15 Young New Yorkers Share Their Favorite Slang!

Plus!! This Brooklyn Man Will Analyze Your Groceries!!!

Hello everyone,

Welcome to Issue #117 of CAFÉ ANNE!

Yes, reader response to last week’s feature, “Meet NYC’s Biggest Multitaskers!” —was relatively muted. And among those commenting, a consensus emerged: “The most exhausting post ever, Anne,” wrote Kevin in England. “I felt exhausted just reading this,” Emily chimed in. “I felt anxious reading about the multi-taskers, so skipped the rest,” said Lucy B.

Among those who managed to finish, opinion was divided among those who reported feeling inspired (“Kinda like a kick in the pants that I didn’t know I needed,” wrote Liz), and those who found the accounts somewhat alarming.

Finally, a number of readers, noting that all three subjects were ladies, wondered if women are typically better multitaskers than men. My instinct is to say yes, of course, but the research says no—women and men are equally bad at doing two things at once.

In other news, I recently enjoyed chatting with Vijay Nathan as a guest on his “Truth to Power” podcast on Brooklyn Free Radio. This very long interview is more spirituality stuff than NYC stuff, but some of you may like!

I am very excited for this week’s issue, of course. I’ve got an encounter with a Brooklyn startup that analyzes your groceries, and a round-up of the latest NYC street slang. Please enjoy.

Regards!

Anne

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STARTUP OF THE MONTH

This Brooklyn Man Will Analyze Your Groceries!

Ethan Atwood recruiting users outside the Trader Joe’s on Court Street.

I was leaving the Trader Joe's on Atlantic Avenue with two bags of groceries the other day when I saw something I didn’t spot on the way in: a young man behind a folding table on the sidewalk. I took a closer look at the flyer on his table. "Diet Tracking for Free," it said.

The fellow was Ethan Atwood, 30, who lives nearby. He was signing up users for his new Whatsapp app, Trader Knows, the first product from his startup, Dosha Labs.

"There's a lot of processed foods in our diet, and it's really hard to track what you're eating and where it comes from," said Mr. Atwood. "The objective of this app is to make it really easy.”

To use the free service, he explained, you text a photo of your Trader Joe's receipt to Trader Knows on Whatsapp. The service uses AI to analyze the contents of your grocery cart. Your raw vs. processed foods ratio, for example.

"We'll tell you everything," said Mr. Atwood. "Calories, protein, carbs, sugar. We'll tell you where the food comes from. We'll tell you the ingredients—if there's additives or gums or artificial flavors in your food."

“I think you're going to find I have the healthiest shopping receipt of anyone signing up with you,” I said, handing over the evidence.

“Let’s see,” said Mr. Atwood, examining my receipt. “We’ve got vegetables, fruit, chicken—I love it!”

He also told me I’d happened upon his very first effort to snag customers—he’d set up the table just minutes ago. Outside of his friends and family, I'd be the very first beta user!

I've long written about NYC startups for legit publications, but typically covered a company after it's been around for a couple years and has gone through several funding rounds. Here, I was seeing a startup in its infancy—with the founder on a street corner trying to snag users. No Brunello Cucinelli hoodie for this guy! For now, Dosha Labs is just Mr. Atwood and one partner—he’s still working full-time at a blockchain company.

"I couldn't afford to live in Cobble Hill just doing this,” he said.

While we were chatting, an older lady stepped up to read the flyer.

"You want to join the app?" Mr. Atwood asked.

"I know I eat healthy anyway," she demurred.

I felt compelled to do a little arm twisting. "Don't you want someone to pat you on the back for that?" I said.

"Um, no!" she said. "I know I'm doing okay. I just walked here from 57th Street. I don't take medicine, and I'm a senior. I just take vitamins. I'm a vegan. A healthy vegan. I don't eat any of those processed, vegan meats..."

The lady talked for a long time, as vegans will do, but she still didn't sign up—even after Mr. Atwood explained that the app could also track the cost of her food and where it came from.

When she left, I spotted something scary out of the corner of my eye. "That guy over there is a cop I used to date!” I told Mr. Atwood. “He tried to run me over with his Jeep!"

"Oh," said Mr. Atwood.

I hid the side of my face behind my giant iPhone so my ex wouldn't spot me and continued the interview: "Why did you start with Trader Joe’s?”

"They have a pretty small inventory, so it's much easier to track their SKUs.” said Mr. Atwood. “They have about 4,000 SKUs. Because our data collection process is relatively manual, it was easier to start here than a bigger grocery store that has 30,000 different products."

Like every early days startup founder, Mr. Atwood is not sure exactly how he will monetize the service. He could charge a monthly subscription fee to frequent users. Or with the customer’s consent, he could sell their data to food companies and split the revenue.

No one else had stopped by the table while we were chatting.

"Do you think I should play music?" Mr. Atwood wondered.

"What kind of music would you play?"

"Taylor Swift, Bob Marley."

"Experiment," I advised, enjoying my new role as startup advisor. "See what brings people over."

When I got home, I photographed my receipt and sent it to Trader Knows. It sent me a PDF the next day with five different charts!

