Your guide to Notre Dame slang
Hey Oxford Dictionary, for the sake of the English Language, please ban these words
Do you get irritated and sad when walking around campus catching snippets of conversations such as “Bro, are you going out tonight? It’s literally going to be lit.”?
If you do, you’re not alone. If you don’t, I am sorry to be the one to tell you this, but you are probably the one causing said irritation and sadness.
Maybe you’re like me, and what started as a way to ironically mock popular culture turned into a downward spiral of phrases and words that I find myself actually using for real, like, literally. Or maybe you use these phrases and words because you think they add meaning to your sentences and get your point across more clearly.
Either way, it has to stop.
So please, if you find yourself using any one of these words in the future, do yourself and everyone around you a favor and stop. I am more than aware that I sound like a ranting grandmother at a family reunion, lamenting about the degradation of both the English language and our generation, while the afflicted youths in question are entrapped at the dinner table forced to listen. But I fully embrace it.
After polling some students around campus, The Tab compiled a list of the most annoying words and phrases that should most definitely disappear from existence, like, literally ASAP.
Editor’s note: the “used in a sentence” section is comprised of real sentences that people have actually said and/or heard around Notre Dame’s campus.
Domesick
\ˈdōm\ˈsik\
Noun
Definition: A word used to capture one’s sadness due to being away from Notre Dame and therefore the dome.
Used in a sentence: “T minus 9 days till I’m back in the Bend!!! #domesick”
Literally
\ˈli-tə-rə-lē
Adverb
Definition: Commonly used to describe things that aren’t actually happening at all.
Used in a sentence: “I literally can’t even. I am literally failing this class.”
For the record, a C isn’t failing figuratively, let alone literally.
Goals
\ˈgōl
Noun
Definition: Something people say upon witnessing something that they aspire to have or achieve in the future.
Used in a sentence: “They are so cute together, literally goals.”
See also: couple goals, food goals, hair goals, dome pic goals, life goals, [any word in the English language] goals
>>>>>
\ˈgrā-tər\than\
:Running outside when you’re already late for your 8:20, only to find that your bike has been put in a tree <<<<<<<“
Comparitive conjunction
Definition: A mathematical symbol that somehow found its way into the texting world to indicate when something is supremely favorable.
Used in a sentence: “Pizza >>>>> anything else. Amiright?”
See also: <<<<<
Bae
\ˈbā\
noun
Definition: Used to describe anything from food to a significant other to indicate that the subject is the best/their favorite of the category to which the subject belongs.
Alternate definition: Acronym for “Before Anyone/Anything Else”
Used in a sentence: “Food is bae.” Or “Bae looking so fine tonight”
Liiiiiike
/lyke/
Noun, Adjective, Verb, Adverb, Conjunction, Preposition, Interjection, Article
Definition: A pointless, functionless word used when people are either stalling, unsure of their next point, or just generally filling the air with unnecessary words.
Used in a sentence: “It’s just, like, I don’t know if he, like, likes me, or if he,like, like likes me, or what, like ya know?”
Lit
\ˈlit\
“St. Patrick’s Day was lit this year, man.”
Adjective
Definition: A term used to describe something that is popping, exciting, or just generally pleasant.
Used in a sentence: “This party’s gonna be so lit bro.”
Major Key
\ˈmā-jər\ˈkē\
Noun
Definition: Anything that may be somewhat helpful or cool (definition credz to DJ Khaled).
Used in a sentence: “Going out on Thursdays is a major key.” Or “Dude my 8:20 Accounting was cancelled this morning, major key”
Gives Me Life
\ˈgiv\ˈmē\ˈlīf\
“South Quad squirrels give me life.”
Noun Phrase
Definition: Something critically important to life, a necessity. Implies that without the subject of the phrase, one would cease to exist.
Used in a sentence: “Mint chip ice cream gives me life. I would die without it.”
~~~
So remember kids, next time you find yourself en route to, like, literally the most lit party of the season, do your best to avoid these irksome phrases and instead try to replace them with some SAT-worthy vocab to describe the impending soireé. Trust me, your friends won’t be able to stop saying “goals.”