Prediction made by etymologynerd
Context: https://www.instagram.com/reel/C5vt6JViotl/?igsh=aGFtNHl4ZWI0Z3Nm
Update 2025-12-25 (PST) (AI summary of creator comment): Creator currently leans towards resolving NO based on the principle that "this will be obvious, and if it's not, it resolves no."
Google Trends data shows the phrase is significantly less searched than comparable slang terms like "slay," "serve," and "tea"
Creator acknowledges hearing it organically but far less than established mainstream slang
Resolution method is still being determined; creator is open to suggestions for objective ways to settle this
1,000You can consult some folks in the ADS (American Dialect Society) also I think. They are having their words or phrases of the year celebrations very soon. Nominations and winners will be revealed in January 9th I think. 'im gagged' or 'gagged' will almost definitely not even feature, and even if so. it will not be with the meaning of 'excitement'.
Don't know if the lists themselves can help with resolutions, but for context 'slay' never even got a nom in the last ten years. So that could be another bar to measure by?
I'm just one amateur, but 'i'm gagged' to mean excitement copletely lost its legs to the far more common (and well established) slang of 'gagged' to mean 'speechless' or 'caught off guard' or 'stupefied'. It's not new slang, so I'm sure I'm not teaching anybody anything, but people in the first place hardly use the phrase in a self referential way. They would extemely rarely say 'i was gagged' or 'im gagged'. it would be far far more common to say 'she's gagged' or 'he's gagged' or 'she gagged him'. This was already working against the phrase to begin with. But also the semi-proximal distant in semantics with little else in the phrase to contextualize it (at least verbally) imo meant this was never gonna get anywhere.
Checked some trends, it is consistently significantly lower than any search combos of similar phrases he says in that video (slay, serve, tea)
Although just bc people aren't searching for it doesn't mean it's not "mainstream". I have certainly heard it organically, but far less so than I have heard 'slay'. I distinctly remember at the time I was making this, it was extremely common for girls to say 'slay', tho I haven't partied at all this year, so I haven't got my finger on the pulse in the same way
any ideas for ways to settle this? The collection of articles linked below suggest that it is at least recognised language by the readers of those. You could probably counter this by showing those publications using it before this market was made, if someone wants to do that.
I lean towards 'no', because the market was made with a "this will be obvious, and if it's not, it resolves no" mindset, but ideally we would have a group of unbiased representative people we could survey. Why is nobody doing this?? @reuters
@Gen The evidence seems to lean towards "niche term that has not (yet, at least) even come close to breaking into mainstream popularity" the same way as "slay" or "diva"
@Gen I like the approach you're moving towards here.
One other approach: when we see it cringely explained in a doctor's/orthodontist's waiting room, it's over. https://youtu.be/ds9MprWUn4g?si=gv1iBZJQXO3GO-hB
@Quroe um what? That change is fairly drastic, and would be easy to accommodate with a new market; just do that instead if you want.
@EvanDaniel Ah! My bad! I thought the close date was actually EOY 2026.
This demonstrates why "by [deadline]" is ambiguous.
@Quroe no worries! It's definitely ambiguous and I didn't give that interpretation enough credit. My usual reading is that the close date works well to distinguish been those two cases.
It's not much more popular than it was when this market was made https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&q=I%27m%20gagged&hl=en
@ItsMe Sure, but that's not what the question is. My examples below clearly demonstrate this is mainstream slang.
definitely new slang, but it's everywhere:
https://www.jezebel.com/gwyneth-paltrow-biography-ben-affleck
https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/celebrities/2025/09/26/keke-palmer-cole-smith-tiktok-viral-video/86367234007/
https://www.comedy.co.uk/online/kyrah-gray-gagging-for-it/
https://www.pressreader.com/uk/daily-mail/20250712/281724095569840
https://www.buzzfeed.com/scarymouse/people-are-sharing-the-wildest-secrets-theyll-never-tell
https://www.marieclaire.com/celebrity/natasha-rothwell-white-lotus-season-3-return/
https://www.laineygossip.com/beyonce-miley-cyrus-left-legion-of-fans-gagged-after-performing-ii-most-wanted-live-for-first-time-in-paris/82336
https://www.bet.com/article/mfgqkx/katt-williams-chaotic-life-stories-left-michelle-obama-gagged
https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/celebrity/articles/euphoria-barbie-ferreira-says-she-194103423.html
@gramophone I've never heard or read a single person saying "gagged," this seems like a very niche slang used specifically by one very specific branch of celebrity gossip, not something mainstream
@spiderduckpig Let's compare it to actually mainstream, trendy slang or terms, it's not comparable. The market is about whether a term becomes mainstream, not if you can find a few internet articles from a niche that use a term. Many, many terms meet that standard that I wouldn't consider mainstream!
https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?geo=US&q=Gagged,I%27m%20gagged,Diva&hl=en
https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?geo=US&q=Gagged,I%27m%20gagged,Labubu&hl=en
https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?geo=US&q=Gagged,I%27m%20gagged,Rizz&hl=en
@spiderduckpig Slay is still much more popular than gagged, and the original prediction in that Instagram video was that gagged would replace slay:
https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?geo=US&q=Gagged,I%27m%20gagged,Slay&hl=en
