A high school sociology teacher, James Callahan, has become “Internet famous” by documenting a list of African American Vernacular English that his students have adopted.
Callahan has characterized his dictionary as a running list of “Gen Z slang,” that he has been collecting as he overhears it around campus.
Some of the words in his list include “on blast” meaning “expose/call out someone” and “flexed on” meaning “verbal gesture of dominance.”
After his student posted a picture of the list online and Callahan began garnering viral attention, Callahan shared a PDF version of his list and made it accessible to the public.
Some might say Callahan’s student put him on blast after he flexed on them by compiling this list.
Guests:
James Callahan, sociology teacher at Lowell High School in Lowell, Massachusetts who compiled a “Gen Z Slang” dictionary which has gone viral on the internet.