About Slangshot

Everybody plays a character. Slangshot lets you try on a few.

How it started

It started on a drive to the post office. I'm a boomer, and somewhere between the parking lot and the counter I realized I didn't understand half of what the young people around me were saying. Their slang was nothing like mine, and nothing like what we said back in the 80s either. Every generation, every city and every crowd has its own way of talking.

So I thought: what if you could say something once and hear how each of those groups would say it? A Gen Z kid, a Southern cousin, a New Yorker, a surfer, a rapper. And what if you could turn a dial from "barely there" to "full send" and watch it get spicier? That dial became the heat slider, and the idea became Slangshot.

Something for everyone

For parents. Mostly, it's for grown-ups who want to understand what their kids are saying. Paste in what you overheard at the dinner table and Slangshot tells you what it means, in plain English, without you having to ask and get the eye roll.

For word lovers. If you're the kind of person who grew up reading the encyclopedia, tap any slang word for its backstory: what era it came from, which region and community made it, and how it traveled to your kitchen. Words have history, and slang has some of the best stories of all.

For anyone who wants a laugh. Pick a character, from a Southern cousin to a pirate captain to a deadpan butler, turn up the heat, and send the clip to your friends.

What it's for

Slangshot is meant to be fun first. Make a clip, send it to your friends, laugh at how your boss's email sounds as a pirate or a sports announcer.

But it's also about understanding each other. Paste in slang you heard and Slangshot tells you what it means and where it came from. Need to sound polished for a job interview or a letter to your landlord? There are characters for that too. The goal is simple: anyone should be able to understand anyone, and talk back in their language.

Made with you

Slang changes fast, and the people who speak it know it best. That's why you can correct any translation, suggest new words, and suggest new characters. The ideas with the most votes become the next characters in the app.

One rule

Every character in Slangshot is made up. Slang belongs to the communities that made it, so we credit where words come from, and we never make fun of any group. Laugh it up, just not at someone else's expense. It's nice to be nice.

Slangshot is made by Shareweaver LLC.