Interpret These Slang Words and Phrases and We’ll Guess Your Age

About This Quiz

Theories about language and slang have changed over the years. In the past, there were few hard and fast rules about spelling, let alone word creation. With the advent of the dictionary, word choice suddenly took on a whole new meaning. Slang never stopped coming into existence, but the use of specific slang told the listener quite a lot. Slang choices say things about class, about education, about geographic origins, about what one aspires to and about one's intentions. Slang is about more than just use or misuse of words. It's about creating new, idiomatic expressions that give the speaker an avenue for self expression, either ruder, cruder or more specific, all to make a point.

Every generation has had its slang. The late 1800s produced the book "The Rogue's Lexicon," a compendium of street slang mostly used by the criminal classes in New York City. Subcultures produce their own slang, though they might think of that more as trade terminology. We've learned to control for culturally specific slang, coming up with a way to figure out your age by your interpretation of slang expressions. The accuracy of our test is absurd. Are you ready to put us to the test? Then let us put your slang knowledge to the test!