“Let him cook” also refers to letting someone do what they are great at without interference. It’s a reference to “Let Brandon cook” which comes from author Brandon Sanderson’s team’s approach to ensuring his continued success.
Letting Russ cook didn’t work out very well though.
Is “low key” actually new slang? It feels like this phrase has been around forever.
Definitely we’ve had “you know, just a low-key hangout night at our friend’s house” and stuff like that for decades, right?
Is it just that the youngsters are applying the term in different (more broad) ways now?
@Spice_Weasel I can’t imagine that Skee-Lo invented baller but maybe popularized it? I’m sure there’s a lot of AAVE language that was unknown to a wide audience until it was used in a Billboard hit. Webster’s declares that the word wasn’t known as an adjective until 2003, which is ridiculous because we all knew it by 1995 thanks to Skee-Lo. But the lyrics website Genius has it being used in rap songs starting in 1990.
One of the major characters in Neil Gaiman’s novel American Gods was named “Low Key”, and it wasn’t new slang even then.
Yes.
Yeah, they use it for “kinda.”
“I low-key don’t want to go to the party tonight.”
There’s also “high-key” to reflect greater intensity.
It cracks me up how we discuss this like we’re anthropologists.
I forgot to mention that novel was published in 2001.
And to “shake your booty” means to wiggle one’s butt. Permit me to demonstrate…
I’m pretty sure that “fire” isn’t new, either. I mean, literal fire is, in fact, pretty impressive and useful and fun. I suspect that there’s been sporadic use of “fire” to mean “very good” for all of human history.
“Low key” means “I believe or desire this but not strenuously so.”
“Fire” means excellent, cool, highly desirable
“Chopped” means unacceptable or unattractive.
Before anyone else comes in, the other common ones are
“Cap” or “No cap” means “untrue” or “true,” especially in describing the honesty of a person’s speech (note the reversal of affirmation; cap means it’s not true, no cap means it is.)
“Rizz” is short for “charisma,” usually in the sense of romantic skill.
“Delulu” means delusional.
“Cheugy” or “Choogy” means a thing that is just barely, just a little, out of date in terms of trendiness.
“Drip” is attractive or trendy clothes or an outfit.
Why yes I have a teen in the house.
I wish I was a little bit taller. I wish I was a baller.
More specifically, it’s just a variation on the word “hot” meaning “good”, which has been slang for a very long time.
“And here we can observe adolescents vigorously oscillating their posteriors for the sake of social interaction. Now this larger male individual has gained the attention of a female, who sees a potential mate, and approaches in an alluring fashion.”
That’s like low-key ancient, bruh. Not gonna lie.
Thanks, bruh! That info is lowkey fire. Not skibidi at all. Total 6-7.
also, type 67 into your Google search bar ,and see what happens.
As the parent of two in their mid teens, I am amused at the duality of their response to my forays into their slang.
Whenever I season my speech with one of the current terms they are thrilled and proud of me - I guess because it shows I listen to them, or I “get them,” or perhaps just that I’m trying. But this is only true in the privacy of our home. I know better than to ever, EVER attempt this in the presence of their peers. There is no way to describe how cringe this would be.
An exception, by the way, to the slang they’re pleased to hear at home is “skibidi.” I have been absolutely forbidden from using this term under any circumstances. But without explanation ! As a parent I can only ponder the mysteries of the teen mind.
Amusingly, my ancient ears still insist on hearing “low-key” as “Loki.”
As a kid, I always heard it as “lokey” - which I assumed meant your body had an excess of some imaginary substance called “loke” that made you calm and easygoing. (Sort of like being “phlegmatic” in the Four Humors sense.)
Which is why…
I liked this skibidi before the new toilet skibidi and was/am confused if there’s a connection.
I think that song would be pretty boring on its own… but the video with everyone and everything just dancing all the time really sells it.
I was thinking of this thread idea. Songs that aren’t or might not be as good as their videos.
I’d nominate most of OK Go.