Lex Has Always Been a Flex
Why Read This
What Makes This Article Worth Your Time
Summary
What This Article Is About
Madhavan Narayanan explores how language evolves across generations, distinguishing between words that serve as generation separators (like ‘hepcat’ becoming ‘cool’ becoming ‘flex’) and truly new coinages driven by technology (like ‘selfie,’ ‘trolling,’ and ‘clickbait’). He traces the journey from jazz culture’s ‘hepcat’—a fashionable person—through various iterations to today’s Gen Z term ‘flex,’ which describes boasting on social media, illustrating how underlying meanings often persist while surface expressions change.
The piece also examines the challenges of linguistic translation in the post-industrial age, recalling humorous attempts to translate modern concepts into Hindi like ‘loh-path gamini’ (iron-track vehicle) for train. Narayanan concludes with a provocative question about artificial intelligence’s potential impact on language, asking whether AI will generate new words or meanings—or whether he’s simply “hallucinating,” cleverly using a term that AI has already repurposed to mean when machines generate false information.
Key Points
Main Takeaways
Generation Separators vs. New Coinages
Some words maintain core meanings across generations with surface changes, while technology-driven terms represent genuinely new linguistic territory.
From Hepcat to Flex
Jazz culture’s ‘hepcat’ evolved through ‘cool cat’ to Gen Z’s ‘flex,’ showing how slang for fashionable people persists across eras.
Technology Creates True Novelty
Words like ‘selfie,’ ‘trolling,’ and ‘clickbait’ are impossible to imagine without tech-infused culture, unlike generational slang variations.
Translation Challenges Reveal Change
Attempts to translate modern concepts into traditional languages highlight how industrial and digital revolutions create linguistic gaps.
Cultural Resistance to Linguistic Colonization
The humorous Hindi translation “Ati sheetal billi” for “Total cool cat” demonstrates pushback against American linguistic dominance.
AI’s Linguistic Future
Artificial intelligence will likely generate new words or repurpose old ones, as “hallucinating” now describes AI generating false information.
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Article Analysis
Breaking Down the Elements
Main Idea
Language Evolution Patterns
The article’s central argument distinguishes between two types of linguistic change: generational slang that recycles core concepts with new labels (hepcat → cool → flex) versus genuinely novel vocabulary driven by technological innovation (selfie, clickbait). This framework helps readers understand that while some language change is superficial rebranding, technology genuinely expands our expressive capacity by creating words for previously non-existent phenomena.
Purpose
Celebrating Linguistic Observation
Narayanan wrote this piece to validate “language-watching” as an intellectual pursuit worth serious attention, while acknowledging it’s “not everyone’s flex.” By connecting personal anecdotes across decades to contemporary slang and future AI developments, he makes the case that observing linguistic evolution reveals deeper patterns about culture, technology, and human psychology—transforming what might seem like trivial wordplay into meaningful cultural analysis.
Structure
Historical → Categorical → Speculative
The essay moves from personal historical examples (jazz-era hepcat, Delhi collegemate’s translation), through analytical categorization (generation separators versus tech-driven coinages), to forward-looking speculation about AI’s linguistic impact. This temporal progression creates a sense of language as continuously evolving while the closing question—”Or am I hallucinating?”—cleverly demonstrates the very phenomenon he’s discussing by using a word AI has already repurposed.
Tone
Playful, Erudite & Self-Aware
Narayanan adopts a conversational yet intellectually sophisticated tone, demonstrating the linguistic playfulness he celebrates. References to Macaulay doing a “reverse swing in his grave” and the self-deprecating acknowledgment that language-watching isn’t everyone’s “flex” create an accessible entry point to academic observations. The tone balances nostalgia, cultural criticism, and forward-looking curiosity without becoming pedantic or overly casual.
Key Terms
Vocabulary from the Article
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Tough Words
Challenging Vocabulary
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Relating to something that operates exclusively or solely within one domain or category without mixing with others.
“Some words are pure-play generation separators, with not much change in the implied meaning.”
