Bae, Basic, Turnt & All The Other Slang We Really Wanna Leave In The '10s

Ah, the 10s. A time when celeb-endorsed festivals colossally crashed and burned; brands recommended you stick a jade and rose quartz egg up there to “balance hormones”; and podcasts hit the mainstream. Also this decade: the tone-deaf KONY 2012 campaign; ‘Making A Murderer’ mania; Egg Boy; the meteoric rise of Cardi B; Beyoncé’s Lemonade and – who could forget? – the naked selfie. We’ve seen a lot. We’re tired. And maybe a touch irritable. 

With so many defining moments – good, bad, and disastrous – how can we possibly sum up the ‘10s? Our slang, maybe? Here are the phrases that we reckon defined the decade, and that we’re hoping we can leave in the ‘10s, too. Disclaimer: we’re guilty of all of these.

Bae: ‘Before anyone else’, a shortened version of ‘babe’ or ‘baby’, ‘bye’ in Icelandic and ‘poop’ in Danish – however you define it, bae is a top contender for the most annoying word of the decade. The Danes are right; it’s utter shite. 

Basic: Basic has unfortunately been ruined forever. 

#blessed: Humble brag coming atcha! 

Conscious Uncoupling: A pivotal moment of the 2010s and a key example that these days we take it all too seriously. Can’t a breakup just be a breakup? 

Dead: You are not dead! 

Extra: Just no. 

Fam: Even ironically, fam is incredibly irritating.

Fire, lit, and other flames-related slang: Lit is the poor man’s ‘That’s hot’. 

Fleek: Urban Dictionary defines fleek as, “An annoying term used by annoying teenagers meant to be ‘on point’.” Yep. Fleek off. 

Flex: Unless used in the context of “weird flex, but ok…”. (We quite like this sass turn of phrase.) In every other context, no. 

Low key: Another phrase that has lost all meaning because we’ve used it far too much. 

Panties: Okay, we’ll admit, panties isn’t actually a hallmark of the ‘10s (it’s more of a ‘00s phrase, really) but no matter the decade, the word panties is never okay. Just wanted to reiterate that. Same goes for moist.

Peak: We're bored of everything being ‘Peak 2019’.

Preach: Kinda fun, but time to move on. 

Ship: Do celebs really need their fans to endorse their relos?

Squad goals, relationship goals, food goals, etc: Where aspiration meets desperation. You don’t need more goals! You’re doing great! Also, you sound like a dickhead.  

Stan: Stan’s had a good run – it’s been a fave of ours and it’s even wormed its way into the Oxford English Dictionary – but we think it’s probably time to let go. 

Thirsty: What’s wrong with horny?  

Turnt: This might be the worst of them all. 

Woke: Oxford English Dictionary defines woke as, “Alert to injustice in society, especially racism.” Great concept, but the word itself..? Not so much. Let’s put woke to sleep. 

Yass: We could watch that Gaga clip forever, but unless you’re Jonathan from 'Queer Eye' you can no longer get away with yass. 

YOLO: You only live once so please don’t waste your precious time saying this phrase. We blame Drake.  

Main Image Credit: How To Get Away With Murder still, ABC (2014) 

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