Although “fetch” never officially became a thing, there are many other phrases coined in the late 1990s and 2000s that were largely influenced by pop culture.
Aside from shortened versions of words, like aiight and sup, some slang of the decade can be credited to movies and music made at the time. ‘Getting jiggy’ became a popular phrase after Will Smith’s “Gettin’ Jiggy With It” released in 1997. The television show, “Clueless” created the slang ‘as if’ and ‘Monet’ after the main characters used the terms in the movie. ‘All that and a bag of chips’, ‘kick him to the curb’, and ‘word’ can all be credited to the 1990s. Close friends could be referred to ‘homies’, ‘homeboys’, or ‘home skillet’. ‘Talk to the hand’, ‘Fart knocker’, and ‘not’ were used when dissing or insulting someone. Parties were ‘crunk’ and everything was ‘whatever’.
Although terms like ‘crunk’, ‘aiight’, and ‘word’ were still used in the 2000s, some of the slang from the 1990s transformed or changed completely. When insulting someone, they were called ‘sucky’ rather than a ‘fart knocker’, and rather than saying ‘talk to the hand’ one would say ‘you got served’. The term ‘dawg’ was coined in the 2000s, due mostly to Randy Jackson when he used the phrase on “American Idol”. ‘Dawg’ was used to describe a friend, and you would go to dope parties with your ‘peeps’. The term ‘dime’ was coined by hip-hop artist Nelly. ‘Dime’ and ‘hot’ was used to describe someone attractive. ‘Boo’ was used as an endearing term and became slang after Usher and Alicia Keys released My Boo in 2004. ‘Boo’ can also be used today to describe a significant other or someone close to you.
Many of these phrases have disappeared thanks to the hands of time with only a few of them reappearing. Despite the words changing, many of the terms all hold the same definition. The 2010s brought terms like ‘savage’ and ‘yeet’, which can be credited to the Paul Brothers. YouTubers like Shane Dawson, James Charles and more, have influenced most of our language today. Terms like ‘yas queen’, ‘shade’ and ‘wig snatched’ emerged from the drag scene. And after a long session of gossiping between girls, they’d end the conversation with ‘that’s the tea, sis.’