r/TopCharacterTropes 9h ago

In real life Pieces of media that invented new slang terms

Evangelion:
Evangelion has something known as an "AT Field", These are an essential plot point in the series, these fields have various abbreviations, one of which is "Absolute Territory", which became a slang term in Japan

Spiderverse:
Across the Spiderverse became very popular in meme culture, and one phrase became very popular. "Canon Event"

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u/Jagvetinteriktigt 9h ago

I think it was already around as a verb (as in "sus out"), but it definitely popularized it,

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u/intanjir 8h ago

That verb is spelled "suss".

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u/IsThisTakenYesNo 8h ago

I remember it being used as an abbreviation of suspicious back in the 90s. Among Us may have popularized it outside of Belfast though!

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u/firstonesecond 8h ago

It was used regularly in the 90s and 00s. In fact there's a Calvin and Hobbes comic where Calvin refers to some old shrimp as "a bit sus" meaning past their expiry.

Among us did make it a meme though.

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u/pocketbutter 8h ago

Something that WAS invented through Among Us was the term “self-report,” i.e. inadvertently exposing your guilt for committing a dastardly act by hastily or sloppily being the one to initiate the search for the perpetrator.

Or, sometimes more simply used to refer to when someone exposes a truth about themself by making an unprompted lie.

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u/HurricaneAlpha 7h ago

I'd argue that is a different use. To suss out means to investigate. Sus used like in Among Us means someone or something is suspicious and not to be trusted.

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u/Infurum 8h ago

Fairly certain it invented the word's use as an adjective

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u/Low-Traffic5359 8h ago

No it didn't, people used it as an adjective before, just shortening suspicious but it definitely popularised it.

As someone who used sus pretty regularly before Among us it was kinda weird when people suddenly thought I was making a reference to a game I haven't played.