Insults and Compliments from Recent Slang

ick - a feeling of disgust or repulsion

aura - ‘cool’ factor; star power; stylish swagger

While both ick and aura are used to describe a quality someone gives off, they sit at opposite ends of the emotional spectrum. Aura refers to stylishness, confident swagger, and charisma. Ick, on the other hand (and it’s usually the ick), describes a sudden feeling of such profound disgust that it causes a permanent reversal in feeling toward someone. Having aura draws people to you, while giving them the ick sends them running.

buns - bad, terrible, of poor quality

gas - excellent, awesome, great, etc.

To the uninitiated, buns and gas look like they could be slang synonyms; they are, however, far apart in meaning. Buns means "bad" or "terrible" and is used to describe things of poor quality, originating from the long-standing use of the word to refer to the buttocks (joining a family of posterior-related put-downs like butt and ass). Gas, on the other hand, means "excellent," "awesome," or "great," and can even serve as a synonym for exciting or hilarious. So while you might call a disappointing concert buns, you'd call an amazing one gas.

performative male - a man who engages in stereotypically “sensitive” activities to appeal to women

sigma - a coolly independent, successful man

The sigma is defined by self-assured, cool independence; a "lone wolf" type whose status and attractiveness come from his individualism and nonconformism, with no apparent need for the approval of others. The performative male, by contrast, actively seeks approval; a man who engages insincerely in certain activities or behaviors to appear safe, sophisticated, or feminist, with the ulterior motive of impressing others, especially women. It is worth noting that although these words describe very different types, both can be used dismissively; sigma is occasionally found employed in a mocking way.

chud - a fool, jerk, troll, etc.

Chad - a stereotypical alpha male; a man, admired or scorned for brazen self-confidence

A chad is a stereotypical alpha male (confident, dominant, and physically formidable), a term that originated as an insult in incel communities but has since taken on a more positive, even admiring, tone in mainstream use. Chud is a straightforward term of disparagement, used as a synonym for fool or jerk. In short, a chad is defined by an excess of (often swaggering) confidence, while a chud is defined by ignorance or loutish behavior. And though the two can overlap as insults, calling someone a chad can actually be a compliment these days, whereas calling someone a chud never is.

headass - a foolish, ridiculous, or inept person

baddie - a confident, stylish, and attractive woman

The word baddie is positive, complimentary, and often celebratory. Headass is a mild insult, but an insult nonetheless. Both words began in African American English before entering into mainstream internet.

cooked - having achieved a state of failure; being doomed

lock in - to enter a state of deep focus

One of these is a rallying cry, and the other is a sob of resignation. You need to lock in to avoid being cooked.

reheat nachos - to produce a lesser version of or poor tribute to an earlier song, album, etc.

slap - to exhibit excellence (used especially of a song)

Both of these slang terms are most commonly applied to music, but they sit on opposite sides of the album, so to speak. Slap conveys enthusiastic approval, and while it's most often used to describe music with an infectious groove, it can also apply to anything of high quality. Reheat nachos is typically used to criticize an artist for unoriginality. Slap can also be used in a non-musical vein; there are cases where people will even say that a sandwich slaps. Reheat nachos has not really broadened semantically to describe food, although you could always use it literally, to refer to actually reheating nachos.

SYBAU - an angrier way to say ‘shut up’ online

HMU - a request for someone to contact you.

SYBAU and HMU may both be acronyms, but they serve very different social purposes. HMU is an invitation, a friendly way of asking someone to get in touch (it’s commonly used in social media posts to sell something, or to announce a gathering). SYBAU is anything but inviting. It stands for "shut your bitch ass up" and is found (sometimes with tongue-in-cheek humor, but usually with genuine hostility) in online arguments. You can think of them as HMU opening a door and SYBAU slamming one shut.