16 SoCal Slang Expressions You Need To Know (2024)

Slang in Southern California is easy to pick up. It’s informed by the weather, traffic, the entertainment industry, and surfing, among other things, and can easily worm its way into your vernacular if you stick around long enough. Here are 16 terms to brush up on before you visit.

Putting “the” in front of highway names

Californians insert the article “the” in front of their freeway names. Thus, you’ll hear people say things like, “Take the 101 north to Studio City,” or “Traffic on the 405 is terrible.” This addition is because early California freeways used to have place-based names, such as the “the San Bernardino Freeway,” according to L.A. historian Nathan Masters. As the rest of the country began building freeways and numbers became the preferred naming system, Californians kept the “the.”

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Like

Unnecessarily interjecting the word “like” into sentences is pretty ubiquitous among casual speakers in the U.S. these days, but it originated in the San Fernando Valley as a hallmark of Valley Girl speak. The word like serves as a filler, the way that words like “um” or “er” might. A good example? Cher from Clueless.

Gnarly

Something that is gnarled is knobby and knotty, like an old tree branch or frayed rope. Gnarly became slang for a particularly challenging wave in 1960s surfer culture and is still used today to describe a variety of things in a dubiously positive way.

Hella

Hella can be used anywhere one might use the word “very.” That dog is hella cute. This bar is hella cool. These nachos are hella good. It’s a Bay Area slang term from the ’90s that sometimes drifts down the coast, making its way into SoCal vernacular.

Stoked

You can stoke a fire, but you can also be stoked. To be stoked is to be especially excited for something. “I’m stoked for Tara’s birthday party tomorrow,” or “I’m stoked for vacation.” This slang term originated in ’60s surfer culture, as popularized by the surfing documentary The Endless Summer (1966). One could, perhaps, be stoked to ride a gnarly wave.

May Gray and June Gloom

As temperatures begin to rise in the spring, the waters of the Pacific Ocean remain cool, resulting in condensation and cloudy weather, which in turn leads to Californians experiencing gray, overcast days at the onset of summer. This weather pattern is referred to as May Gray during May. When this same weather pattern continues into June, it is referred to as June Gloom. By July, it’s hot and sunny again.

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SigAlert

A SigAlert is some kind of traffic incident that causes the temporary shutdown of a freeway lane. The California Highway Patrol and CalTrans each have different criteria for what qualifies as a SigAlert, but Californians will use the word to describe why traffic has made them late. Again. The term originated in the 1950s, and it takes its name from Loyd C. Sigmon, a broadcasting exec who used his experience in non-combat radio communications during WWII to develop a way to efficiently broadcast pertinent information in sprawling Los Angeles.

The Industry

If you work in the industry in Los Angeles, you work the entertainment industry. Depending on who you’re talking to, however, that could be TV, film, music, or adult content.

The Santa Anas

Santa Ana is a city in Southern California. The Santa Ana Winds are harsh, hot, dry winds that come down from the Great Basin and whip our palm fronds around. They are the subject of urban legend, with many associating the weather pattern with higher crime rates. Author Raymond Chandler wrote of them in Red Wind: “There was a desert wind blowing that night. It was one of those hot, dry Santa Anas that come down through the mountain passes and curl your hair and make your nerves jump and your skin itch. On nights like that every booze party ends in a fight. Meek little wives feel the edge of the carving knife and study their husbands’ necks. Anything can happen. You can even get a full glass of beer at a co*cktail lounge.”

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Dirty Dog

Don’t let this unfair term fool you: dirty dogs are one of Los Angeles’ finest street food offerings, right up there with the taco trucks. A dirty dog is a bacon-wrapped hot dog, which comes served hot off a cart with sautéed onions and peppers, typically found outside of popular venues or bars. They are best enjoyed after midnight. This snack is not to be confused with the Dodger Dog, which is the hot dog one acquires while watching a game at Dodger Stadium.

Pilot Season

You might hear your friends in The Industry talking about Pilot Season—a time when new TV shows come to life, and actors seek to get cast in what they hope will be the next Game of Thrones. It typically occurs in the first four months of the year, though streaming services have made television debuts a year-round thing. A pilot is a single episode of a prospective TV show that sets up the premise and characters, in the hopes of getting a network to sign on for a whole season.

The Emerald Triangle

The Emerald Triangle consists of three counties: Mendocino County, Humboldt County, and Trinity County. These counties all lie in Northern California, but those in the south know them well as the three counties where most of the state’s now-legal marijuana comes from—hence the name, “The Emerald Triangle.”

