A linguist has revealed the popular slang term that he predicts will go out of fashion any day now.
Adam Aleksic, who goes by @etymologynerd on TikTok, made the prediction in mid-April.
“I summon you now,” he began a minute-long explanation of the matter.
Their prediction: that ‘straight white girls’ would stop using a very popular term, which describes ‘basically anything cool, pretty, awesome,’ according to Urban Dictionary, in about a month.
But fans of the popular phrase needn’t fear for their vocabulary, because Adam says a new word is already coming into vogue to replace it.
Adam Aleksic, who goes by @etymologynerd on TikTok, made the prediction in mid-April.
The deprecated term, he said, is “kill,” which, according to Urban Dictionary, means “basically anything cool, pretty, and impressive.”
The term that is out of use? ‘Kill.’
Instead, Adam predicted that the phrase “I’m gagged” would replace “kill” as an expression of affection or general admiration.
“We have a month until straight white girls start saying ‘I’m gagged’ instead of ‘kill,'” she began.
“There is a lot of evidence that the word is currently trending in the gay community, in the same way that ‘kill’ was trending in early 2022 before it went viral,” Adam described.
With this, he showed graphs showing the recent rise of the Google search terms “gagged meaning” and “gagged slang.”
“And part of this comes from the Nicki Minaj Gag City memes,” Adam noted, referencing the all-pink “Gag City” visuals originally devised as part of the marketing push for Nick Minaj’s new album, Pink Friday 2 .
Nicki’s fanbase embraced the concept, proliferating AI-generated memes illustrating various views from the fictional Gag City. as Mashable reported.
“We’re also seeing an increase in ‘gag’ and ‘I’m gagged’ interjections as a reaction to something exciting in a way that will only accelerate,” Adam continued.
Instead of killing, Adam predicted that “gagged” as a term of endearment or admiration is about to become truly commonplace.
Additionally, he acknowledged that the fictional ‘Gag City’, whose AI-generated images were instrumental in the marketing of Nicki Minaj’s new album, contributed to the recent rise in use of the term.
“And if we know anything about how language spreads on social media, it’s that straight white girls adopt what gay people and black people say, and then everyone else adopts what straight white girls say,” she explained.
‘That’s exactly what happened with the words “kill”, “serve”, “tea” and “mother”.
“They all came from the late ’80s dance scene, went viral on Tik Tok, and suddenly everyone was saying it.
“But ‘killing’ is starting to go out of fashion, precisely because everyone says it,” he continued.
The original appeal of ‘kill’ and similar terms was that it ‘signaled their in-group status to gay communities,’ Adam noted.
‘But now that exclusivity has been lost, especially in those communities.
‘This is also the reason why the word “gag” is now in fashion. It’s the new way to signal weird enthusiasm now that everyone else has taken over “killing.”
“And it’s also going to be taken, because we’re in an endless cycle of marginalized groups creating slang as a tool of power to build community and shared identity and then other people taking that slang to capitalize on its perceived coldness.” He concluded.
Some claimed they had been saying “gagged” for years, while others chimed in to say that they had actually heard people say “gagged” more often.
Thousands of people responded to the comments, expressing a variety of reactions to Adam’s opinion: many claimed that they had been saying “gagged” for years, and others confirmed that they had, in fact, been hearing people say “gagged” with more frequently lately.
Despite the power dynamics Adam described at play in the emergence of a term or phrase with origins in the once deeply marginalized ballroom dance scene, most seemed delighted at the prospect of “gagged” being used more. widely.
“You have gagged me with this analysis,” wrote one.
“I’ve been wearing gags since 2019 lol,” a second insisted.
“You guys, it’s already a thing where I live,” repeated a third.
“A straight white man told me that and they gagged me after that,” said a fourth.
“Someone in my choir class told me this… it really surprised me,” a fifth admitted.
‘I thought I was already popular?!’ asked another, to which Adam responded, “maybe in his social circle, but not in the general population.”
Yet another seemed strangely vindicated by the inevitable trend of “gagged” becoming truly popular, writing: “I’VE BEEN SAYING THIS FOR YEARS, THANK YOU.”