Because it was all about me, I found the report extremely fascinating. The ingredients for all the items in my cart, for example, were 84.7% raw—and 12.6% processed, thanks to the protein bars I'm fond of.

I also got my nutrition macros and total calories, a map showing where my food comes from (USA! USA!), even a “word cloud” showing which terms appear most often on my food labels—I eat more organic than I realized. I couldn't help feeling extremely self-righteous.

A metric not provided that I was able to calculate based on the data: cost-per-calorie. My shopping cart held 4602 calories total and cost $50.23. That’s roughly a penny per calorie, or $17 a day. That seems high! Is that high?

As I told Mr. Atwood, I'm planning to check in on Trader Knows from time-to-time and provide updates on its progress. So after writing this little story, I emailed him to ask if he'd gotten any additional sign-ups.

His reply:

“After you left, I got a whopping two more people to sign up. Most people leaving Trader Joe's are in a hurry and have their hands full, so I'll need to figure out a different way to find new users. Later that night, I ran into my neighbor, who started complaining about artificial ingredients in her almond milk, even before I mentioned the app! She was so excited to join the waitlist, which gives me motivation to keep going. We see ourselves as a friendly neighborhood food spy.”

Maybe you'd like to give the service a try! It is extremely fun. Send a photo of your Trader Joe’s receipt to Trader Knows on What’sApp, and let me know what you learn!

Know of a fun NYC startup I should cover? The smaller the better! Email your ideas to annekadet@yahoo.com.

STREET TALK

15 Young New Yorkers Share Their Favorite Slang!

A few weeks ago, I played my first round of NYC Teen Roulette, asking random questions submitted by readers to random teens found on the street. It was a lot of fun, and one query in particular spurred requests for more: “What are examples of some slang that you love?”

I also felt this was an especially fun question, and decided to devote an afternoon to a modified version of Teen Roulette. Last Tuesday, I spent a couple hours chatting with kids in Washington Square Park and Union Square. It was a beautiful, sunny spring day, and everyone was in a good mood—happy to share their favorite slang.

Alex and Jay

Alex, 19, lives in Ridgewood, Queens. Jay, 18, lives in South Ozone Park, Queens.

What’s a slang term that you love?

Jay: Favorite slang?

Alex: “Typeshit”!

Jay: Yeah, “typeshit!”

That's so funny—I heard that term for the first time interviewing teenagers a few weeks ago!

Jay: That's my favorite slang. I just say “typeshit” a lot.

What does it mean to you?

Jay: That you can relate to something. Like, you might say, "It's hot outside," and someone'd say, "Yeah, typeshit!"

How long has it been around?

Jay: Since last fall.

Alex: Maybe six months. I have a shirt that says, "Typeshit, sir!"

Asa and Kareem

Asa, 21, lives in Manhattan. Kareen, 24, is a Flatbush man.

Asa: Favorite slang? That's hard.

Kareem: Mine has to be—New Yorkers say it all time—"chopped." So if someone be like, "Dang, man, that's chopped," it's like, ugly. But there's a lot of ways to use it. Like, "That beat or song is chopped, typeshit?” Or like, "Man, this day's chopped, bro,”—it's a really bad day. I don't like calling people ugly, but “chopped” is different. If someone asks how they look today, instead of calling you ugly, I can just call you “chopped.” It doesn't sound as bad.

And it's more a temporary thing...

Kareem: Yeah. You're chopped for now. "Ugly" stays on you. "Chopped" is only for the moment.

Do you have another one?

Asa: “Munyun!”

Kareem: “Munyun!” Yes! That's good!

Could you use it in a phrase?

Asa: My check is coming on Friday. I can't wait to get this munyun!

Kareen: Hey man, I finally got some munyun in my account!

Asa: It's interchangeable with the word “money.”

Kareem: But also, it's funny—it's a way to say, like, "this guap for real." You got money or you got munyun. You get me?

It's like, serious money.

Asa and Kareem: Yeah!

Kareem: It's like, you got money, or you got this munyun on you, you got these rackies on you, know what I mean?

Rackies?

Kareem: Rackies! Like, racks!

Asa: Like, a thousand dollars.

I never heard that!

Kareem: Yeah, yeah—thousands! Rackies! We need to teach you some slang. You know "twiz, twizzy?" You know what "twizzy" means?

No!

Kareem: "Twizzy" is twin. Like, "Hey twiz—this is my twizzy." Like my twin, my sis.

Asa: You're so close, you're like twins.

I love that! A lot of this slang is adorable.

Asa: I know! People get mad, you're changing this word, you're being nonsensical. But if people know how to use it and understand, what's the problem?

Isaac and Sophia

Isaac, 20, lives in Flatbush. Sophia, 18, lives in Kensington, Brooklyn.

So my readers wanted me to ask some NYC young folks—what's your favorite slang, and what does it mean?

Sophia: He says "cooked" a lot, which means—

Isaac: Like, fried.

Sofia: Like, there's something wrong with you that's crazy.

Can you use it in a phrase?

Sofia: Like, that's cooked!

Isaac: Like something crazy happens, you see someone that's crazy, you say, "That person's cooked." You know what I'm saying?

