# Annoying “new speak” that you’ve managed to adopt into your vocabulary… **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 1, 2021, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annoying-new-speak-that-you-ve-managed-to-adopt-into-your-vocabulary/953621 "2021-11-01T11:45:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2021, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annoying-new-speak-that-you-ve-managed-to-adopt-into-your-vocabulary/953621/61 "2021-11-03T12:53:56Z")
> [@Bonum\_Legatum](#): > > I found myself responding to a request with “ **Yeah – no** ”. And I HATE that. > > I’m not even sure what it means. “Yes I heard you but the answer is no?”. “Yes, but on second thought - no?” “I’m just spewing out words here.” Heh, I’m guilty of using that. I’d say it means your first definition, with a sarcastic twist. I think I use it most often when my kids ask for something that’s never going to happen. > [@pulykamell](#): > > I’ve learned “sus” and “cringe” (as an adjective) from my kids and sometimes use I’ve heard these from my kids too, especially my older son who watches YouTube videos all the time. He also uses the term ‘simp’ a lot, which he says means a weak, beta male who is submissive to the women in his life. But the way he applies it is more to any male who treats women with equality and respect. As in, he might hear me apologize to his mom for something I did wrong and say “stop being such a _ **simp** _, dad!” The kid is never going to get a girlfriend with that attitude. > [@pulykamell](#): > > What’s interesting is that I watch a reasonable amount of Youtube videos, and a lot of the content is created by Millennials and now Zoomers, so it’s much easier to pick up on the language of youth than it was back in the day for our parents, who probably thought we were speaking another language half the time. I haven’t watched a lot of ‘YouthTube’ myself, except bits and pieces over my older kid’s shoulder when he watches in the family room, and there seems to be a nasty, far-right tinged, misogynistic quality to a lot of those videos. Especially the ones he watches. When the kids were younger, I got a device called “Circle’ made by Disney, that blocked any website or groups of websites on any device I wished. It had a ‘preteen’ setting, but that blocked almost all of YouTube and the kids both howled at that. So I thought, well, YT isn’t _ **that** _ bad. No nudity, nothing too hardcore…” so I left YT wide open and blocked the porn. But looking back, I think my older kid would be in much better shape attitude-wise if I had completely blocked YouTube and left the porn wide open. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2021, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annoying-new-speak-that-you-ve-managed-to-adopt-into-your-vocabulary/953621/62 "2021-11-03T13:12:09Z")
> [@solost](#): > > But the way he applies it is more to any male who treats women with equality and respect. That’s very disheartening, I’m sure. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2021, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annoying-new-speak-that-you-ve-managed-to-adopt-into-your-vocabulary/953621/63 "2021-11-03T13:34:15Z")
> [@solost](#): > > I’ve heard these from my kids too, especially my older son who watches YouTube videos all the time. He also uses the term ‘simp’ a lot, which he says means a weak, beta male who is submissive to the women in his life. But the way he applies it is more to any male who treats women with equality and respect. As in, he might hear me apologize to his mom for something I did wrong and say “stop being such a _ **simp** _ , dad!” The kid is never going to get a girlfriend with that attitude. “Simp” is one that gets under my skin. My daughters are 7 and 5, so I haven’t heard that word in any of the stuff they watch or in their vocabulary (thankfully, still a bit early for that), but I’ve read it in Youtube comments all over the place. It’s very much a term, as you note, that draws its heritage from phrases like “hen-pecked” and “pussy-whipped,” but more broadly (doesn’t have to refer to a man in a relationship.) It fits in the same verbal mental space as a word like “cuck.” The other day I was watching a Youtube video about a chess streamer/Youtuber/International Master (Levy Rozman) talking about how he met his girlfriend. It was a very cute story. Started with an initial date or two, then the passage of a couple years, then him reaching out to her again, and they’ve been together since. Bunch of what I assume were teenaged boys commented on him being such a “simp” for, what, I couldn’t tell. Being nice to his girlfriend and saying good things about her in the video? For catching up with her years later and going on another date instead of taking a “fuck that bitch” attitude? Who the fuck knows. Enough other commenters challenged the notion, thankfully, but that male toxicity is troubling. Although, if I am being honest, I can’t say the culture was any better when I was a teenager, and I’m sure most women would agree. I’ve just hoped things would be better when my daughters get thrown into that world. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2021, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annoying-new-speak-that-you-ve-managed-to-adopt-into-your-vocabulary/953621/64 "2021-11-03T13:35:19Z")
