From delulu to rizz, 2023's most viral internet slang defined

In 2023, women are mother, we ijbol instead of lol, and everyone serves cunt. 

If you don't understand what any of that means, congratulations on your low screen time. Online slang moves fast. New words and phrases move from subcultural obscurity to mass audiences seemingly daily. You blink and your For You Page becomes incomprehensible. With Urban Dictionary being a shadow of its former glory, you have nowhere to turn for clarity, until now. Here are some of the key vocabulary and phrases that have defined the year on the internet so far. 

Delulu

Delulu is a cutesy abbreviation for delusional, as in, "I'm acting delulu" or "I might be a bit delulu." According to Know Your Meme, the shortening originated in K-Pop fan communities in 2014 and specifically referred to delusional fan behavior like shipping an unlikely couple or believing you would end up with your fave. At the end of last year the term went mainstream on TikTok and is now used to describe any flavor of delusion. 

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Idgaf war

Over the summer the phrase took over Twitter with seemingly every public (and private) figure engaged in their own idgaf – the acronym for "I don't give a fuck" – war, but according to Know Your Meme it dates back to summer 2022. The logic of an idgaf war is simple: winners demonstrate a more blasé attitude than the other person they are in conflict with, losers are caught caring more.

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Ijbol

Lol met a major competitor this year in ijbol – short for "I just burst out laughing." Like delulu, ijbol originated in K-pop fan communities dating back to 2011, but it came back with a vengeance this summer. Due to its ties to K-pop stans many initially confused it for a phonetical spelling of a Korean word which obviously caused lots of ijboling.

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Mother

Mother originates from the Black and Latinx LGBTQ ballroom scene of drag performers that began in the 1960s. Ballroom culture is organized into "houses'' led by "Mothers," experienced or respected performers who offer community members guidance and support. "I think what we're seeing with 'mother' blowing up on Twitter is the latest in the age-old story of white gays borrowing (and misusing) queer AAVE [African-American Vernacular English], which eventually jumps to straight people," Dr. Jack Doyle, a departmental lecturer in LGBTQ history at the University of Oxford told Gay Times. Other words that made this jump include "throwing shade" and "serving realness."

On the internet, it's become a descriptor for iconic female pop stars and actresses — especially those with LGBTQ fan bases — like Beyoncé, Rihanna, and Adele. But as the term becomes more popular, more women become mother and its LGBTQ roots are unacknowledged. "Try not to say mother challenge," "she's so mother," and "mother is mothering" are popular captions for photos or TikToks of these women.

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Rizz 

Delulu is to delusion what rizz is to charisma. Coined by YouTuber and Twitch streamer Kai Cenat, the term is the Gen Z way to say someone has game or is a proficient flirt. It's used both to describe someone and tacked on to messages to digitally express rizz. For example, the comments on a hot person's TikTok video might read, "hey (with rizz)."

Cenat explained that he created the word to describe when someone is able to win over someone who wasn't initially attracted to you, but the definition evolved as it reached the masses.

Serving cunt 

Like Mother, serving cunt also comes from drag communities. Know Your Meme tracks its first appearance on the internet to a 2011 YouTube video of a drag queen titled "Black Queen Serves Cunt," though its use in real life dates back even further. Mashable's Christianna Silva defined the phrase as "the ability to portray great realness regardless of gender" and writes that when someone is serving cunt "they are slaying beyond comparison." 

This year, its use became much more widespread when a meme took off in May that encouraged Twitter users to ask how to serve cunt in extremely specific ways. For example, one user writes, "how do you serve cunt in a way [that] supports public transportation." Another user quote tweeted it with a bus with Succession star Kieran Culkin's face plastered on it.

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