[Ads-l] "slay" (adj.)

[Ben Zimmer]

See also "slay era," often contrasted with "flop era," e.g.:

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/14/business/whats-the-point-of-your-20s-ask-the-patron-saint-of-striving-youth.html
"Sometimes you’ve got to be in your flop era," Ms. Flowers replied.
"Because a slay era doesn’t mean anything if there is no flop era."
She added, encouragingly: "Your slay era is right around the corner, baby
girl."

https://vhtsp.com/7957/opinion/how-to-be-a-girlboss-a-step-by-step-guide-on-how-to-enter-your-slay-era/
https://au.lifestyle.yahoo.com/kmarts-slay-era-continues-with-stunning-18-corset-super-flattering-012806397.html
etc.

I wrote about "eras" (but didn't have room for "slay era") in my WSJ column
recently:
https://on.wsj.com/3S6zDKD

One might argue that "slay" in "slay era" is attributive, while it's more
clearly adjectival in "a chill and slay weekend."

--bgz

On Tue, Oct 31, 2023 at 11:08 AM Nancy Friedman <wordworking at gmail.com>
wrote:

> From the novelist Elif Batuman's Substack, reporting from the Columbia
> campus:
>
> >> ...I will just mention that last week one of them sent in a workshop
> submission with a note wishing the class “a chill and slay weekend.” I
> hadn’t encountered this use of “slay,” and was filled with admiration for
> our evolving language. A few days later, another person sent a draft where
> one character says, of a boy she has a crush on: “I want to slay
> Albert”—and this further complicated my understanding of the meaning/s of
> “slay” which I confidently expect to expand in weeks to come! <<
>
> https://open.substack.com/pub/eliflife/p/another-day-another-slay
>
>

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