Slang time machine
Every English slang term has a moment it first showed up in print or on someone's lips. We've tagged 1,000 terms with a first attested decade — from 18th-century thieves’ cant through to 2020s internet vocabulary. Pick a decade below.
1910s — 23 terms
Showing top 23 by viewslit
1910🔥 Gen Z & TikTok
walk in the snow
1919🗺️ Regional & Other
autistic
1913🌐 Internet & Memes
blimp
1915⚡ Tech, Dev & AI
jazz
1912🎵 Music & Lyrics
jamboree
1919⚡ Tech, Dev & AI
donkey's ears
1916⚡ Tech, Dev & AI
Oreo
1912⚡ Tech, Dev & AI
racialist
1910🗺️ Regional & Other
bush week
1919🗺️ Regional & Other
Saturday-night special
1917⚡ Tech, Dev & AI
realtor
1916🗺️ Regional & Other
how's your father
1910🗺️ Regional & Other
rock and roll
1914🎵 Music & Lyrics
Jepson claim
1917⚡ Tech, Dev & AI
Saxbe fix
1916🗺️ Regional & Other
cootie
1917🗺️ Regional & Other
pommie
1912🗺️ Regional & Other
jaywalker
1917🗺️ Regional & Other
refugee
1914🗺️ Regional & Other
scarper
1914🗺️ Regional & Other
san fairy ann
1914🗺️ Regional & Other
national insurance
1911⚡ Tech, Dev & AI
joystick
1910⚡ Tech, Dev & AI
bimbo
1919🗺️ Regional & Other
movie
1912🗺️ Regional & Other
pom
1912⚡ Tech, Dev & AI
grease monkey
1910🗺️ Regional & Other
Devdas
1917🗺️ Regional & Other
bolshie
1918⚡ Tech, Dev & AI
long drink of water
1918🗺️ Regional & Other
copacetic
1919🗺️ Regional & Other
live rent-free in someone's head
1918🗺️ Regional & Other
bullshit
1910⚡ Tech, Dev & AI
boondock
1910⚡ Tech, Dev & AI
Min Min light
1918⚡ Tech, Dev & AI
Pygmalion word
1913🗺️ Regional & Other
Chanakya
1915🗺️ Regional & Other
Robert Borden
1911🗺️ Regional & Other
knees-up
1918🗺️ Regional & Other
flivver
1917🗺️ Regional & Other
hog waller
1915🗺️ Regional & Other
doohickey
1914🗺️ Regional & Other
blue balls
1910🗺️ Regional & Other
Founding Father
1916🗺️ Regional & Other
bozo
1910🗺️ Regional & Other
go Dutch
1914⚡ Tech, Dev & AI
furphy
1914🗺️ Regional & Other
ridge-runner
1917🗺️ Regional & Other
bum's rush
1911🗺️ Regional & Other
roscoe
1910🗺️ Regional & Other
poutine
1918🗺️ Regional & Other
Dixie cup
1919🗺️ Regional & Other
Attestation dates come from etymologies originally sourced from Wiktionary contributors (CC BY-SA 4.0) and editorial expansion authored on Slangora. They reflect the earliest documented use we found for each term, not necessarily the moment it was coined.