I don't know about what's going on with slang, but fashion or no fashion, my dysfunctional family's still managing to be as toxic as ever, bless their little pea pickin' hearts.

I still hear it. Not as often. Fads come. Fads go. Gnarly tubular etc....

Ha, I don't know....I am clearly an old fart

I bought my son a nice shirt. He wore it to school and the kids told him that he was "fly". Then I caught him listening to some of the music I listened to in the 70's...strange...really strange.

I still haven't figured out what "Tubular" means. Surfer slang? Gag me with a spoon. . . Slang can be downright gnarly sometimes. Is "Gnarly" a compliment or insult? Rad or Bad?

One of the great amusements of my life is watching adolescents from different regions trying to understand one another's slang. I have worked with foreign exchange student programs and it gets especially amusing with foreign exchange HS students. The adult venue is a bit more perplexing.

It is sort of funny when everyone is sayin the same things...... Shut the front door!!

Emotional vampire was another popular term. Everyone who had an issue with someone called them an emotional vampire

There were the accompanying books, articles ad nauseum, and it's now passé.

I completely forgot, "Emotional Vampire" and that fad was recent enough to have had internet coverage. Excellent comparison. I "googled" it. Most of the links were from around 2K. It was almost a shock to find one from 2016. I didn't give a click. Probably a re-post from somebody still listening exclusively to the 1999 top 20 songs.

Feeling Groovy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBQxG0Z72qM

Yea, Dooo, my literal thought processes are what keep getting me in trouble with slang, etc. To my biology training, there is no such thing as a non-toxic life form. Keep them fingers pointed in, my toxic metaphorator. Still. . . It is a metaphorical reference. Kinda like, "Seeing The Light." Just one? Let mystery be and let the poets poeticate. I am less confused when I keep it literal.

Patti, Somehow I knew that was a Simon & Garfunkel track before I even clicked the link. Harmonic blast from the distant past. Thank you.

I "googled" groovy, just for kicks. It is now an up and coming programming language. Some dated slang gets a second go-round.

Does anyone remember when someone was an "L" "7" , super square which was the biggest insult when I was a teen

Nope, never heard it. My mother sure liked to tell the story of how "Square" was a compliment in her HS days during the early 40's every time my older siblings used it as an insult. Contrary ditto for "Long Hair" which was an insult during her HS years and "hip" for the older siblings.

I think my own etymology studies are based on the simple fact that I didn't/don't get ANY of it. "Lost in metaphor" is a life-long condition for me. Can't we keep it literal and say what we mean while we mean what we say? I know, I know. . . Too hot to handle and too cool to sell. . .

I'm such a dreamer. . .

Oh yeah! Emotional vampires and toxic people was the hot topic. Pretty recent stuff. My mom still brings it up every now and then if someone or something sets her off lol.

Well, Britney Spears had that song "Toxic" where she ... um... I don't know, really, but it was a huge hit at some point...
Tubular is a reference ot the ultimate form of a surfing wave. I know this b/c it was a word my late sister used, and she ddin't even swim, let alone surf, soooo....

Arfie, the problem with words is, they are all representative of ideas. Even pictographs are sucked into the non-literal (a house with 2 pigs = happiness in Chinese, I'm told, but I'd think it meant pigsty...)....

If we all spoke binary, perhaps it would be easier?

It seems to me everyone is now either a "narcissist" or a "codependent".

I'm wondering how long these articles and trends will last before something else that sells books and programs will replace them