The culture section of Time magazine’s website has been, as they say, “turnt up” recently. From articles about white gay men co-opting the mannerisms of black women to articles about hip-hop, you can assume the website is trying to reach a different audience.
The website recently posted an article to explain the definition of “bae.” Maybe you’ve used the word yourself or have heard people use it, but it’s simply a slang term of endearment. As in, “Doesn’t my bae look good tonight in that suit and tie?” End of story. Term explained.
But Time took it one step further and tried to figure out the etymology of the word:
On Wednesday, Pharrell dropped a video for his new single, “Come Get It Bae,” which may immediately raise some questions, such as “Come get what?” and “What in the world does bae mean, anyway?”
The short answer: Though this word was used in the 1500s to refer to sheep sounds, today bae is used as a term of endearment, often referring to your boyfriend or girlfriend. Or perhaps a prospect who might one day hold such a lofty position.
Say, for instance, you post a picture of you on a yacht with Beyonce and you just so happen to be Jay-Z. You might give that photo a caption like, “Just another Tuesday with my bae. #surfbort”
And this is when people on Twitter went all the way in and created the hashtag #timetitles:
https://twitter.com/PiaGlenn/status/492110177475104770https://twitter.com/SoulistaPhD/status/492177419457937408https://twitter.com/ProfessorCrunk/status/492176209443172352https://twitter.com/iMDRW/status/492121169219555328https://twitter.com/AngryBlackLady/status/492117331875614720https://twitter.com/drewshane/status/492164071349698561https://twitter.com/taralconley/status/492121287439814656
Next up, Time will attempt to explain the term “turnt up” by explaining that it's not actually something you do to your thermostat in the winter.
Yesha Callahan is editor of The Grapevine and a staff writer at The Root. Follow her on Twitter.
Here are 15 more slang terms we thought Time may want to define.