Hello! Welcome to part 2 of "English Slang You Were Incorrectly Taught!"

Let's get to it!

  1. "Fit"

Explanation: "Fit" is short for "outfit."

Why I included it on this list: "Fit" is more commonly used to mean "in shape," such as when workout instructors encourage people to "get fit!" It's not commonly used as a shorter version of outfit, and is mostly popular with younger people online.

Do you need to know this one? Not really.

2. Dead

Explanation: We use this word as a reaction to something we find incredibly funny or hilariously awful.

Incorrect usage: The person gave a short story about watching a funny movie, and then said " We were dead!"

Why it's incorrect: "Dead" is most often used as a single response to something, rather than as part of a whole sentence or when retelling a story. For example, my friends and I often send each other memes and funny videos on Instagram. If we think something is extremely funny, or we feel like a post was aimed towards people like us, we simply reply with " Dead๐Ÿ’€" or "I'M DEAD๐Ÿ’€."

Alternative usages: "Dead" can also be used when you are physically tired from doing something, such as working out or going on a hike. It's used the same way as before; we just say " Ugh I'm dead."

"Dead" can also be used to mean that you're in big trouble. Characters on TV will often say " Oh no, I'm dead." when they do something that will get them in big trouble with someone (such as their parents). Likewise, it can be used as a threat to someone else by saying " You're dead!"

Bonus usage: When someone does something to you that is unforgivable, you can say " They're dead to me," or " You're dead to me," meaning that you will never be able to forgive them, and that you will treat them like they are no longer alive.

Examples from the web:

via GIPHY

via GIPHY

via GIPHY

3. Fire ๐Ÿ”ฅ

Incorrect explanation: Really cool and amazing.

Incorrect example: This movie was fire!

Why it's incorrect: The explanation makes it seem like "fire" is a direct synonym for "cool" and "amazing" when actually that's not entirely the case. We don't typically describe movies or vlogs as being "fire."

Better explanation: Looking at the listing from Urban Dictionary, we can see that "fire" does mean something cool, amazing, or crazy in a good way. The example that is given is " That song is straight fire." The word "straight" is often used in combination with "fire" to mean that it is completely "fire," or 1000% incredible. But, what kind of song is considered straight fire?

While language is personal and you're free to use any adjective you want whenever you want, fire is most often used for up-beat songs or intense raps that we think are amazing. It can also be used to describe food that we think tastes really good. Besides songs and food, "fire" can describe things that we think are amazing because of what they mean or stand for, or people we think are attractive, as you'll see below.

It's important to note that this word was mostly commonly used about 5 years ago, so while people still use it occasionally, you might not see or hear it as much as you'd expect.

Examples from the web:

4. Low-key

Incorrect Explanation: quiet, modest, not very assertive.

Incorrect example (sort of) : I want to keep my party low-key.

Why it's incorrect: While it is completely correct to say " I want to keep my party low-key," (meaning : I want to have a simple party, nothing fancy or extra, just very casual), that's not the slang usage of the phrase. Likewise, the definition given isn't entirely correct, and to say "not very assertive" is especially incorrect because assertiveness is used to describe someone's personality, not an event.

Better explanation: If we look up the definition of "low-key," we will get two results:

1) adjective : "not elaborate, showy, or intensive; modest or restrained." Synonyms: modest, understated, quiet, laid-back.

Example: "They had a low-key wedding with just a few guests and a short dinner afterwards." ย 

2) adverb (informal) to some extent. From Urban Dictionary: "it can also indicate something that is secretly (perhaps somewhat shamefully) wanted or felt by the speaker. In short, lowkey is used to describe a speaker's thoughts, feelings, and desires, and it means: moderately, of low intensity, or secretly."

This is a very popular slang adverb, and very good to know as it's used a lot. When used as an adverb, we omit the hyphen to write it as "lowkey." Here are some examples:

You just ate a lot of food, but you still feel hungry afterwards, so you could say " I'm lowkey still hungry," meaning that you're still kind of hungry, but maybe a little ashamed because you just ate so much food.

If you saw something that was funny but also mean (but you still think it's funny), you could say " I know it's mean, but I still lowkey find it funny."

You and your friend are talking about skydiving, and they say they're afraid of it, but you kind of want to do it. You can say " Yeah it looks scary but I've lowkey always wanted to do it."

If something embarrassing happens to you or someone else, you can say " That was lowkey so embarrassing."

Examples from the web:

via GIPHY

via GIPHY

5. High-key

Meaning: Opposite of low-key.

Why I included it here: Since the YouTuber incorrectly explained low-key, their explanation of high-key being the opposite was also wrong.

Better explanation: I found a great explanation from Business Insider: highkey is a modifier that means "very, a lot, much, or intensely." It is used when you think or feel something strongly, and want people to know.

Examples from the web:

A combo of highkey and lowkey:

That's it for this post! Thanks for reading ๐Ÿ˜„.