“Mid” is an apparent instance. As a time period, I don’t suppose it even qualifies as teenage slang anymore — it’s too helpful and, by now, too widespread. In my son’s utilization, issues which might be “mid” are issues which might be primarily common or barely under. You’ll be able to’t actually complain about them however they produce no pleasure. They’re typically the results of the refinement of market analysis to the precise degree the place tepid client acceptance is achieved. Every thing in Starbucks falls into the class of “mid.” So does every thing in an airport. It’s a superb, exact phrase for a world filled with gentle disappointments, the place the nook bakery that used to do some issues properly and different issues poorly has been reliably changed by one more Le Ache Quotidien.
“Glazed” has a equally spectacular precision. When my son describes one thing as “glazed,” it’s meant to indicate not mendacity, precisely, and even exaggerating, however the act of positively spinning a judgment. “Glazed” signifies a gilding of data; sports activities commentary, for instance, is 90 p.c glaze. When Stephen A. Smith, the quintessential glazer, likens Anthony Edwards to Michael Jordan, a correct response may be “The Ant glazing is loopy.” However glaze can also be the right description of the way in which social media works: The world you encounter on-line is perpetually glazed, with every thing taking up an artificially optimistic, unreal and never solely reliable gloss.
There are different revealing phrases I’ve discovered from my son: “Sus,” brief for suspicious or suspect, suggests a world that’s doubtful sufficient that you simply want a diminutive to explain it. “Cringe” is the right catchall for that jarring model of performative sincerity that’s so frequent on-line. Younger individuals want diminutives to explain these realities; they’ve turn out to be so commonplace.
However my favourite new slang phrase is “based mostly” — brief for “based mostly in reality” or “based mostly in actuality” and sometimes used as a time period of assent when somebody states a controversial opinion. “Canada ought to be part of the USA,” one would possibly say, to which another person would possibly reply, “Based mostly.” It’s sometimes used for political topics however it will possibly have a wider social utility: “Luka Doncic must be the M.V.P. of the N.B.A.” “Based mostly.”
Based mostly can have a extra malevolent connotation in sure alt-right circles, the place being based mostly alludes to allegiance to a contrarian viewpoint. However to my ear “based mostly” is an ideal phrase, a mandatory phrase, to explain the informational chaos we inhabit. The truth that being based mostly in actuality now qualifies as a praise is proof that youngsters like my son have come of age in a local weather the place misinformation, hype and fraud are so endemic that exceptions are notable. For them, to come across one thing based mostly in actuality is uncommon sufficient to deserve its personal distinct shorthand.
