Leg Booty? Panoramic? Seggs? How TikTok Is Changing Language

As soon as older people start using online slang popularized by young people on TikTok, the terms “become obsolete,” said Nicole Holliday, an assistant professor of linguistics at Pomona College. “Once the parents have it, you have to move on to something else.”

TikTok creators have gotten into the habit of coming up with substitutes for words that they worry might either affect how their videos get promoted on the site or run afoul of moderation rules.

TikTok’s guidelines

do not list prohibited words, but some things are consistent enough that creators know to avoid them, and many share lists of words that have triggered the system. So they refer to nipples as “nip nops” and sex workers as “accountants.” Sexual assault is simply “S.A.” And when Roe v. Wade was overturned, many started referring

But then again, she said, few could have predicted the endurance of the slang word “cool” as a marker for all things generally good or fashionable. Researchers say it emerged nearly a century ago in the 1930s jazz scene, retreated from time to time over the decades, but kept coming back.

The possibility of an outright ban is “a huge anxiety,” he said. “I am a full-time content creator, so I make money from the platform.”

young people are adept at “code switching,” meaning they use different language depending on who they’re with and the situations they find themselves in.