It goes without saying that language is always evolving, and new words and phrases enter our everyday speech all the time. Often, we start using them without even realizing it, adopting them naturally from friends, media, or, of course, because of online discourse and social media. Many of these expressions have interesting or surprising origins that most of us never stop to think about. So, I decided to put together 10 terms that all of us use, and whose origins you might not know.
1.
“Bucket list” first appeared in popular use in 2007 with the release of the Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson film The Bucket List, where the characters set out to do things they’d always wanted before they died (or kicked the bucket). The phrase was coined by the movie’s screenwriter, Justin Zackham, who shortened his own “List of Things to do Before I Kick the Bucket” into “Justin’s Bucket List.” He ended up using “bucket list” as the title when writing the screenplay.
2.
It should come as no surprise that the word “binge-watch” was popularized because of Netflix in the early 2010s. But it actually existed a bit before that! People began using the term in the early 2000s, when DVD box sets of TV shows and DVRs allowed you to watch multiple episodes or entire seasons in one sitting. Netflix helped push the term into the mainstream around 2013, when it began releasing entire seasons at once and even used “binge-watching” in its marketing. Of course, before that, the concept existed, but it was just called a “TV marathon.”
3.
The term “friend zone” comes from a 1994 episode of Friends. In the episode “The One with the Blackout,” Joey tells Ross that he and Rachel are never going to happen because he has waited too long to ask her out, and now he has fallen into “the friend zone.” The episode’s writers, Jeff Astrof and Mike Sikowitz, to this day, have no idea who came up with the phrase.
4.
The word “podcast” is a portmanteau — a combination of the words “iPod” and “broadcast.” The term itself was actually created by accident in 2004. The term was first coined by journalist Ben Hammersley in an article he was writing for the UK’s the Guardian about the new emerging technology of being able to download audio programs and radio. According to Hammersley, he turned in the article, but was told it was a few words too short. In order to pad it out a bit more, he added the line: “But what to call it? Audioblogging? Podcasting? GuerillaMedia?”
5.
The term “catfish” or “catfishing” didn’t come from the MTV show; it actually originated from the 2010 documentary Catfish, which later inspired the series of the same name. However, it was the Manti Te’o scandal in 2013 that helped popularize the phrase.
6.
Today, when we say “life hack,” we mean any simple tip or trick that helps make life easier. However, the term was first coined by tech journalist Danny O’Brien in 2003, to describe clever shortcuts programmers used to simplify their work life.
7.
Ever wonder if “spam email” came from Spam the meat? Well, the answer is yes! During WWII and after, because of rationing, Spam became ubiquitous in England. So much so that in the 1970s Monty Python did a popular sketch where a customer tries to order food without Spam at a cafe that served every dish with it, only to be drowned out by a group of Vikings who keep chanting “Spam, Spam, Spam.” The repetition and unavoidable presence of Spam in the skit inspired early internet users (many of whom were Monty Python fans) in the 1980s and 1990s to call excessive and unwanted emails “spam.”
8.
The term “gaslighting” comes from the 1938 play Gas Light and its two film adaptations in the 1940s — both entitled Gaslight. Set in the 1880s, the story is about a husband who manipulates small elements — like dimming the gas lights — in the house while insisting his wife is imagining things, making her doubt her own perception and to think that she is suffering from a mental illness. Though the term was very sporadically used over the decades, it wasn’t until the 2010s that it really took off.
9.
We might be able to blame the term “main character energy” on the pandemic. The idea of seeing oneself as the protagonist in a story took off on X (formerly Twitter) and TikTok in 2020, and you might have the posts still up to prove it!
10.
And lastly, most millennials know this one, but it might be lost on younger people. The term “stan” comes from the 2000 song “Stan” by Eminem, which tells the story of a creepily obsessed fan named Stan who writes increasingly desperate letters to the rapper. Weirdly, “stan” evolved in internet slang to describe anyone who is an extremely devoted or enthusiastic fan of a celebrity, artist, film series, etc. Of course, today, it’s used both as a noun (“I’m a huge stan of that show”) and a verb (“I stan that singer”).
Okay, did you know this? Or do you know the origin of a term you think I should have included? Let me know in the comments below!
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