Slang Has Really Changed Over the Years.

We all use slang. I remember a time when slang words were not even included in the dictionary.

Back then we considered the English language to be a little bit more rigid. Now is considered to be quite flexible.

Over the course of about 20 years I've noticed a variety of words come in and out of the language. Some are still used frequently and some have all but stopped being heard.

It can be really interesting to notice the different slang words that are used now versus the ones that were used in the past.

Let's take a look.

Source: Pixabay.com

When I was in high school there were two words that were used very frequently.

Dude and man.

This was about 20 years ago, and I will admit that we weren't as imaginative back then.

Dude and man are both still used quite frequently, although dude now seems to be relegated to stoners.

Next up around here was bro.

At some point everybody became bro.

I really liked that because it had a very friendly tone to it.

There was also a brief period in which some hip hop derived words were used by just about everyone.

Real talk.

It meant that you were talking in a real no nonsense way.

Square Business.

I'm pretty sure this meant exactly the same thing as real talk. For some reason people would say real talk and square business all the time about 15 years ago.

Already.

This meant okay.

It was pretty much an affirmative statement that could mean anything as long as it was used in a positive way.

All day.

This was another positive statement that pretty much meant I'm ready for anything, I can do it all day.

One thing I did I notice recently is that we used to focus on being cold.

Cool.

Chillin.

Now we focus more on being warm.

Hot.

Lit.

Fire.

I'm not sure what that's about, but honestly I'd rather be cool then hot so I don't know.

The English language is a very flexible thing, and I really like that.

I'm sure in time these words will be replaced by new slang.

It will be interesting to see what everyone comes up with.