To be surpassed, outdone, or defeated; to not allow oneself to be beaten or overcome by something.
“Not to be undone by neo-colonial linguistic tyranny from America…”
A cricket bowling technique where the ball moves unexpectedly in the opposite direction; metaphorically, an ironic reversal of expected outcomes.
“Macaulay may as well do a reverse swing in his grave.”
Online content designed with sensational or misleading headlines to attract clicks and generate web traffic rather than inform.
“Words like selfie, trolling, and clickbait are difficult to imagine without a new tech-infused culture”
Gen Z slang for boasting or showing off one’s achievements, possessions, or abilities, especially on social media platforms.
“…language-watching is not everyone’s ‘flex’—that word invented by Gen Z to describe the phenomenon of people boasting”
A Hindi/Sanskrit word meaning “that which moves” or “vehicle”; used in compound words to describe moving objects or conveyances.
“…examples like ‘loh-path gamini’ (a vehicle that runs on iron tracks) to describe a train”
Reading Comprehension
Test Your Understanding
5 questions covering different RC question types
1According to the article, words like “selfie,” “trolling,” and “clickbait” represent genuinely new linguistic territory created by technology rather than just generational rebranding of existing concepts.
2What does the author mean by referencing Macaulay doing a “reverse swing in his grave”?
3Which sentence best captures the author’s central analytical framework for understanding language evolution?
4Evaluate the following statements based on the article:
‘Hep’ and ‘hip’ share common etymological origins in referring to those who follow the latest styles.
The author believes language-watching is universally appreciated as an intellectual pursuit.
The word ‘flex’ can be used in both positive and negative contexts depending on the situation.
Select True or False for all three statements, then click “Check Answers”
5What can we infer about the author’s attitude toward AI’s impact on language based on his closing question “Or am I hallucinating?”
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
Generation separators are words that label the same underlying concept across different eras—like ‘hepcat,’ ‘cool,’ and ‘flex’ all describing fashionable people who follow current trends. The core meaning stays constant while surface expressions change. Technology-driven words like ‘selfie,’ ‘clickbait,’ and ‘trolling’ describe genuinely new phenomena that literally couldn’t exist before the technology emerged, representing actual additions to our conceptual vocabulary rather than rebranding.
Thomas Babington Macaulay was a British colonial administrator whose 1835 “Minute on Education” established English as the language of instruction in India, creating lasting linguistic hierarchies. Narayanan references him ironically when describing how a Delhi student translated “Total cool cat” into “Ati sheetal billi”—reversing the colonial flow by translating trendy English back into Hindi rather than simply adopting English terms wholesale, which would make Macaulay figuratively “do a reverse swing in his grave.”
In AI discourse, “hallucinating” has been repurposed to describe when artificial intelligence systems confidently generate false or nonsensical information that seems plausible but isn’t grounded in their training data or reality. The author’s closing question cleverly uses this already-repurposed term to demonstrate his very point about AI changing language—he’s simultaneously asking whether his predictions about AI’s linguistic impact are fantasy while using a word AI has already transformed, making the question self-demonstrating rather than genuinely uncertain.
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This article is rated Intermediate level. It requires understanding cultural and historical references (Macaulay, jazz culture, colonial India), following extended metaphors (reverse swing), and distinguishing between analytical categories (generation separators versus technology-driven words). The vocabulary includes specialized terms like “neo-colonial,” “exalted,” and “post-industrial,” while the structure demands readers track connections across temporal periods. The playful self-referential ending requires metalinguistic awareness to fully appreciate how the closing question demonstrates its own argument.
The author uses “invented” loosely to mean Gen Z popularized this particular slang usage of ‘flex’ to describe boasting on social media, though the word obviously existed before with its literal meaning of displaying muscles or showing strength. This represents semantic extension—taking an existing word and applying it metaphorically to new contexts. The usage likely emerged from hip-hop culture before Gen Z adopted it more broadly, but Narayanan’s point is that this generation has made it their characteristic term for self-promotion, particularly in digital spaces.
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