Saved by Earnest Pettie
Why is Our Vocabulary Changing So Much?
A generation’s currency is measured in trends, the moments that make an era mouthwateringly memorable. Only these fads are no longer dictated by a handful of tastemakers. Instead, what gets crowned as cool is often determined by how well a trend appeals to the rhythms of a specific platform. An idea’s artistic or cultural cachet depends on how easi... See more
Jason Parham Culture • The Age of Everything Culture Is Here
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.
Melina Delkic • Leg Booty? Panoramic? Seggs? How TikTok Is Changing Language
Almost a half-century later, the journalist Kyle Chayka wrote in his book “Filterworld” that “microtrends” now rise and fall in a matter of weeks. In its quest to retain our attention, social media seemed to have heightened both the quantity and intensity of what we once called a fad: “Under algorithmic feeds, the popular becomes more popular, and ... See more
New York Times • rw-embedded-content[https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/03/07/style/gen-z-trend-cycle.html]
It’s also pretty likely that, even if linguists come up with a more precise name for the phenomenon, it will be forever referred to in academic literature and conferences as “known in the wider population as the ‘crispy R.’” All from some TikToks.