Editorial policy

How entries are researched

Every entry starts with research across at least three independent sources, journalism, primary interviews and announcements, scholarly references, and established dictionaries, and is then written closed-book, in our own words and structure. We never copy or closely paraphrase another site's definition, and every example sentence is invented in-house, never lifted from real posts.

Verification and sources

Specific claims, such as that a particular person coined a word, that it appeared in a particular year, that it started on a particular platform, appear only when a real, resolving source backs them, and that source is cited on the entry. When preferring between sources we rank primary material first (the actual interview, announcement, or paper), then reported journalism, then scholarly references, with other dictionaries used only as a last resort, when they are genuinely the best documentation for a specific claim. Claims that circulate widely but can't be verified are labeled as folklore or omitted. When the truth is that nobody knows, the entry says exact origin unclear. We'd rather be honestly incomplete than confidently wrong.

Crediting origins

A large share of internet slang originates in African American Vernacular English, hip-hop, Black online communities, drag and ballroom culture, and gaming. Entries say so specifically when it's true, with sources. This is an accuracy standard, not decoration: where a word comes from is part of what it means.

Status labels

Every term carries a current-year judgment of where it stands:

• rising: gaining ground; you'll see more of it
• current: in active, unremarkable use
• fading: still understood, increasingly dated to use
• classic: old, stable, and permanently understood
• dead: historical; using it now reads as a joke or a fossil

Labels are honest, not promotional. We mark words as fading even when they're popular search terms, because telling you a dead word is current would defeat the point of looking it up.

Content standards

Entries are written to be clear for any reader: plain language, real examples, no moralizing about slang being "improper English." Mature-register terms, when covered, are defined clinically and labeled. Slurs, terms for explicit acts, and words whose definition would mainly help someone cause harm don't get pages.

Updates and corrections

Language shifts, so entries do too. The "Updated" date on each term page changes only when the content meaningfully changes, never as decoration. Status labels on high-traffic terms are re-reviewed on a rolling basis. If you spot an error, tell us. verified corrections ship fast, and material fixes update the entry's visible date.