[Ads-l] sksksksk, I oop, yeet and NeW WaYs To EXPreSS MOckery

[Andy Bach]

I just saw a video with two young, white guys (one holding a gun) in a
nearly incomprehensible "conversation", where "yeet" has been shortened to
"ye", still meaning "yes". Hmm, and "finsta" is so last year and, I guess,
so is "yeet"

https://theconversation.com/3-internet-language-trends-from-2019-explained-128588

Last year, internet language expert Gretchen McCulloch – whose best-selling
book “Because Internet <https://gretchenmcculloch.com/book/>” is its own
noteworthy language event of 2019 – identified multiple terms
<https://www.nbcconnecticut.com/investigations/A-to-Gen-Z-10-Words-to-Help-You-Decode-Your-Teen-498925311.html>
that have become popular among Gen Z users in recent years. They included “
finsta <https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/finsta>” – a social media user’s
second account with a more private, selective audience – and the
interjection “yeet <https://www.dictionary.com/e/slang/yeet/>,” which is
meant to convey surprise or approval.
1. From drag queens to VSCO girls

Two new language features – “sksksk” and “and I oop” – are often talked
about together. That’s because VSCO girls
<https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2019/9/24/20881656/vsco-girl-meme-what-is-a-vsco-girl>
– largely white, teenage, middle class girls who promote a certain style
and aesthetic on social media – have popularized their use
<https://thetab.com/uk/2019/09/11/vsco-girl-sayings-slang-124983>.

The first, “sksksk,” is a popular keysmash
<https://www.cjr.org/language_corner/keysmash-qwerty-asdf.php>,
representing someone furiously hitting the “S” and “K” keys back and forth.

It can mean laughter, excitement or nervousness. As Buzzfeed explained
<https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/laurenstrapagiel/this-is-why-vsco-girls-keep-saying-sksksksk>,
“It’s sort of like saying ‘I can’t even’ as if it were still 2013.”

The next, “and I oop,” comes from a video that went viral in 2019
<https://mashable.com/article/and-i-oop-meme/>. In it, drag queen Jasmine
Masters – a competitor on “RuPaul’s Drag Race” – interjects an “oop!”
mid-sentence, after “and I…” She explained that the interjection occurred
because she’d painfully hit her testicles.

The phrase became widely used in a similar fashion: to acknowledge – and
lighten the mood after – an embarrassing or jarring situation.

Neither “sksksk” nor “and I oop” was born in 2019. “sksksk” has been around
since at least 2014
<https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/laurenstrapagiel/this-is-why-vsco-girls-keep-saying-sksksksk>,
while Masters’ video clip that “and I oop” originates from first streamed
in 2015.

-- 

a

Andy Bach,
afbach at gmail.com
608 658-1890 cell
608 261-5738 wk

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