“Very Taste Coming!”
Faizan Usmani decries the use and results of online translation apps.
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Do You Speak Internet?
Years ago, I remember afriend talking disdainfullyabout someone. “Canyou believe she saidLOL in real life instead oflaughing?” It’s 2025 and yes,I can believe it. Not just for aperson we describe as eccentricbut for myself too.
If you maintain an onlinepresence on any social mediaplatform, chances are you haveprobably found yourself thinkingof captions in ‘internet speak’.A language or a set of wordswe know an avid consumer ofcontent online would understand – in fact, a language that maybeONLY they would understand.
The internet is filled withvideos of celebrities quizzedon their ‘Gen Z vocabulary’.However, the vocabulary theyrefer to – is it Gen Z speak or isit internet speak? A languagethat only a ‘chronically online’person speaks or understands.
When we describe an outfit as ‘a slay!’ online, everyone understands it to mean that it is a gorgeous outfit.
Dictionariesmight take a second to acceptthe implied meaning, but if theinternet has decided a wordmeans something, it meansexactly that. With the volumeof content, memes, videosand podcasts where that wordis used – its absence in adictionary hinders nothing.
Sometimes, the worddoesn’t even have to meananything. Take ‘skibidi,’ a wordall Millennials fear. No oneknows what it means but whatif someone asks if you knowwhat it means? Accordingto the Urban Dictionary (anonline dictionary that tacklesinternet slang), skibidi has noinherent meaning. It can bea nonsensical conversationstarter or an adjective,depending on how it’s used.
What then does this meanfor artists, writers and businessowners who want to put theirwork on social media? Do theyfind their original expressions lostin the sea of similar-soundingcaptions or do they stand firmon a vocabulary not influencedby the internet and hope theircommunity will still find them?
“The way you are supposedto present your work as an artistin the art world is a little formal,”says Shanzay Subzwari, avisual artist and art educator inKarachi. “This is how it retainsits value and let’s say, its price.”
Subzwari feels her work,although shared on socialmedia, doesn’t actively seekan online audience and cantherefore be exhibited withoutresorting to internet speak.“The artwork I make is the kindthat sells in art galleries andmuseums – all of which arefrequented by an affluent oldercrowd that is not very internetsavvy anyway.”
However, what if the success of your business depends on the number of people it reaches on social media?
Restaurants thatwant to present themselvesas fine dining establishmentsfind themselves trying tocope with the ever-increasingdemands of the social mediaalgorithm. Marya Khuhawar,who owns a cafe in Karachicalled Marya’s Café, says,“There is pressure to stayrelevant. Even when choosingwho to hire for social mediamarketing, I have to considertheir knowledge of internetspeak. You can’t stay in yourbubble and ignore
what is trending.”
Perhaps small businessesand restaurants have had toadapt the most to internetspeak. Scrolling through theInstagram feeds of differentrestaurants, you would behard-pressed to find one thathas not used a ‘symphonyof flavours’ to describe theirfood. Did different social mediamanagers use the samephrase coincidentally or isthis an example of internetspeak taking control over one’soriginal expression, makingeveryone sound exactly
the same?
The use of AI tools likeChatGPT has not made it better.One of the more obvious signsthat something has been writtenusing AI is when it featuresrepetitive words or phrases.In the context of social mediacontent, this could mean that even more of what peopleexpress there will sound thesame if reliance on AI grows.
One might ask if it is reallya bad thing that everyone isusing the same exact phrasesto describe different situations.Saying “I am shook” instead of “Iam surprised” or “taken aback”or “flustered.” It does make thecanvas of our world sound a littleless colourful and imaginative.
Some writers, artists andpeople who don’t directly rely onthe internet seem to agree andare resisting the ‘sameness ofonline language.’
“I am not writing to appeal toa mass audience,” says AtiyaAbbas, a communicationsspecialist. “When I startedusing the internet, I was all forbeing nonchalant about whatI say online but now I take itseriously.” Abbas says her focusis on communicating effectivelyinstead of worrying about hermessage reaching a certainnumber of people on socialmedia. Like Subzwari, shefeels that sticking to her ownexpressions will help find peoplewho resonate with it.
As Abbas says, “If myvocabulary or my words seemreally big to you, go look themup in a dictionary.” It may be acase of just that.
Riffat Rashid is a food writer and adigital content creator behind theblog, GirlGottaEat.
girlgottaeat17@gmail.com
Read Comments
Related Stories
Dictionariesmight take a second to acceptthe implied meaning, but if theinternet has decided a wordmeans something, it meansexactly that. With the volumeof content, memes, videosand podcasts where that wordis used – its absence in adictionary hinders nothing.
Sometimes, the worddoesn’t even have to meananything. Take ‘skibidi,’ a wordall Millennials fear. No oneknows what it means but whatif someone asks if you knowwhat it means? Accordingto the Urban Dictionary (anonline dictionary that tacklesinternet slang), skibidi has noinherent meaning. It can bea nonsensical conversationstarter or an adjective,depending on how it’s used.
