When was it last cool to use the word “cool”? It might have started losing “coolness” by the mid-70s, or the 80s. That said, “cool” never really went away, it stuck and mainstreamed into daily usage, although it does not have the same coolness factor it once did.
For much of the later eighteenth century, slang was a part of the secret vocabulary used chiefly by criminals as a kind of anti-language, to baffle and exclude outsiders and to communicate dishonest, disreputable intentions and exploits. In the 1930s, mainstream youth eager to embrace the language of their jazz-musician idols, poured over Cab Calloway’s jive glossaries. In the 1950s and 1960s, the slang of American teenagers was shaped in large part by fast-talking AM radio disk jockeys, who drew upon the black urban vernacular for their vocabulary, syntax, pacing and soul.
Slang starts in subcultures and small groups, with each generation or subculture/counterculture group has a chance to shape and propagate its own lexicon, and in so doing to exercise originality and imagination in a fun and witty way. These insider terms, linguistically bind them to their tribe whilst excluding the others.
Mainstream appropriates these terms and the speed of adoption in today’s age is rapid thanks to social media. GenZ slang finds its origin in African American English, queer communities even incels, often involves the creative use of existing words, such as metaphor, metonymy, and wordplay (cool, lit, salty, basic, fleek, tea, shade…), they spread via black Twitter, Reddit, 4chan, often starting as memes.
Remember “Wassup” (1990’s)? Well, brands have been riding the slang bandwagon for a while now. But is it cool or cringe? Usually by the time the mainstreaming happens and brands and marketers start using a slang word/ phrase its run is over, and the slanginess is diluted. Social media streams allowed the brands to adopt a tone and manner that was more casual and informal. Social media by itself allows one to use slang in a written format before that it was mostly used in spoken language. But it’s important to understand how authentic you sound. One can have an official tone and a social tone but one can’t be schizophrenic with the brand’s personality. And context is key, when, where and who we are speaking to. So a QSR brand offering a “bread bae” may be way out of context.
Slang’s premise is that it’s a secret handshake within a specific group. And if you are not a part of the group should you be trying so hard? That may be perceived as sus by the very TG that you are trying to connect with.
The author is business lead India, VIRTUE Asia