one s at the end, and bussin' needs that '.
This applies only to slang I submitted, not additional words submitted by others if any.
@DavidS Sus is shortened from suspicious so the single 's' makes sense.
I'd be interested if you asked them if these are cool right now rather than in 2023; it's a different question, we may already be past prime for many of them.
There's also the confounder that if you say any of them it becomes instantly uncool.
@Mqrius thank you for question and comment.
I asked which words were cool at time of posting. I got the impression some are indeed past their prime but that doesn't mean they are already not cool. I suspect that some words have longer longevity than others. It might be interesting to measure that over time on this platform using polls.
Great callout in the confounder. I will refrain myself from using these words as much as possible. A bussin' accidentally slipped through but it was luckily understood as buzzin' which has a different meaning.