Warning: I said "deadass" in a work email and now my whole office is using it
I picked up "deadass" from my nephew back in April and started slipping it into texts, then last Tuesday I typed it in a Slack message to my crew without thinking. Within three days, two guys in their 40s were saying it in the warehouse and one of them wrote it on a clipboard note. I counted six uses in our group chat just on Thursday, and my boss, who is 58, asked me if it meant "for real" because he wanted to use it with his son. Here is the part nobody warns you about: once a word crosses into a mixed age group at work, it stops being slang and turns into a company inside joke within about two weeks. I am not saying don't use it, but if you want a term to stay cool, keep it out of the group chat. Has anyone else watched a word die in real time because the wrong person started saying it?
Watching slang die in real time is my whole personality at this point. Said "bet" one time in a meeting and now the 60 year old receptionist says it when she confirms lunch orders. You're right though, the group chat is where words go to retire.