Phrases That Would Have Meant Nothing To You In The ‘90s

#1 Things You Never Heard In The 1990's

The âÂ€Â˜90s weren't that long ago in the grand scheme of things; but even so, the years since then have seen the arrival of countless now-common phrases that would have meant nothing in the âÂ€Â˜90s. Some of these words or phrases were simply made up, or are acronyms of senseless gibberish. How they seem to have caught on and made it into the mainstream vocabulary is beyond belief.

#2 “Want to Netflix and chill?”

Netflix subscriptions didn't launch until the very end of 1999, and the ability to stream movies online instantly wouldn't come along until 2007. Yet, we now have a euphemism that describes a quick hook up for sex. Go figure.

#3 “My iPod is on shuffle.”

What the hell is an iPod? Are you on drugs? Since Apple didn't release the first generation of the now-ubiquitous device until 2001, we probably would have heard things more like, "let me put in another CD" or "Flip the cassette over, please."

#4 "I just love my Bae."

OK, I am told this means "before anyone else," roughly. Still, I am told it's short for baby, which would have been looked at back in the day as just ridiculous that you would need to shorten a 4 letter word. Whatever it means, it's still one of the worst phrases I hear spoken today.

#5 “Ugh, I have such FOMO right now.”

The actual phrase "fear of missing out" and its accompanying acronym didn't start making the rounds until the early to mid 2000s. However, everyone has felt this before. However, I recall it being said as "if all your friends are jumping off the bridge are you going to do it too?"

#6 “That's ok, I’ll just call an Uber.”

As far as most of us would have known in the '90s, "uber" was merely the German word for "over" or "across," often colloquially used to mean "super" or "mega" when pegged to an English word. If you heard someone say they were going home by Uber, you would have been confused as heck. The word became a noun for a rideshare only recently and would have surely gone right uber our heads in the 90's.

#7 “Hang on, let me check Google Maps.”

At least we could have explained this one to our bewildered friends as, "It's like MapQuest, but better." Google Maps first hit the scene in 2005, whereas MapQuest whose company was originally founded in 1969, by the way had arrived on the Internet almost 10 years prior in 1996.

#8 "YOLO!"

Hey, if I heard YOLO in the 90's I would think the user was a little off... like totally going crazy. But today we know that "You Only Live Once" is a phrase used by many and it came from a popular song. But will it be used 20 years from now? All those people with that YOLO tattoo will have a lot to explain to their grandchildren.

#9 “Best. Tweet. Ever.”

Oh you like birds? They're cute... but that tweet wasn't THAT great. Twitter wasn't around back in the day, in fact it hit the scene in 2006 and caught on in mid 2008 as a work around for expensive texting.

#10 "There's an app for that."

To be honest, at the time, and currently, I always assume "app" is restaurant lingo for "appetizer." When someone asks if I want the app, I'm like "Hells Yeah!"

#11 “OMG, you have so many Instagram followers.”

Followers? You would have called the police. It's a little creepy that you have so many followers. The same phrase can be applied to Facebook or Twitter, where a ton of followers is now considered a good thing. But none of these were around in the 1990's, and Instagram didn't even launch until 2010.

#12 “Your eyebrows are on fleek!”

Yeah, I don't get it either. Why would anyone in the 90's have got it? Maybe it's one that just hasn't caught on mainstream yet... how cray-cray!

#13 "Let me ask Siri."

Ummm... What? Ask who? Siri wouldn't even have been a name you might have heard in the 90's when girls were called Tiffany, Brittany, and Heather, let alone anyone or anything you would ask a question to. Since the iPhone didn't come out until the middle of 2007, Siri was just a dream away.

#14 Three words: “Kim Kardashian West.”

Kim didn't really arrive on anyone's radar until 2007 when she released her own sex tape online. Kanye's big break came a little earlier, but it was still the early 2000's before his name began being recognizable. Keeping Up with either of them would have had us laughing our asses off not too long ago. For sure nobody would have wanted to have a big booty, because in the 90's the craze was working out and getting rock hard butts.

#15 "WTF is going on here?"

Acronyms are big in today's world. Everyone knows WTF. How the F did it catch on?

#16 “Donald Trump is running for President.”

What? Wait.... WTF?

Categories

More