> [@Keeve](#): > > I remind them that **everyone** pronounces “Wednesday” as if it were spelled “Wendsday”, I know people who pronounce it “Weddenz day” > [@Keeve](#): > > “iron” as if it were spelled “iorn”, I pronounce “iron” like “I run,” not like “I earn.” ---
**Author:** ![Keeve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@Keeve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeve)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2021, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annoying-new-speak-that-you-ve-managed-to-adopt-into-your-vocabulary/953621/65 "2021-11-03T13:40:53Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > I know people who pronounce it “Weddenz day” … , “I run,” … Very interesting! (I may try to work them into my speech!) Those are perfectly logical per the spelling, but I’ve never heard either. Is it a local thing to some particular area? ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2021, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annoying-new-speak-that-you-ve-managed-to-adopt-into-your-vocabulary/953621/66 "2021-11-03T13:41:27Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > One last example: I’ve used “going forward” my whole life, and never knew it was seen as business speak, as I’ve never actually really worked for an office. The thing is, there are many ways to say this, for example: - Do it this way from now on. - If it comes up again, do it this way. - In the future, do it this way. - This should be the way we do it. Or even, just: “Do it this way.” However, when some business buzz word comes into vogue, all of a sudden, everyone is _always_ just saying “Do it this way going forward.” No other variations. That’s what I hate, is that all of a sudden, everyone is always just using this phrase. Or even worse “Do it this way _ **on a going-forward basis.** _” Makes me want to hit something. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2021, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annoying-new-speak-that-you-ve-managed-to-adopt-into-your-vocabulary/953621/67 "2021-11-03T13:47:08Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > I pronounce “iron” like “I run,” not like “I earn.” That is a dialectal variant. I’m not particularly sure what dialiects. The US and UK dictionaries I checked only seem to have the “i-earn” (or similar), but Wiktionary does list the “i-run” pronunciation as a “variant.” It seems some Hiberno-English variants may pronounce it that way, but I’m not finding anything definitive; folks with English as a second language (for understandable reasons) will pronounce it that way, too. Plus I found some random guy from the Midwest who says it that way, but nobody backing it up as a regional feature. Your background is South Asian, correct? Is it standard there, perhaps? Indian English is its own set of dialects, with their own pronunciation and grammatical variants, so maybe that’s it. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2021, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annoying-new-speak-that-you-ve-managed-to-adopt-into-your-vocabulary/953621/68 "2021-11-03T13:49:30Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > The thing is, there are many ways to say this, for example: > > - Do it this way from now on. > - If it comes up again, do it this way. > - In the future, do it this way. > - This should be the way we do it. I’ll probably occasionally say “going forward,” but “from now on” is my usual phrase for that concept. ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2021, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annoying-new-speak-that-you-ve-managed-to-adopt-into-your-vocabulary/953621/69 "2021-11-03T14:27:42Z")
> [@Dr.Strangelove](#): > > > [@Acsenray](#): > > > > Yeah, I understand “low key” to mean “I’m not flaunting it or being ostentatious about it.” > > I’ve never seen the “enthusiastically” usage, but I have seen it used to mean “genuine.” It’s easy to guess how one definition led to another: people who are always hyping up one thing or another feel artificial. People who are low-key about their beliefs and interests are more likely to hold them sincerely It’s entirely possible that my middle-aged, terminally unhip Gen X ass might have gotten it wrong. But that’s how I’ve heard it used, and how I use it; as a synonym for _really_: “I low-key did not expect Billie to rock out on 'Happier Than Ever”! I’ll troll YouTube tonight to see if I can find an example of _low-key_ used as an intensifier. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2021, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annoying-new-speak-that-you-ve-managed-to-adopt-into-your-vocabulary/953621/70 "2021-11-03T14:34:05Z")
