The Etymology of Slang

You may be familiar with the concept of brainrot, which according to Wikipedia is “the spending of excessive amounts of time spent online, with possible deterioration in cognitive functioning and attention span”. Essentially, brainrot is the process of apparent cognitive decline, especially amongst younger generations such as Gen Alpha, caused by excessive time spent online on social media. Even if you do not realise it, you have probably heard some words associated with this phenomenon, such as “skibidi”, “rizzler”, “sussy baka”, and “mewing”. These terms along with the concept of brainrot are often given rather negative connotations such as lethargy, immaturity, and hindering of critical thinking by most sane people that have made it past the 7th grade. However, I, being an insane person, would argue that these words actually play a major part in the emerging online culture of Gen Alpha, many of them even having rich and unique etymological backgrounds spanning thousands of years through various languages. This is why, in order to prove that brainrot has level 100 aura, I will launch a detailed investigation into the linguistic origins of three major brainrot-related terms: rizz, yap, and sussy baka.

Firstly, I will dive into the origins of the term rizz, which also happens to be the Oxford English Dictionary 2023 word of the year. The term rizz is defined as “an ability to charm and woo a person”, and is commonly associated with the phrase “W rizz”. Now, the term rizz “derives from the word charisma” (Munson, 2023), which itself originates from the “Latinized form of Greek kharisma.” (Online Etymology Dictionary, n.d.). The term kharisma (χᾰ́ρῐσμᾰ) itself is defined as "favour, [or a] divine gift," (Online Etymology Dictionary, n.d). This term thus originates from another ancient Greek word, kharis (χᾰ́ρῐς), which is defined as “beauty, elegance, charm, grace” or a “favourable disposition towards someone: grace, favour, goodwill” (Wiktionary, n.d.). This can thus be traced back to the Proto-Hellenic term *kʰə́řřō, meaning “to rejoice”. (Wiktionary, n.d.). Notice that *kʰə́řřō is a reconstruction, meaning that the pronunciation of the word is purely speculative as there are no written records of its pronunciation. From here on we can finally trace the term rizz to it’s absolute earliest origin, which is Proto-Indo-European *gʰer-, meaning “to yearn for” (Wiktionary, n.d.), which, considering you are reading this article right now, is quite fitting for you in particular.

Now assuming that your attention span has not run out yet, congratulations, because now we will dive into the origins of the term sussy baka. The term sussy baka, meaning “suspicious fool” (Pinterest, n.d.) is a combination of two other terms, sus and baka, which I will analyse separately for simplicity’s sake. Firstly, the term sus “is a made-up term that originated from the video game ‘Among Us’”. (Pinterest, n.d.), though there are sources that say the term has been documented since the 1960s. The word itself is “a synonym of suspicious, or suspect” (Merriam-Webster, 2022). The term suspicious can thus be traced back to less sus origins, deriving “from Anglo-French suspecious”, which can thus be traced back to “Old French suspicios (Modern French suspectieux)” (Online Etymology Dictionary, n.d.). Suspicios can thus be traced back to Latin,“suspiciosus”, which derives from [the] stem of suspicere [meaning] ‘look up at’” (Online Etymology Dictionary, n.d.). Finally, the grand lineage of sus can be traced back to the hypothetical *spek-, which is a “Proto-Indo-European root meaning ‘to observe.’” (Online Etymology Dictionary, n.d.). 

Moving away from the boring old Proto-Indo-European language, many of you may know that the term baka is an actual word in Japanese, meaning it’s origins should be much easier to trace. Having a meaning as something along the lines of “fool” or “retard”, Baka most likely originated as a “transcription of Sanskrit मोह (moha, ‘folly’)” (Wiktionary, n.d.). मोह can thus be traced back to Proto-Indo-Iranian “*máwǰʰas, from the root *mawǰʰ- ~ *mawgʰ- (‘to err, to be foolish, to deviate’)”. Though further roots are uncertain, some traits of *mawǰʰ- ~ *mawgʰ- “suggests contamination from similar roots, such as *dʰrúkš” (Wiktionary, n.d.). If this sus information from the back alleys of Wiktionary is true, then the origins of *mawǰʰ- ~ *mawgʰ- could be traced back to “*dʰrewgʰ- (“to deceive, mislead”)” (Wiktionary, n.d.), which is a Proto-Indo-European term, you baka. 

After having your IQ reduced to room-temperature level from reading this article, you will be glad to know that it is coming to an end with our final term: yap. The slang definition of yap means “to talk shrilly, noisily, or foolishly” (Dictionary.com, n.d.), and is often used in a mocking manner. Unlike many previous terms, yap does not have a long and convoluted linguistic history, and is instead “probably of imitative origin” (Online Etymology Dictionary, n.d.). However, while yap lacks in terms of a rich historical and morphological background, it makes up for with it’s interesting fluctuations in meaning throughout its short history, its definition and usage frequently changing due to a process known as semantic drift. Before it was became the infamous slang term that we all know and love/hate, yap, at the time of its conception in the 1660’s, meant to "bark as a (small) dog," (Online Etymology Dictionary, n.d.). Its meaning eventually started to shift in the 1800s, as people began using it to refer to “human chatting” (Weekman, 2024). During the 1900s, yap also gained popularity in American slang as a way to refer to a “mouth” (Online Etymology Dictionary, n.d.). Finally in the 2020s, yap managed to find a home in the hearts of TikTokers as a slang term extracted from “songs in the 1990s” (Weekman, 2024), the term now referring to “talking too much”, especially if the contents are “mostly nonsense” (Islam, 2024).

Now here’s a reminder that you should probably go outside and touch some grass.

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