Glossary / Slang & Internet Culture
Mid means mediocre, average, or overrated — not terrible, just unremarkable. Calling something "mid" is often more cutting than calling it bad, because it implies it does not even deserve strong feelings. It is used constantly in reviews, food videos, and debates about music, movies, and games.
Mid comes from "middle of the road." Its power is in its dismissiveness: "bad" invites argument, "mid" implies the thing is not worth arguing about. Entire comment-section wars start when someone calls a beloved album or game mid.
It is also used as deliberate rage bait — calling something obviously great "mid" is a reliable way to farm angry engagement, and audiences increasingly recognize that trick. For creators, "is X actually mid?" is a durable video format for reviews and tier lists.
Used in the wild
Comment on a viral restaurant review: "took my girl here last week, the food is mid and the wait is 2 hours."
A soft one. Mid does not mean awful — it means forgettable, average, or overhyped. That dismissiveness is exactly why it stings more than "bad" in arguments about music, food, or games.
It is short for middle-of-the-road or middling quality. It existed in regional slang for years (including pro wrestling promos) before TikTok comment culture made it universal around 2021, and it has stayed in heavy use since.
Bussin
Bussin means extremely good, used overwhelmingly about food: "this mac and cheese is bussin." From AAVE, it became TikTok food-review vocabulary around 2020-2021, often doubled as "bussin bussin" for emphasis. It is now mainstream enough that brands overuse it, pushing native usage toward irony.
Cooked
Cooked means doomed, finished, exhausted, or in serious trouble: "I have three finals tomorrow, I'm cooked." The flip side is "let him cook," where cooking means doing something brilliant. Whether you are cooked or cooking is one of the internet's favorite running jokes.
Engagement Bait
Engagement bait is content engineered to farm likes, comments, shares, or watch time through manipulation rather than merit — "comment your birthday month!", deliberate mistakes that force corrections, rage bait, fake giveaways. Platforms officially demote it, yet softer forms remain core creator strategy.
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