Sunday, November 8, 2015

Totally On Fleek

Disclaimer: The article contains unavoidable cursing in quotations that support the etymological narrative of  the phrase 'on fleek'. Reader discretion is advised.

(image by risefeed.com)


Are your eyebrows on fleek? This phrase gone viral has taken grammar by storm and compliments just got a whole lot better.

When something is 'on fleek', it means 'on point' or simply just great. It can be applied to anything, but is used mostly to compliment good-looking eyebrows. The good netizens at Urban Dictionary defines 'on fleek' as the quality of being perfect.
Every year, the Merriam-Webster dictionary adds new words to its list to keep up with the ever evolving vocabulary of society, and most of these sprout from the internet. Terms like bridezilla, selfie and hashtag is recognized to be full-fledged and functional English words. Now, on fleek is making the rounds in social media and will most likely be in dictionaries soon.

The word 'fleek', however, doesn't owe its birth to the interwebs. So where did it come from?
It's been around since the early 1800s in a translation of a Plutarch 's work Lives, but in its first usage has already been about eyebrows just like it's modern usage.  Why eyebrows, you may ask? It appeared on an account describing sickly Romans who have gone pale but whose brows have remained 'puffed up' and 'delicate'. According to Alex Russell, writer of A Definitive History: On Fleek, modern interpretation of the text goes this way: “These Romans have grown pale, due to their relentless abuse of lean. Their eyebrows, however, have remained as they were, on fleek.”

It has been used in various works ever since but remained a very obscure word. Fast forward to the 21st century; on June 21, 2014,Vine user 'Peaches Monroee' uploaded a video of herself ready for an event while in her car, “We in this bitch. Finna get crunk. Eyebrows on fleek. Da fuq.”

(footage of the original Peaches Monroee Vine)

The heavy slang used might not make sense to the general populace but this was the first attributed use to the phrase 'on fleek' in a modern sense, that is, perfect eyebrows. Monroee might not have associated the phrase with Plutach's on fleek Roman soldiers, but the term went viral and everywhere, eyebrows and things of high quality were being dubbed on fleek.

Social media was abuzz with the new phrase and even celebrities used it, only feeding the flame of on fleek's viral fame. Its use skyrocketed when Ariana Grande re-enacted Peaches Monroee's original Vine in acapella form. Netizens used it to describe anything that is on point including food and people's performances. Companies like Taco Bell even jumped into the bandwagon by tweeting the phrase.

Following the 'eyebrow' route of on fleek, the popularity of the phrase helped boost one of the newest fashion trends on the block: bold eyebrows.

(image by trulytafakari.com)

Stars like Cara Delevigne and Lily Collins were hailed fresh faces in Hollywood where more or less the pencil-thin brows of the Roaring Twenties were still 'in'. The British celebrities brought in a new wave of facial grooming by keeping their brows bushy, and as the old Plutarch text described: puffed up, delicate and on fleek.

On fleek plus bold eyebrows equaled a social media sensation, especially with the selfie culture of the modern online community. Instagram and Twitter exploded with selfies captioned "#onfleek" featuring bold eyebrows ala Keira Knightly and not to mention all the on fleek items people care to post online like a well done cake or an outfit of the day.

It caught on so easily and so quickly even though the phrase 'on fleek' had no previous hold on day to day speech. "Fleek's interesting because it bubbled up out of nowhere in a way words didn't use to do," says Geoff Nunberg, a linguist of UC Berkley, "But now you can make a video or a Vine...a word catches on, the link is passed all around, and you know, two weeks later there are two billion people who are using this expression, it's astonishing."

Today, #onfleek has been used in more than 80,000 Instagram posts worldwide, and the number only grows by the day. From bold brows to cupcakes, on fleek can be applied as a badge of perfection and an ultimate modern compliment. It wasn't the first out-of-nowhere slang and it won't be the last.What do you think the next viral word that will be famously on fleek?



References:

-Urban Dictionary (February 7, 2015) On Fleek


-Alex Russell (November 15, 2014) A Definitive History: On Fleek, Complex

-Olivia Muenter (December 30, 2014) What Does "On Fleek" Mean? A Brief Timeline of the Phrase that No One Really Understands, But Everyone Keeps Saying Anyway, Bustle

-Alex Heigl (December 15, 2014) Explaining Internet Slang: 'On Fleek', People

-Peaches Monroee (June 21 2014) Original Vine Footage

-Geoff Nunberg (May 3, 2015) Interview, What is On Fleek?, Buzzfeed





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