Old Words, Fresh Comeback: How Vintage Terms Find New Life in Modern Speech

The article examines why vintage words like “yap” and “skedaddle” are resurging in today’s talk, arguing that old terms are primed by media and memories and then spread through social networks led by influential youth. This “team sport” of language change means terms rise when a core group adopts them, diffuse through broader networks, and eventually fade, with some retro words enduring longer than others.