Slangeum

About Slangeum

Slangeum is a daily game about the birthplaces of slang. Each round shows a word or meme, such as digga, labelled slang or meme with a plain definition. Two questions follow: where did it come from, and what year did it start? You type a place or click the world map to drop a pin, then pick a year on a rail that runs from 1880 to the present, and lock your answer in.

Scoring is by distance in both space and time, up to 10,000 points a round and 50,000 for the day's five. When you lock in, the real origin appears with a short write-up. Three hints a day are there for the hardest words. Where a date is disputed, the round is marked circa and scored more generously.

The site is open about its sources: words come from Urban Dictionary and Know Your Meme, with definitions rewritten and every origin checked against published reporting, and it notes that the first recorded use of slang is rarely the first use. An archive keeps past days, and results can be shared as a row of coloured squares.

How to play Slangeum

1. Open slangeum.com to see the first of the day's five words and its meaning.
2. Drop a pin on the map, or type a place, where you think the word was born.
3. Pick a year on the rail at the top.
4. Lock in your guess to see the real place and year, your score and the story behind the word.
5. Play all five rounds and share your total out of 50,000.

Screenshots

Tips

• Think about which community first used the word: many terms come from specific cities and scenes.
• Internet memes cluster after 2000; older slang often comes from music, the military or regional speech.
• A close pin with a rough year still scores well, so commit to the region you are sure of.
• Save your three daily hints for the words you have never heard.

Questions