I’m a language expert – here’s the very popular slang phrase that will be OUT of fashion in weeks… and the cool term that will replace it
A linguist has revealed the popular slang term that he predicts will go out of fashion any day.
Adam Aleksic, who goes by the name @etymologynerd on TikTok, made the prediction in mid-April.
“I’m calling now,” he began with a one-minute explanation of the matter.
His prediction: that “straight white girls” would stop using a very popular term — which describes “basically everything cool, beautiful, awesome,” according to Urban Dictionary — in about a month.
But fans of the popular expression need not fear for their vocabulary, as Adam says a new word is already coming into fashion that will replace it.
Adam Aleksic, who goes by the name @etymologynerd on TikTok, made the prediction in mid-April
The term that comes up a lot, he said, is “slay” — which, according to Urban Dictionary, means “basically anything cool, beautiful, awesome.”
The term that is in the foreground? ‘Kill.’
Instead, Adam predicted that the phrase “I’m gagged” would replace “slay” as a term of endearment or general admiration.
“We’ve got another month before straight white girls start saying ‘I’m gagged’ instead of ‘dead,’” he began.
“There is a lot of evidence to suggest that the word is currently trending in the gay community, just as ‘slay’ was trending in early 2022 before going viral,” Adam described.
With this, he showed graphs showing the recent increase in the Google search terms “gagged meaning” and “gagged snake.”
“And some of this comes from the Nicki Minaj Gag City memes,” Adam noted, referring to the all-pink “Gag City” imagery that was originally conceived as part of the marketing campaign for Nick Minaj’s new album Pink Friday 2.
Nicki’s fanbase supported the concept, spreading AI-generated memes illustrating various sights from the fictional Gag City, as Mashable reported.
“We’re also seeing an increase in the interjections ‘gag’ and ‘I’m gagged’ in response 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 mainstream
He further acknowledged that the fictional ‘Gag City’ – AI-generated imagery was central to the marketing of Nicki Minaj’s new album – has contributed to the recent increase in use of the term.
“And if we know anything about how language spreads on social media, it’s that straight white girls pick up on what gay people and black people say, and everyone else picks up on what straight white girls say,” he explained.
‘That’s exactly what happened with the words ‘kill’, ‘serve’, ‘tea’ and ‘mother’.
“They all came out of the ballroom scene in the late 80s, went viral and Tik Tok, and then suddenly everyone started saying it.
“But ‘slay’ is starting to go out of fashion now, just because everyone is saying it,” he continued.
The original appeal of “slay” and similar terms was that it was “a signal of the group’s gay community status,” Adam pointed out.
‘But now that exclusivity has been lost, especially in those communities.
‘This is also why the word ‘gag’ is popular now. It’s the new way to signal queer excitement now that “slay” has been appropriated by everyone.
“And it will be used too, because we are in an endless cycle of marginalized groups creating jargon as a tool of power to build community and shared identity, and then other people using that jargon to take advantage of the perceived coolness of it,” he concluded.
Some claimed they had been saying “gagged” for years – while others said they had indeed heard people say “gagged” before
Thousands took to the comments and expressed a variety of reactions to Adam’s opinion – with many claiming they had been saying “muzzle” for years, and others confirming that they had been hearing people say “muzzle” more often lately.
Despite the power dynamics Adam described that played a role in the rise of a term or phrase that originated in the once deeply marginalized ballroom scene, most seemed excited at the prospect of “gagged” becoming more widely used.
“You silenced me with this analysis,” one person wrote.
“I’ve been using gag since 2019 lol,” a second insisted.
“Yes, it’s already a thing where I live,” echoed a third.
“A straight white man said that to me and then I was gagged,” a fourth claimed.
“Someone in my choir class said this to me… it really shocked me,” a fifth admitted.
‘I thought it was already mainstream?!’ another wondered, to which Adam replied, “maybe in your social circle, but not in the population as a whole.”
Yet another seemed strangely right about the inevitability of “gagged” becoming truly mainstream, writing: “I’VE BEEN SAYING THIS FOR YEARS, THANK YOU.”