If you’ve ever bought ‘Live, Laugh, Love’ merch or un-ironically used the term ‘fitspo’ you might find that you, yourself, are cheugy.
“Chuegy” is an Internet neologism which was first coined as a term in 2013. It’s most commonly used to describe people either taking an action, using an item or utilising a term which is outdated or considered to be uncool. The cheugy subject in question might have once been considered a cool thing or bit of slang. Gaby Rasson, a 23-year-old software developer in Los Angeles, claims to have coined the term when she was a student at Beverly Hills High School in 2013.
How does one define "cheugy"? It’s not embarrassing or even always negative. “One of my friends said lasagna is cheugy." https://t.co/4g0ErtDY1i pic.twitter.com/nGAkOI7UeE
— The New York Times (@nytimes) April 30, 2021
Cheugy implies that the item or term has since been replaced. Passe, naff or uncool are some comparative terms for your reference. Think Pinterest boards full of cakepops, slogans like ‘Live, Laugh, Love’ etc. Cheugy can also be switched into a noun via the appropriation “cheug”, e.g. “Blake is a cheug”.
On March 30, Hallie Cain, 24, also from LA, introduced the word to TikTok. She explained that graphic tees, “girlboss” energy, and Herbal Essences are all cheugy.
“It’s the opposite of trendy, stylish in middle school and high school — maybe, maybe not. The timelines don’t really matter. It’s no longer in style,’ she explained. ‘It’s used when someone follows these out-of-date trends or something falls into that category.”
Cain used the green screen function on TikTok to pull up the 2018 Urban Dictionary definition of the term as well as the Cheug Life Instagram page, which is dedicated to all things cheugy.
Cheugy is not to be confused with the highly popular term ‘basic’. What’s basic? Well, basically, it means to have generic taste or to be too mainstream ie. uncool.
Cheugy Symptoms:
According to The Evening Standard, If you have any of the below-listed terms in your roster of everyday vocab, then you yourself are probably cheugy:
- “Live Laugh Love”
- “Keep Calm and…”
- “Girlboss”
- “Bestie”
- “It’s wine o’clock”
- “So, I did a thing!”
- “About last night!”
- “The boy did good!” (accompanied by a picture of some extravagant gesture from said boy.)
- “TFW”
- “Fri-yay”
Here’s a run-down of the term, courtesy of Koin6:
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