A living language OR English on fleek

English, like you and me, is forever changing. It may not be a living, breathing matter but it is constantly evolving in response to a variety of factors including migration, culture and technology.

Especially technology. 

Just the other day I was struck by how technology, namely texting, had changed the way I use the English language (i.e: incorrectly). For some reason, I started using "high-larious" instead of "hilarious" when texting close friends a while back. When the time came for me to use the word hilarious in a "non-textual" environment, I couldn't remember how to spell it. 

Actually, that's a lie. I thought it was spelled the way I had been writing it over text.

Groan.

Because of how time-consuming, and frustrating, it can sometimes be to text (especially with my new killer claws) I've developed a slew of acronyms and abbreviations to save time: addy instead of address, b4 instead of before, k instead of okay and tom instead of tomorrow, for example.

The problem is, after repeated use of texting slang I'm starting to forget how to write correctly. 

And that scares me.

All of this got me thinking about the evolution of language, English specifically. Every year, the Oxford English Dictionary enters new words and revises versions of existing entries. The amount of new words the OED enters is nothing compared to the amount of new words actually being used by English speakers the world round.

2014 was particularly ripe with new words. As such, I've decided to dedicate this blog post to the top 10 new words that are "on fleek"  right now. On fleek, most obvs, is one of them.

All definitions come from the Urban Dictionary, unless otherwise indicated.

1. Amazeballs: a douchey/hollywoody way to say amazing, originated by a Youtube comedy duo named Jessica and Hunter and popularized by blogger Perez Hilton. 
*otherwise indicated: the word "balls" can be added to a variety of words, for no apparent reason. Shadeballs, for example, refers to a particularly shady, or "sketchy," person or event.

2. Bae: the most f@$#%&g annoying way to say girlfriend, boyfriend, crush, or any other sort of significant other. Commonly used by ghetto folks, swagfags, and annoying f$%ktards.
*otherwise indicated: ummm... alrighty then.   

3. Erday: means everyday, just slurred a little bit.
*otherwise indicated: erday I'm hustlin'.

 the boss, aka the teflon don, aka ricky rozay, aka rick ross

4. FOMO: a state of mental or emotional strain caused by the Fear Of Missing Out.

"my FOMO is through the roof!"

5. Hashtag: the battle cry of hipsters OR a way for people to search for tweets that have a common topic.

6. On fleek: when your eyebrows, eyelashes, outfit, makeup or any other s$%t like that is on point.
*otherwise indicated: the first time I saw the words "on fleek" was on JLo's Instagram. It was in reference to her eyebrows. I had to look it up. Embarrassing much?

7. OOTD: means Outfit Of The Day. Usually refers to a picture of someone's clothes found on social media such as instagram, twitter, pinterest, tumblr or facebook. 
*otherwise indicated: I had to look this one up just this week. At 39, I'm obvs a grandmother now.

8. Steeze: style and ease, you put it together and get steeze.  
*otherwise indicated: too similar to "skeeze" for me to use comfortably.

9. Turnt up: phrase coined by Juicy J and Wiz Khalifa that basically means to go HAM at a party, usually while intoxicated.  
*otherwise indicated: really??? I thought it came from this song...

 turn down for what by dj snake and lil john

10. YOLO: abbreviation for You Only Live Once. Also, one of the most annoying abbreviations ever.

*otherwise indicated: popularized by Drake in his song The Motto, along with "erday."

 the motto: drake, lil wayne and tyga

And then there's this... the battle cry of a generation:

 YOLO: the lonely island with adam levine and kendrick lamar

Can anyone guess what YODO means? 

LOL.