There’s a reddit thread about it here that conforms with how I’ve personally encountered the word. It’s a living usage that has changed a bit, so I won’t be surprised if it’s used differently by different subgroups: [https://www.reddit.com/r/EnglishLearning/comments/a3evy3/what\_does\_lowkey\_mean/](https://www.reddit.com/r/EnglishLearning/comments/a3evy3/what_does_lowkey_mean/) > Dictionaries are not good at keeping up with slang which is why you want see the adverbial use in most dictionaries. It’s also why you won’t see highkey (the opposite of the slang, adverbial lowkey) in dictionaries. > Your definition of “kinda/kind of” is pretty accurate, especially for the examples you gave. Lowkey _also_ means something like subtly, discreetly/secretly, moderately, or modestly. Not done openly, expressively, or explictly. > For example, after a poor first date, you could lowkey signal you’re not interested in another date by not responding to further attempts at communication. Alternatively, you could highkey signal your disinterest by explictly stating it. ---
**Author:** ![alovem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@alovem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alovem)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2021, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annoying-new-speak-that-you-ve-managed-to-adopt-into-your-vocabulary/953621/71 "2021-11-03T16:18:11Z")
> [@solost](#): > > He also uses the term ‘simp’ a lot, which he says means a weak, beta male who is submissive to the women in his life. As you probably know, simp is just short for simpleton. The “pansy” connotation is probably due to conflation with simper/simpering. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2021, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annoying-new-speak-that-you-ve-managed-to-adopt-into-your-vocabulary/953621/72 "2021-11-03T16:22:36Z")
No, I didn’t know that. I think I had assumed that it was just short for ‘simper/simpering’. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2021, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annoying-new-speak-that-you-ve-managed-to-adopt-into-your-vocabulary/953621/73 "2021-11-03T16:25:59Z")
I thought it was from sympathetic ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2021, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annoying-new-speak-that-you-ve-managed-to-adopt-into-your-vocabulary/953621/74 "2021-11-03T16:27:29Z")
Well, that’s the 1903 etymology of it. The newer use has “etymology unknown” listed in Wiktionary. > 1980s (American rap culture). Unknown. Possibly from a respelled clipping of _[sympathetic](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/sympathetic#English)_ , a clipping of _[simper](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/simper#English)_ ; a [blend](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix:Glossary#blend) of _[sissy](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/sissy#English)_ +‎ _[pimp](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/pimp#English)_ ; or a special use of _[simpleton](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/simpleton#English)_ (above). > #### Noun > **simp** ( _plural_ **[simps](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/simps#English)** ) > 1. ([slang](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix:Glossary#slang)) A man who foolishly overvalues and defers to a woman, [putting her on a pedestal](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/put_on_a_pedestal). quotations ▼ > 2. ([slang](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix:Glossary#slang), by extension) Someone who foolishly overvalues someone else and defers to them, putting them on a pedestal.[[1]](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/simp#cite_note-:0-1) quotations ▼ > 3. ([slang](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix:Glossary#slang)) An advocate for an ideology or cause. My suspicion is that the current use of the word “simp” derives separately from “simpleton.” ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2021, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annoying-new-speak-that-you-ve-managed-to-adopt-into-your-vocabulary/953621/75 "2021-11-03T16:30:04Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > My suspicion is that the current use of the word “simp” derives separately from “simpleton.” I am extremely dubious that today’s young people ever had “simpleton” in their common parlance much less derived current slang from it. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2021, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annoying-new-speak-that-you-ve-managed-to-adopt-into-your-vocabulary/953621/76 "2021-11-03T16:33:24Z")
