Back in fashion

✔︎ Bro Nicole Holliday, acting associate professor of linguistics at the University of California, Berkeley, notes that “bro” is an older term that has reappeared; today it can be used for any gender.

✔︎ For real? The old slang—meaning “Are you serious?”—now often appears in text messages as “fr.”

✔︎ Fire Use it to mean “amazing” or “stylish.”

✔︎ Bet Why say “OK, sure” when you can just say “bet”?

Time for retirement

✘ As if Gen Z may appreciate the movie Clueless, but much of the film’s lexicon is totally lame. (Also, don’t say “totally” or “lame.”)

✘ Righteous, gnarly or bodacious Not every Bill & Ted term has stood the test of time. “Dude,” however, remains part of the lexicon.

✘ Six seven This expression spread last year, but now it’s so 2025. “Adults ruin slang,” Holliday says. “It is for young people.” —Whitney Matheson