I don’t know if “buzz” words is the “right” word for words like cool farout but oh well.
Anyway “cool” is probably my favorite. But I also like “kickass” and “sux”.
The word I think totally sux that the kids are using now is “phat”. I guess I just can’t get over the original meaning of the original spelling.
Anyway what are yours?
My least favorite buzz word (not ‘hep slang’ like I think you meant) has got to be ‘non-event’. What a presumptuous obnoxious turn of phrase. Your competition has built up all kinds of buzz for what turned out ( in your estimation) to be a ‘non-event’. Anything can be a non-event. It is used to deny validity to what some would consider an event. Picky, but I hate bullies, and bullies say ‘non-event’.
My favorite buzz word of the hour is ‘the shit’ or ‘the real shit’ describing something as the best available. Also somehow ‘happenin’’ has worked its way into almost daily use. “How are you?” “Happenin’” How’s the sauce? Happenin’!
I refuse to let any ‘Friends’ inflections into my speech. That show is scary (Oh it is SO not scary). And belligerently anti-adult. And c’mon, an apartment the size of a house in NYC?
I despise " touch base ". Whenever I hear someone say that I imagine a lamp being smashed in their face. Corporate non-speak for snivelling yuppies.
But I will point you to an old thread which encapsulates a bunch of “popular” buzz words:
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=1675
MJollnir: Very interesting, wind-chill. It is used to describe the cooling effect wind has on bare skin. The weather people use it to make the weather more newsworthy. If wind-chill means ‘bundle up’ why not say ‘bundle up’? “The thermometer says its 19/f outside but if you were naked the 10 MPH wind would make it feel like it was 9/f! So bundle up!” Wind chill deserves to be demoted to buzz word.