What then does this meanfor artists, writers and businessowners who want to put theirwork on social media? Do theyfind their original expressions lostin the sea of similar-soundingcaptions or do they stand firmon a vocabulary not influencedby the internet and hope theircommunity will still find them?
“The way you are supposedto present your work as an artistin the art world is a little formal,”says Shanzay Subzwari, avisual artist and art educator inKarachi. “This is how it retainsits value and let’s say, its price.”
Subzwari feels her work,although shared on socialmedia, doesn’t actively seekan online audience and cantherefore be exhibited withoutresorting to internet speak.“The artwork I make is the kindthat sells in art galleries andmuseums – all of which arefrequented by an affluent oldercrowd that is not very internetsavvy anyway.”
However, what if the success of your business depends on the number of people it reaches on social media?
Restaurants thatwant to present themselvesas fine dining establishmentsfind themselves trying tocope with the ever-increasingdemands of the social mediaalgorithm. Marya Khuhawar,who owns a cafe in Karachicalled Marya’s Café, says,“There is pressure to stayrelevant. Even when choosingwho to hire for social mediamarketing, I have to considertheir knowledge of internetspeak. You can’t stay in yourbubble and ignore
what is trending.”
Perhaps small businessesand restaurants have had toadapt the most to internetspeak. Scrolling through theInstagram feeds of differentrestaurants, you would behard-pressed to find one thathas not used a ‘symphonyof flavours’ to describe theirfood. Did different social mediamanagers use the samephrase coincidentally or isthis an example of internetspeak taking control over one’soriginal expression, makingeveryone sound exactly
the same?
The use of AI tools likeChatGPT has not made it better.One of the more obvious signsthat something has been writtenusing AI is when it featuresrepetitive words or phrases.In the context of social mediacontent, this could mean that even more of what peopleexpress there will sound thesame if reliance on AI grows.
One might ask if it is reallya bad thing that everyone isusing the same exact phrasesto describe different situations.Saying “I am shook” instead of “Iam surprised” or “taken aback”or “flustered.” It does make thecanvas of our world sound a littleless colourful and imaginative.
Some writers, artists andpeople who don’t directly rely onthe internet seem to agree andare resisting the ‘sameness ofonline language.’
“I am not writing to appeal toa mass audience,” says AtiyaAbbas, a communicationsspecialist. “When I startedusing the internet, I was all forbeing nonchalant about whatI say online but now I take itseriously.” Abbas says her focusis on communicating effectivelyinstead of worrying about hermessage reaching a certainnumber of people on socialmedia. Like Subzwari, shefeels that sticking to her ownexpressions will help find peoplewho resonate with it.
As Abbas says, “If myvocabulary or my words seemreally big to you, go look themup in a dictionary.” It may be acase of just that.
Riffat Rashid is a food writer and adigital content creator behind theblog, GirlGottaEat.
girlgottaeat17@gmail.com
Read Comments
Related Stories
Restaurants thatwant to present themselvesas fine dining establishmentsfind themselves trying tocope with the ever-increasingdemands of the social mediaalgorithm. Marya Khuhawar,who owns a cafe in Karachicalled Marya’s Café, says,“There is pressure to stayrelevant. Even when choosingwho to hire for social mediamarketing, I have to considertheir knowledge of internetspeak. You can’t stay in yourbubble and ignore
what is trending.”
Perhaps small businessesand restaurants have had toadapt the most to internetspeak. Scrolling through theInstagram feeds of differentrestaurants, you would behard-pressed to find one thathas not used a ‘symphonyof flavours’ to describe theirfood. Did different social mediamanagers use the samephrase coincidentally or isthis an example of internetspeak taking control over one’soriginal expression, makingeveryone sound exactly
the same?
The use of AI tools likeChatGPT has not made it better.One of the more obvious signsthat something has been writtenusing AI is when it featuresrepetitive words or phrases.In the context of social mediacontent, this could mean that even more of what peopleexpress there will sound thesame if reliance on AI grows.
One might ask if it is reallya bad thing that everyone isusing the same exact phrasesto describe different situations.Saying “I am shook” instead of “Iam surprised” or “taken aback”or “flustered.” It does make thecanvas of our world sound a littleless colourful and imaginative.
Some writers, artists andpeople who don’t directly rely onthe internet seem to agree andare resisting the ‘sameness ofonline language.’
“I am not writing to appeal toa mass audience,” says AtiyaAbbas, a communicationsspecialist. “When I startedusing the internet, I was all forbeing nonchalant about whatI say online but now I take itseriously.” Abbas says her focusis on communicating effectivelyinstead of worrying about hermessage reaching a certainnumber of people on socialmedia. Like Subzwari, shefeels that sticking to her ownexpressions will help find peoplewho resonate with it.
As Abbas says, “If myvocabulary or my words seemreally big to you, go look themup in a dictionary.” It may be acase of just that.
Riffat Rashid is a food writer and adigital content creator behind theblog, GirlGottaEat.
girlgottaeat17@gmail.com