'Sweet As': Why Some Slang Leaves out Key Words
It's not uncommon to find that native speakers of a language don't use "textbook" grammar when they speak. But even native speakers of English can be surprised when they hear some people use incomplete sentences — and other people seem to understand them anyway!
This could be someone from New Zealand exclaiming, "Sweet as!" when they're happy about something, or your young friend saying they "can't even" after getting exciting news.
Both of these phrases leave out key grammatical components: we don't know what "sweet as" is making a comparison to, or what our friend "can't even" do.
According to Isabelle Burke, a language expert at Monash University in Australia, words are left out of these phrases on purpose.
Slang develops as a way for members of a specific group to identify and communicate with each other. And incomplete phrases can help you find out if someone else is a member of your group.
In Lens, the Monash University blog, Burke wrote, "Only members of your select gang can 'fill in the blanks' — and you signal your knowledge of those blanks by using these expressions."
"Sweet as" is an example of a country developing its own slang, as most do. If you live abroad and hear someone use your home slang, your first thought is likely to be that they have a connection to your country.
In fact, this type of incomplete comparison is common in New Zealand. For example, New Zealanders — or "Kiwis" — might describe something really big as being "big as," while if they tell you something is "stupid as," that means they think it's really stupid!
"I can't even" is an expression that developed online among millennials. It's used to express that someone is so overwhelmed by a feeling or reaction to something that they don't know what to say.
Dictionary.com says it first started being seen on social media in 2009, especially on Twitter and Tumblr. Using it back then communicated that you were young, online, and using one of these (then) trendy social media platforms.
