r/words • u/Dediadeis • 3d ago
Usage of the term 'wild'
I have noticed an unusual uptick in the frequency I am seeing this word. It's wild. Anyone else noticing this?
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u/AuNaturellee 3d ago
That's wild. Have you heard it in the wild? Is usage running wild? What's so wild about the ways it's said? Did you know there was a movie called Something Wild (1986) starring Melanie Griffith, Jeff Daniels and Ray Liotta?
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u/Top-Act-7814 3d ago
Yes. In some cases, as one commenter stated, it’s a substitute for the word crazy. Crazy can be viewed as a demeaning term, since it’s sometimes used in a derogatory way describing someone with disordered thinking as a result of a mental illness or disorder. But wild avoids this.
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u/Dediadeis 3d ago
I was thinking the same thing, the using crazy as a descriptor has fallen out of favor. I prefer the british way of doing it and using the word crackers.
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u/AddlePatedBadger 2d ago
It's crackers to slip a rozzer the dropsy in snide.
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u/BPhiloSkinner 2d ago
What, us worry?
We read Mad!
'crackers' and 'dropsy' were the only terms I recognized, when I saw this one on the Letters Page.2
u/AddlePatedBadger 2d ago
I had to quit reading it online after I broke too many phones doing the fold in.
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u/When-Is-Now-7616 2d ago
I didn’t make that connection before. Cool. As someone with multiple mental issues including bipolar, I have no problem with “crazy” and use it all the time without blinking. I grew up in the 90s and never actually associated “crazy” with mental illness when used as an adjective or exclamation, but I guess things are different now!
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u/Then-Position-7956 2d ago
"He's gone wild" has long been a way to say off the rails. It's been in use that way for many decades.
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u/IdealBlueMan 3d ago
Johnny Carson used it on the regular in his Tonight Show monologues. Also “weird” and “wacky”.
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u/Squanch840 3d ago
I’m sure it depends on a lot, but I used this a lot in high school and that was like 10 years ago. Maybe it’s coming back? But to me it’s pretty much lingo of the past. I do still say it very occasionally
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u/Significant_Owl_6897 3d ago
I assume it's one of a handful of 50-60's slang terms that has just stuck around because it's easily understood, like dude and cool. I've heard many people from many generations use "wild."
Examples of slang terms that I think died out because they're rooted in fad driven pop culture:
- on fleek
- bling
- crunk
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u/Aristaeus16 2d ago
Theres an Australian guy on tiktok who makes funny videos and he makes a point of saying, “that’s wild,” in almost all of his videos. It’s contagious
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u/Throwing_Daze 2d ago
I think, like crazy, it can be used to express almost any emotion, shock, anger, confusion, general enjoyment of an anecdote, all depends on the way it's said.
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u/MarinaAndTheDragons 3d ago
People use it to sub in for crazy