The ick is a slang term used to describe a feeling of disgust that arises towards a love interest, usually after a specific, often trivial, behavior. The phrase was popularized by Love Island in 2017 and attracted further attention on TikTok in 2020, where many videos feature women listing their icks. [1] [2] [3] [4]
The phrase "getting the ick" appeared on an episode of the 1997 to 2002 television series Ally McBeal . [6] The phrase also appeared on the 2003 episode of Sex and the City , "The Ick Factor". It was further popularized by Olivia Attwood, a 2017 contestant on Love Island. She said "When you've seen a boy, and got the ick, it doesn't go... it's caught you, and it's taken over your body. It's just ick. I can't shake it off." [7] In 2020, "catching the ick" became common parlance on TikTok. [2]
The ick commonly occurs in the initial period of attraction, before a relationship has developed the loyalty that allows people to overlook small flaws. [7] The ick can arise after specific triggers, often trivial behaviors; The Guardian gave examples such as not using a pillowcase, walking angrily while wearing flip flops, letting legs dangle while sitting at a barstool, or having crusty red sauce at the corners of the mouth after eating spaghetti. [1] New York calls it "that cringey, unsettling feeling you get in your guts when someone you were previously enamored with becomes wholly repulsive to you." [7]
The Guardian wrote that "the litany of humiliation is more fine-grained than observational comedy. It felt like a new form, one with the attentiveness of poetry to intangible indignities. Hard to explain, impossible to justify, immediately resonant." [1] Icks are not serious dealbreakers such as disagreements about money or children. [4]
Some people induce the ick on purpose, imagining their crush doing ick-inducing activities, to soften the emotional toll of unrequited love. [1] [8] [9]
USA Today wrote that "if all your date did was botch a dance move, you should probably push your ick to the side." [4]
Psychologist Becky Spelman told The Independent that the ick might arise when we find "our unconscious mind reacting to some fundamental incompatibilities between us and the person to whom we were so recently attracted... Because of the initial rush of attraction, we've chosen to overlook these fundamental incompatibilities and to pursue a relationship with them. However, when there are serious incompatibilities, problems will emerge at some point." [10] [7]
Leet, also known as eleet or leetspeak, or simply hacker speech, is a system of modified spellings used primarily on the Internet. It often uses character replacements in ways that play on the similarity of their glyphs via reflection or other resemblance. Additionally, it modifies certain words on the basis of a system of suffixes and alternative meanings. There are many dialects or linguistic varieties in different online communities.
A valley girl is a socioeconomic, linguistic, and youth subcultural stereotype and stock character originating during the 1980s: any materialistic upper-middle-class young woman, associated with unique vocal and California dialect features, from the Los Angeles commuter communities of the San Fernando Valley. In subsequent years, the term was broadly applied to any American woman who epitomized frivolity, ditziness, airheadedness, or who prioritizes superficial concerns such as personal appearance, physical attractiveness, and excessive materialism over intellectual or personal accomplishment.
Nutter Butter is an American sandwich cookie brand, first introduced in 1969 and currently owned by Nabisco, which is a subsidiary of Mondelez International. It is claimed to be the best-selling American peanut butter sandwich cookie, with around a billion estimated to be eaten every year.
James Ellis Ford is an English record producer and songwriter, known for being a member of Simian Mobile Disco and the Last Shadow Puppets as well as his production work with Arctic Monkeys, Blur, Depeche Mode, Foals, Florence and the Machine, Haim, Gorillaz, Klaxons, Jessie Ware, Kylie Minogue, Declan McKenna and the Pet Shop Boys.
Xiaohongshu, known in English as RedNote, is a Chinese social networking and e-commerce platform.