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Grip

The word “grip” means to hold something, either literally or metaphorically. You might grip your train ticket as you prepare to board, or you might find a particularly suspenseful story gripping. In Southern California, a “grip” also means a lot of something: “That’s a grip of bacon,” or “I just made a grip of cash.”

Angeleno/San Diegan

If you’re from Los Angeles, you’re an Angeleno. If you’re from San Diego, you’re a San Diegan. If you spell Angeleno like Angelino, you will be shamed.

The Southland

The Southland is something of a catch-all term for the greater Los Angeles area. According to the San Diego Reader, “The origins of Southland are unclear but probably sprang from the fertile brain of an early-day Los Angeles newspaperman or real estate developer as a handy reference to the glories of the state from the San Joaquin Valley to the Mexican border.” For instance, today, you might hear a weather report that says a heat wave will be felt across the Southland.

The Orange Curtain

The Orange Curtain refers to the border—physically, but more so metaphorically—that divides Los Angeles County from its conservative neighbor, Orange County. It takes its inspiration from the Iron Curtain and is often used by Angelenos to poke fun at Orange County. Orange County, however, at the very least, has Disneyland.

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16 SoCal Slang Expressions You Need To Know (2024)

FAQs

What words do Californians say a lot? ›

Talk like a true Californian: 10 expressions to master
  • “Ballin'” What does it mean? ...
  • “Bust” What does it mean? ...
  • “Gnarly” What does it mean? ...
  • “Hella” What does it mean? ...
  • “Marinating” What does it mean? ...
  • “Spot” and “dub” What does it mean? ...
  • “I'll take my burger animal style.” What does it mean? ...
  • “Get in where you fit in.”

What slang is used in California? ›

General California slang
Cali slangMeaning
MobCome quickly
DudeGender neutral term of endearment
ButthurtExtremely upset for no reason
DragInhale a cigarette
10 more rows
Aug 22, 2022

How do Californians say cool? ›

“Rad” was used more frequently by Californians a few years ago, but you may still hear it today. This is used as an adjective to describe something that is cool. Northern Californians often say “hella rad”, meaning very cool.

What is the slang bomb in California? ›

The California slang word bomb takes things all thy way back to the 90s when the word first became popular in a modern sense (yes, it was used in the '60s and held a different meaning). If something's bomb it just means it's excellent or really cool. It's used a lot for really simple things as well.

What is the 405 in slang? ›

'The 405' is one of the common Los Angeles slang expressions used to refer to the highway route number 405. There is a reason for this. Earlier highways had names and so 'the' was used to refer to the name. Now the same is being used to refer to highway numbers as in “Take the 101 if you want to go to Studio city”.

How to talk like a Californian? ›

The vowel in “dude” moves forward in the mouth, leading to the famous Californian “duuuuuude.” The vowel in “hut” moves forward to sound like “het,” the vowel in “back” moves to sound like “bock” and the vowel in “l*t” moves to sound more like “let” (the last one leading to the pin-pen merger).

What do LA people call LA? ›

L. L.A. City of Angels – based partially on the literal translation of the city's original historical full name from the Spanish language -- "The City of Our Lady the Queen of the Angels".

What is a Foo in LA slang? ›

Foo is the diminutive of “fool” (because that extra “L” makes it far too lengthy). It is a term of endearment and part of the common Southern California Latino vernacular. The use of “fool” is foreign to others. It can be taken as a challenge, especially if the wrong tone or cadence are used.

What words bring out the California accent? ›

So a word like “right” sounds like “raught,” “time” sounds like “Tom,” or “cot” and “caught” have no difference in sound. You'll hear these shifts mainly with younger Californians, and they make up the sound we now know as the California accent.

What is the California code for crazy? ›

The 5150 legal code allows “a person with a mental illness to be involuntarily detained for a 72-hour psychiatric hospitalization.” This means that someone experiencing a severe mental episode or condition can be detained against their will for up to 72 hours, if they meet at least one of the requirements of being a ...

What is the slang for excited in California? ›

1. “Stoked” What does it mean? To be stoked is to be very excited.

What is H bomb slang? ›

H-bomb (plural H-bombs) (slang) A hydrogen bomb.

What do Californians say differently? ›

Slang and California accent examples
California slangMeaningExample
dudeFriend, guyWhat's up dude?
totallyYes, veryDo you want to hang out? Totally.
For sureyesDo you want to hang out? For sure.
hellaveryThat's hella expensive.
1 more row
Jan 9, 2024

Do Californians say bro a lot? ›

Research has shown that Californians themselves perceive a linguistic boundary between northern and southern California, particularly regarding the northern use of hella and southern (but now nationally widespread) use of dude, bro, and like.

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