There’s a little more on it in this New York Times article. Looks like it began appearing in 1980s West Coast rap: > **[A Short History of ‘Simp’ (Published 2020)](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/07/style/simp-history-slang.html)** > > An insult takes a dizzying trip through rap, men’s rights, misogyny and TikTok. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2021, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annoying-new-speak-that-you-ve-managed-to-adopt-into-your-vocabulary/953621/77 "2021-11-03T16:34:50Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > I am extremely dubious that today’s young people ever had “simpleton” in their common parlance much less derived current slang from it. Today’s kids clearly don’t listen to enough XTC. [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/5Da9sc6YDBo/hqdefault.jpg "XTC - Mayor of Simpleton") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Da9sc6YDBo) ---
**Author:** ![ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chockfullofheadygoodness/32/511_2.png) [@ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2021, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annoying-new-speak-that-you-ve-managed-to-adopt-into-your-vocabulary/953621/78 "2021-11-03T16:59:39Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > This is WRT “It is what it is.” > > A dear close friend of mine used to say it when he was in hospice, and he meant it to offer comfort in some oblique way while still expressing anger. _“There’s nothing any of us can do about it at this point. I’m going to die, and that’s that.”_ And then he did. > > My association with that phrase is nothing but bad Same here. Ten years ago that was the phrase my mom used to inform me the neck pain she’d been dealing with was caused by a tumor pressing on her nerves, and the cancer had already spread to her liver and was terminal. Absolutely hated the phrased since then. As far as, like, filler words, like, I try not to use “like” and, you know, “you know” but as someone who was a teen in the 80s, it’s pretty much hardwired in my brain, dude. At least I’ve stopped using “bitchen”. And by far the worst filler word in my house is the Mandarin one that sounds horrifically like the n-word. I know it’s equivalent to “um…”, but I still always remind my wife to be careful outside the house when in the US. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2021, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annoying-new-speak-that-you-ve-managed-to-adopt-into-your-vocabulary/953621/79 "2021-11-03T17:13:35Z")
> [@ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](#): > > Same here. Ten years ago that was the phrase my mom used to inform me the neck pain she’d been dealing with was caused by a tumor pressing on her nerves, and the cancer had already spread to her liver and was terminal. Absolutely hated the phrased since then. I’m so sorry. That phrase is all about doomed resignation with a soupçon of (I admit I could be reading this into it), _“and there’s not a goddam thing anyone can do about it, including you.”_ It comes across (to me anyway) as somehow colder than “what will be, will be.” Maybe 'cause [Doris Day](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqwIifgs7KU) never sang a song called, “It is what it is.” 😢 ---
**Author:** ![alovem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@alovem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alovem)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2021, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annoying-new-speak-that-you-ve-managed-to-adopt-into-your-vocabulary/953621/80 "2021-11-03T17:51:10Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > I am extremely dubious that today’s young people ever had “simpleton” in their common parlance much less derived current slang from it. It’s worth considering, IMO, that we’ve all seen “The Simps…ons” (obscured by clouds) for over 30 years now. Scroll down a bit and you’ll see he confirms it. > Since Homer was my father’s name, and I thought Simpson was a funny name in that it had the word “simp” in it, which is short for “simpleton”—I just went with it. > **[Matt Groening Reveals the Location of the Real Springfield](https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/matt-groening-reveals-the-location-of-the-real-springfield-60583379/)** > > Twenty-five years after The Simpsons made their TV debut, the show's creator talks about Homer's odyssey—and his own [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annoying-new-speak-that-you-ve-managed-to-adopt-into-your-vocabulary/953621.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annoying-new-speak-that-you-ve-managed-to-adopt-into-your-vocabulary/953621.md?page=5)