SPRING: Carolyn Abbey of East Valley Road in Smethport called to let us know she saw a sign of spring — robins!

“I’m here to tell you the robins are back,” she said. She saw two in her yard.

We’re certainly ready for spring!

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SLANG: Slang words are more than just words with new or different meanings. They say something about the attitudes of the people, groups, and subcultures that use them.

How do you refer to those people, things, and experiences that are amazing or awesome? Are they cool? Perhaps they’re rad? In the 1980s, you might have called them bad while today they might be called Gucci.

You may have noticed that new slang words tend to pop up quite often. They can appear as new meanings for existing words, brand new words or abbreviations for words. If you’ve ever said yolo, fleek, bae, selfie, juju, woke, or dank meme, you’ve used slang!

Do you find yourself turning to Google when you hear new slang terms like “woke,” “bussin” or “fyp?” If so, you’re not alone. It can be tough to keep up with Gen Z and the seemingly ever changing lingo.

Whether it’s overhearing a conversation or seeing it written online, it’s no surprise many current slang terms are puzzling for a lot of Americans. The most confusing terms differ across the US, and were categorized in a recent report which showed which terms were the most puzzling and most frequently looked-up online in 2021;

The slang word “Simp’ is the most searched term nationwide. It means “a man who is overly submissive to women,” while in Pennsylvania the most searched slang term was “thicc,” which means “full-figured body.”