"Mia Khalifa" (originally titled "Mia Khalifa (Diss)", also known as "Hit or Miss", and sometimes stylized as "MiA KHALiFA") is a song by American hip hop group iLoveFriday (stylized as iLOVEFRiDAY). The duo of Atlanta-based rappers Aqsa Malik (also known as Smoke Hijabi) and Xeno Carr self-released the song on February 12, 2018, which was later re-released by Records Co and Columbia Records on December 14, 2018. It was included on their second EP, Mood (2019). The song was produced by Carr. The song is a diss track targeting Mia Khalifa, a Lebanese-American Internet celebrity and former pornographic actress. The decision to write a song dissing Khalifa arose over a misunderstanding. A faked screenshot, intended as a joke, seemed to show Khalifa, who once appeared in a pornographic film wearing a hijab, criticizing Malik for smoking while wearing a hijab in a music video. iLoveFriday thought the screenshot was legitimate.
"OK boomer" or "okay boomer" is a catchphrase and internet meme used to dismiss or mock attitudes typically associated with baby boomers – people born in the two decades following World War II. The phrase first drew widespread attention due to a November 2019 TikTok video in response to an older man, though the phrase had been coined years before that. The phrase has developed into a retort for resistance to technological change, climate change denial, marginalization of members of minority groups, or opposition to younger generations' values more generally. Critics of the term perceive it as ageist. It has been noted as a marker of intergenerational conflict.
Francesca Scorsese is an American actress, filmmaker, and TikTok creator known for co-starring in the HBO series We Are Who We Are and for making social media videos with her father, Martin Scorsese.
There are reports of TikTok and Douyin censoring political content related to China and other countries as well as content from minority creators. TikTok says that its initial content moderation policies, many of which are no longer applicable, were aimed at reducing divisiveness and were not politically motivated.
TikTok food trends are specific food recipes and food-related fads on the social media platform TikTok. This content amassed popularity in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, given that many were inclined to eat at home while simultaneously turning to social media as a form of entertainment. While some TikTok users share their diets and recipes, others expand their brand or image on TikTok through step-by-step videos of easy and popular recipes. Users often refer to food-related content as "FoodTok."
YouTube Shorts, created in 2020, is the short-form section of the online video-sharing platform YouTube.
"Harness Your Hopes" is a song by American rock band Pavement. It was originally recorded for the band's fourth studio album Brighten The Corners, but was ultimately left off the final record by Stephen Malkmus. It later appeared on the CD version of the "Spit on a Stranger" EP in 1999, and on the 2008 expanded reissue of Brighten The Corners, the Nicene Creedence Edition.
Slang used or popularized by Generation Z differs from slang of earlier generations; ease of communication via Internet social media has facilitated its rapid proliferation, creating "an unprecedented variety of linguistic variation".
A lazy girl job is an easy, usually white-collar, job with good pay where an employee can quiet quit. The term was coined in 2023 by Gabrielle Judge, also known by screen name "antiworkgirlboss" on Instagram, in response to hustle culture, the Great Resignation, and worker exploitation. Although the trend is centered around women, she says men can have lazy girl jobs too. Judge explained the term was a marketing gimmick in order to raise awareness about "toxic workplace expectations" and is not about celebrating laziness.
"Valentine" is a song by Icelandic musician Laufey. It was released on February 14, 2022 and served as the first single to her debut studio album, Everything I Know About Love, which was released on August 26 that same year.
Layia Watkins, known professionally as Lay Bankz, is an American singer, rapper, and songwriter. After signing a record contract with Artist Partner Group (APG) in 2022, she released the singles "Left Cheek ", "Na Na Na" and "Ick" the following year. Her 2024 single, "Tell Ur Girlfriend" became popular on TikTok and marked her first entry on the Billboard Hot 100.
Gyatt is a term from African-American Vernacular English originally used in exclamation, such as "gyatt damn". 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".
Because Internet: Understanding the New Rules of Language is a 2019 book by linguist Gretchen McCulloch about the linguistics of online communication.
Brooke Schofield is an American internet personality and podcaster. She hosts the podcast Cancelled (2021–present) with Tana Mongeau.
The olive theory is a tongue-in-cheek relationship theory stating two individuals are compatible, romantically or platonically, when one party likes olives and the other does not. If one individual gives their partner the olives on their plate, the relationship is balanced and a good match. The phrase saw a rise in popularity in early 2024 on TikTok, though it is mostly known for its appearance in the pilot episode of How I Met Your Mother.