Gyatt (abbreviation of Goddamn, also commonly spelled as Gyat) is a term from African-American Vernacular English originally used in exclamation. In the 2020s, the word experienced a semantic shift and gained the additional meaning of "a person, usually a woman, with large and attractive buttocks and sometimes an hourglass figure". [1] [2]
With slightly varying definitions, Gyatt garnered virality on the social media platform TikTok in 2022 [3] in part due to its frequent use by various online streamers. [4] It has become an internet meme, particularly employed and popularized by Generation Alpha. [5] [6]
According to American linguist John McWhorter, the term "evolved from 'goddamn'." [7] According to Kelly Elizabeth Wright, a research fellow in language sciences at Virginia Tech, the provenance of Gyatt has been considered to be Black Southern, Jamaican, among other communities of the African diaspora. [7] The term is attributed to having roots of African-American Vernacular English. [8]
The current meaning of the term Gyatt was coined by online streamer YourRAGE, who used it to describe a physically attractive woman, and it was popularized by Kai Cenat, an American Twitch Streamer. [9] [10] [11]
Everybody used to say "god damn" or "golly" but I said it weird. I'd always say "gyatt", I would never say "god damn". Chat realized that, and a way of making fun of me in 2020, they started typing "gyatt" to mock me.
— YourRAGE, "THE ONLY DEFINITION OF #GYATT 😒 #gyat #gyatttttttt" (2023) [12]
On October 2, 2023, a TikTok account under the username @ovp.9 posted a short video of a character from the online video game Fortnite "singing" to a musical parody of the 2021 song "ecstacy" by Suicidal-Idol. [13] The parody featured multiple internet culture terms, including Skibidi Toilet and rizz . [14] According to The New York Times , the parody is cited as "a key" to the popularization of Gyatt. [5]
Backronyms have been created for the term like "Girl Your Ass Is Thick", "Girl You Ate That", "Get Your Act Together", among others. [15] [16]
According to Legit.ng , the term is commonly used by "guys when they see a girl, usually with a curvy body type," and can also be used to indicate enthusiasm or excitement. [17]
Gyatt is characterized in the media as a term used both by Generation Alpha and Generation Z. [18] However, some members of Generation Z have stated that they do not attribute the term to their cohort. [2] According to The Today Show , the term is used verbally and on messaging platforms such as Discord, TikTok, Twitch, Instagram, and YouTube. [7]
Gyatt has been described as one of the early slang terms predominantly popularized by Generation Alpha: according to the New York Post , comments to a viral TikTok video about the term "deemed that Gen Z was out of touch regarding current lingo." [19] [ unreliable source? ] Alongside its attribution with Generation Alpha, Gyatt has been of interest to digital marketers in consideration of the cohort's emerging consumer consumption. [20] The term was nominated for the American Dialect Society's 2023 Word of The Year. [7] [21]
Edging, sometimes also referred to as gooning or surfing, is a sexual technique whereby an orgasm is controlled. It is practiced alone or with a partner and involves the maintenance of a high level of sexual arousal for an extended period without reaching climax. Orgasm control involves either sex partner being in control of the other partner's orgasm, or a person delaying their own orgasm during sexual activity with a partner or through masturbation. Any method of sexual stimulation can be used to experience controlled orgasm.
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