Culture
Kidult: Adults, Toys and Nostalgia Marketing
“Kidult” blends “kid” and “adult.” It informally describes an adult who enjoys products or activities conventionally associated with children, and the toy industry also uses it for older buyers, collectors and fans.
Reply Guy: What the Internet Slang Means
“Reply guy” is a mildly to sharply derogatory internet label for someone, classically a man, who repeatedly leaves unwanted, overfamiliar, condescending, flirtatious or attention-seeking replies on another person’s social posts.
Looksmaxxing: Appearance Advice, Online Culture and Health Risks
Looksmaxxing is an online subculture focused on “maximizing” physical attractiveness, especially among boys and young men. It ranges from ordinary grooming and clothing advice to obsessive facial scoring, restrictive eating, unproven devices, drugs, injections, surgery and deliberate injury.
Manifesting: The Cultural Idea and Its Practical Limits
In current self-help language, manifesting means visualizing or affirming a desired outcome in the belief that doing so makes it more likely. People also use the word casually to mean hoping.
Lore Drop: How Backstory Became Internet Slang
A lore drop is a release of revealing backstory or context. In fiction and games it may add history, rules or character motivation; in casual internet speech it often means an unexpected personal-history detail.
Touch Grass: Meaning, Tone and Online Use
“Touch grass” means to step away from the internet and reconnect with ordinary offline life or reality. It can be friendly advice, self-mockery or a blunt insult suggesting that someone is too absorbed in online conflict.
Deinfluencing: Product Criticism, Alternatives and Hidden Promotion
Deinfluencing is social-media content that discourages buying a product, questions a viral recommendation or argues that an existing item is sufficient. It can support critical consumption, but it can also recommend alternatives, build an influencer's credibility or contain sponsored and affiliate interests. The…
Situationship: What the Relationship Label Usually Means
A situationship is an informal label for a romantic or sexual connection that has relationship-like intimacy but lacks a shared label, clarity or commitment. Some people prefer that flexibility and others experience uncertainty or mismatched expectations. The word does not establish exclusivity, consent, future…
Enshittification: The Platform-Decay Idea Explained
Enshittification is Cory Doctorow's deliberately coarse term for a proposed cycle in which a digital platform first favors users, then shifts value toward business customers, and finally extracts more from both groups for its owners. It is a critical framework for discussing platform decay, switching costs and…
Canon Event: How a Storytelling Term Became Internet Slang
Canon event originally combines the fandom sense of canon with an important event in a character's accepted story. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse made it a plot term for experiences believed to recur across Spider-People, after which internet users applied it jokingly to formative, embarrassing or seemingly…
Soft Launching a Relationship: What the Social-Media Term Means
Soft launching a relationship means hinting online that a partner exists without clearly identifying the person or confirming the relationship. A hard launch is an explicit reveal. These terms describe posting style rather than commitment, exclusivity or relationship health, and a partial photo or ambiguous caption…
Delulu: Meaning, Origins and How the Slang Changed
Delulu is a playful shortening of delusional that developed in English-language K-pop fandom and later spread into general internet slang. It may tease an unrealistic celebrity fantasy, mock wishful thinking or jokingly endorse bold optimism in phrases such as delulu is the solulu. Tone ranges from affectionate…
Underconsumption Core: Using Less as an Online Aesthetic
Underconsumption core is a social-media aesthetic built around keeping, repairing and using ordinary possessions instead of displaying frequent new purchases. Its habits can reduce waste and spending, but a curated post is not evidence of a person’s total consumption or of lasting behavior change. The useful…
Main Character Energy: Meaning, Praise and Criticism
Main character energy is internet slang for behaving with the confidence, style or sense of purpose associated with a story's protagonist. It can praise self-advocacy and intentional living, or criticize attention-seeking and treating other people as supporting characters. Tone, relationship and situation determine…
Parasocial Relationships: One-Sided Bonds With Public Figures
A parasocial relationship is a sustained, one-sided sense of connection with a media figure who does not personally know the audience member. It can involve a celebrity, creator, athlete, broadcaster or fictional character. Such bonds are common and can provide enjoyment, inspiration or perceived support; the term…
Bed Rotting: Internet Slang, Rest and Health Context
Bed rotting is informal social-media slang for intentionally spending a long stretch awake in bed to rest, stream media, scroll or avoid demands. A limited rest day may feel restorative, but the term is not a diagnosis or established therapy. Frequent or prolonged withdrawal can disrupt sleep routines or accompany…
Anne Carson Wins 2026 Nobel Prize in Literature for Innovative Poetic Works
Canadian poet and essayist Anne Carson, aged 76, received the 2026 Nobel Prize in Literature for her inventive body of work blending classical and contemporary influences across genres.
How Long Notre-Dame Was Closed After the 2019 Fire
Notre-Dame de Paris was closed for more than five years after the April 15, 2019 fire and formally reopened with ceremonies on December 7 and 8, 2024.
Who Is Han Kang? Why She Won the 2024 Nobel Prize in Literature
South Korean author Han Kang received the 2024 literature prize for a body of poetic, experimental prose that examines historical trauma, violence and human vulnerability.
Singapore Tamil Language Week Celebrates 38th Anniversary With Renewed Cultural Events
On September 20, 2026, Singapore marked the 38th edition of Tamil Language Week, featuring cultural performances and programs highlighting the richness of Tamil heritage.