"Hip new slang"

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The most recent Questionable Content:

The author's comment: "sometimes I think of a comic, and it makes me laugh even though I don't know why it makes me laugh, and then I draw it for you"

Interesting that this "hip new slang" is a whole abstract discourse, rather than just an isolated reference or modification.



9 Comments

  1. Jerry Friedman said,

    January 15, 2022 @ 1:29 pm

    Reminds me of The Demolished Man (1953), a science fiction novel by Alfred Bester.

    "Pip."

    "Pop."

    "Bim."

    "Bam."

  2. Victor Mair said,

    January 15, 2022 @ 1:32 pm

    social media speak

    chatting via bubbles

  3. Carl said,

    January 15, 2022 @ 2:20 pm

    uwu is common enough: https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=uwu

    I’m not familiar with owo though.

  4. Tyro said,

    January 15, 2022 @ 3:17 pm

    UwU/uwu and OwO/owo are both emoticons, the first representing closed eyes around a cat-like mouth, and the second representing open/surprised eyes and a cat-like mouth. They were never meant to be spoken as words (being of Japanese origin), but people started doing so anyway once they were adopted into English-speaking online cultures, most notably the furry community in the twenty-teens.

    So, I…uh…I'd take issue with any of this being "hip," "new," or "slang."

  5. Paul Garrett said,

    January 15, 2022 @ 6:28 pm

    Ha, yeah, as Tyro observes, this slang is neither new nor hip, but… possibly is "new, hip slang". :)

    Sadly :), when the cartoonists and bloggers I followed starting 20 years ago have gone from edgy late-20-somethings to late-40-somethings, I can no longer have confidence in their up-to-date-ness on this stuff! :)

  6. Terry Hunt said,

    January 15, 2022 @ 6:48 pm

    I'm sure that the "Hip New Slang" title is an ironic side-joke, not a serious assertion by writer Jeph Jacques that this is actual current real-world* slang: notice the footnote "sometimes you just have noises you make with a friend".
    (* The ongoing story is set in a slightly future and/or alternate world.)

  7. John Swindle said,

    January 15, 2022 @ 10:51 pm

    I agree with Terry Hunt. This is about “noises you make with a friend,” about the magic of human (and human with AI) bonding, and not about slang. The last panel, which I found heartwarming, and the fine text at bottom right each make that clear. That doesn’t mean linguistics can shed no light on it: feel free!

  8. Terpomo said,

    January 17, 2022 @ 5:42 am

    I never thought I would see the day when I would see the word "uwu" on Language Log.

  9. Mike said,

    January 21, 2022 @ 6:32 pm

    I always thought I'd see the day when I would see the word "uwu" on LL, because it's being used currently. LL loves to discuss such things, even if they are not owo or cromulent.

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