The use of phrases such as “Type shit”, “Unc”, “Tweaking”, and many more has taken over the comment sections of many social media apps, which also means it has taken over the vocabulary of most of Gen Z– but that doesn’t necessarily mean that it originated from them.
(credits: xoxotaye on X)
Officially recognized in 1996 by the Oakland School Board, though it has been around for much longer, AAVE (African American Vernacular English) is an English-based dialect created by Black people. With its own grammar, vocabulary, and accent, AAVE has been a form of communication between Black people since the 17th century. But now, terms are being realised as “TikTok Slang” instead of being a serious way of expressing thoughts by a group that has been marginalized for decades.
Many problems lie in this “transformation” of AVVE, with one of the biggest ones being the memefication of AAVE as a whole on the internet.
In this video, though not outright, it shows how AAVE terms have now been grouped into a collection of jokes, purely for laughs and giggles. And when it is heard used out of a phone and from another person’s mouth, it is treated as if one were to see a mime performance right in front of them on a random Tuesday in Paris– a smidge of attention paired with a laugh and no ounce of seriousness whatsoever. Which makes sense for the mime (I mean, I hope it does), but it doesn’t quite resonate well when it comes to the way that real people interact with each other.
Imagine the impact that this could have on someone who is trying to genuinely describe a health issue that they have been having, or talking about a serious situation, and they use a phrase that has been turned into “TikTok slang.” The once-serious air of the conversation has fallen away, and now the only thing on the listener’s mind is a joke they heard and associated with that phrase.
My intention isn’t to be the word police– in fact, you might go around saying all the phrases that I’ve mentioned, one after the other, in no complete order, just to spite me 10 times over. (Kidding… I have faith in my readers.) But what I am asking you to do is to think a bit more about not only the words you choose to say, but also the manner in which you use them. Words like “mad” or “finna” may sound silly to someone hearing them for the first time, but these are words that people use on a day-to-day basis that are just as serious as the words they are substituting. Jokes are fun, but once turned into a Jester, it is hard to see one as anything other than.
(Featured image credits: xoxotaye on X)