Sophia: Like, you see a homeless person: "cooked."

Shareef and Trinity

Shareef, 18, and Trinity, 20, both live in the South Bronx. They declined to be photographed.

Trinity: Slang term? Hmm.

Shareef: "Ate!" Basically, "ate" means, like, we love your style. You ate that style up! Like, if you're wearing a nice outfit: "You ate that outfit up!"

Trinity: Or a hairstyle...

Shareef: You ate that hairstyle up!

That's so funny! It's like you embody it so much that you consumed it, almost. You are that style.

Shareef: Exactly. Or you could say, "This weather ate today," because it's so nice out!

Josiah

Josiah, 24, lives in Hamilton Heights.

Josiah: My favorite slang phrase? Right now I'd say, junt. Like J-U-N-T. That's from Memphis. That's where I'm from.

So what does it mean?

Josiah: It's just an object. It can mean a lot of s—. You point to it, refer to it: "Look at that junt right there."

So it's like a replacement for "thing," or "it." If I were pointing at the flower, I'd say, "Look at that junt."

Josiah: Yeah, look at that junt!

But how do people know what you're referring to?

Josiah: It’s contextual.

Can you use it in a sentence?

Josiah: Let's say we were talking about a concert. I'd say, "So, you going to that junt?"

It can be a person, a place...

Josiah:  Anything!

Leah and Melanie

Leah, 17 lives in the Bronx. Melanie, 18, lives on the Lower East Side.

Melanie: What I say a lot is "goodlooks." It's like "thank you," kind of.

Could you use it in a phrase?

Melanie: I can show you an example. [Drops her pencil on the sidewalk.]

Leah: [Picks up the pencil and hands it to Melanie.] You dropped your pencil!

Melanie: Oh wow, goodlooks!

That's so cute. How is it different from "thank you"?

Melanie: It's not.

Leah: I think it's more genuine.

[To Leah] Do you have one?

Leah: I say "fuckass" a lot. If something's weird, I'll say "fuckass." "That's fuckass."

Can you use it in a sentence?

Leah: Let's say that tree over there? I'd say, "That fuckass tree!"

Melanie. It's weird. Unusual. Different.

Kenji and Alex

Kenji, 15, lives in Tribeca. Alex, also 15, lives on the Lower East Side.

Alex: There's so many options. My favorite right now is "Fanum tax." Like when your friend has some food, you say, "Fanum tax!"

Kenji: I'm going to Fanum tax you. Take 20% of your food!

[They laugh like crazy].

Where does that come from?

Alex: This guy named Fanum, he's really big. And he taxes guys. And then the reverse tax—when he gives back food.

This is a friend of yours?

Alex: Yeah, yeah, yeah. But he blew up because of it, and now he acts all Hollywood. He acts like he doesn't even know us. Fanum goes to LaGuardia.

LaGuardia High School?

Alex: Yeah.

And everyone there is using that phrase now?

Alex: Yeah, yeah. I go to LaGuardia.

Kenji: I go to Frank Sinatra, in Queens. It's like LaGuardia—for the performing arts.

Do you have another term?

[They whisper to each other and laugh like crazy again.]

Kenji: Oh yeah, "Blumpkin."

Alex: If I had to use it in sentence, I'd say, "I'd really like a blumpkin." Like, Blumpkin or Blumpie. A blumpie after my Taco Bell. You know?

But what does it mean?

Alex: I forget!

Kenji: It's when...

Alex: It's when...

Reader, I later googled "Blumpkin" and all I can say is, this is a term that even two teenage boys were too polite to explain out-loud. Don't say I didn't warn you!

Marisol

Marisol, 18, lives in Sunset Park.

Marisol: My word is “rizz.”

I just heard that for the first time the other day. R-I-Z-Z? What does it mean?

Marisol: “Rizz” is like, having game. Being able to talk to somebody, like flirting. Rizzing someone up.

And you're good at it—not just trying.

Marisol: You're talking smooth, basically.

Omer and Leo

Leo, 17, lives in Park Slope. Omer, 19, lives in Bushwick.

Omer: I'm not good with the slang terms. People make fun of me for being a grandpa. But right now I really like the term "glaze." Like, glazing somebody. To glaze somebody is to hype them up in a pathetic way that makes you seem like a fan.

Leo: Like, "Oh my gosh, that's so cool bro. By the way, that's a beautiful shirt you're wearing. Did you do something new with your hair today?" Like, loading compliments onto them in a way that you're almost putting yourself down. Nobody's that special.

It's like a sycophantic kind of thing?

Leo: That's a good way to put it.

Omer: To say that someone's glazing somebody, that's an insult.

Leo: I like the word “cook” because it has a double meaning. To say, "I cooked on this math final," means I did really well. But if you say, "I am cooked," all the sudden that means you're doing terribly, you're screwed over. Like, "Oh my God, I am so cooked on this math final"— you did really bad. It's very subtle!

Omer: Or people will say, "Let them cook," if they are in the middle of saying something and not making any sense. “Let him see where he's going here…let him cook.”

Leo: This might turn out well. Let him cook!

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