What is fleek?

And where did this word come from?

I mean I gather that it's slang,

but I really don't hear anybody using it.

It would seem to me like it's just

something people say on Twitter,

and it would appear that I'm not

the only one who thinks that.

So I'm gonna make this video and try to figure it out.

What is "on fleek?"

(upbeat music)

Big new word, brand new, "on fleek."

- On fleek, fleek.

- Fleek.

- Fleek.

So what would you like to know about fleek today, Keith?

- Well, I guess A, what does it mean?

B, where did it come from?

- Gotcha, okay.

Fleek is on point.

Fleek is good.

Fleek is great.

Fleek is perfection.

- This burger is fleek, or would I say this burger...

- You would say this burger is on fleek.

- On fleek. - On fleek.

- Like on it's best behavior.

- Yes.

- Where did fleek come from?

- Fleek came from a Vine, I'm not sure of a name,

but she said her eyebrows were on fleek, the fuck.

- Oh so it was first used and accepted as an eyebrow term.

- To describe eyebrows.

- What do you think of my eyebrows?

- Um, if I had your eyebrows,

my eyebrows probably would not be on fleek,

you know, mines need to be a little bit more groomed.

- Would be out of fleek.

- That's the worst.

♫ Bring up the heat ♫

- [Keith] I still don't get it, so I head to San Francisco

with Chris to track down some linguists

from Berkeley to get their take on fleek.

Now they may look like two old white guys, but trust me,

they are, but they also know a ton about slang.

What is your explanation of "on fleek?"

- Well, fleek's interesting because it just

bubbled up out of nowhere, in a way words didn't used to do,

I mean used to be slang would begin among high school kids

and kind of work its way around the school and maybe to

other kids of other generations and then bubble up

into the speech of older people, and by the time the older

people were using it the high school kids

have moved on to something else.

- [Keith] Right.

- The whole point of slang is to keep your language secret.

- A secret language.

- But now, you can make a video, or a Vine,

or something like that, a word catches on,

the link is passed all around, and you know two weeks later

there are two billion people who are

using this expression, it's astonishing.

- What do you think about how virality is playing

into slang, is it legitimate?

- Yes. - Okay.

- Absolutely, I mean there are people who

try to introduce words into the lexicon,

and generally speaking, they'll submit something

to Urban Dictionary that's open source,

and they'll put it in and say it's in the dictionary

but nobody uses it. - Right.

- Intentional coinings are really rare,

but they do happen,

and that's a great example, but the speed with which

slang is transmitted is exponentially faster now

than it ever has been because of social media.

- Fleek strikes me as the kind of word that everybody

except that one gal with her eyebrow used in quotes.

It was kind of a slang word that existed to be a slang word,

nobody ever really used it in earnest, did they?

- People are debating whether or not fleek is good or not,

we saw this with bae, you know what I mean,

like they're like, fleek is corny, why are you using that,

that's the stupidest thing I've ever heard,

and there are some people who accept it.

I accept it, I'll use it if it's, you know, appropriate.

- Yeah.

- I don't say it for everything, or I wouldn't

say it in a professional setting, except for this one.

- Yeah.

- But, you know, you have to accept it into your life.

- So if I really want to accept fleek, I need to understand

it how it was originally popularized.

I need to get my eyebrows done, or is it my eyebrows did?

I need to get my eyebrows on fleek, da fuck.

- Hi, my name is Henry Von Norden.

- Keith Habersberger.

- Nice meet you, and I believe you wanna

have your eyebrows done today.

- Yeah, I want them to be perfect.

- You could use a little bit of waxing right here.

- Yep.

Woo girl! - Shh.

This area won't be as sensitive, ready?

- I'm just such a beautiful boy and I will do anything

for beauty, but I'm also, you know, emotional and sensitive.

- I see that. - Yeah.

- Here you go Latoya.

- It's just that I miss them already.

- Alright. - Oh we did it.

Guys we did it. - No you did it.

- No you did it, 33 years of eyebrows, and probably

a million other things you're good at.

- I'm gonna go out to the parking lot and shoot myself now.

- Okay, great, everybody had an equally good time.

So I just got my eyebrows done, I feel like they're perfect,

but now I'm going to ask the people of Hollywood

what they think of my eyebrows, and if they say "on fleek,"

well then I know I've done it.

What do you think of my eyebrows?

- They're fine.

- Arched.

- Nicely thinned, I guess. - Thank you.

- I can't really see that you just

got them done to be honest.

- Thank you.

- On fleek.

- On fleek!

- Very on fleek.

- On fleek! - There we go, right?

- So that's a word you use?

- Yeah, my friend has a shirt that says "on fleek" on it.

- So it's totally legitimized slang?

- Yes.

- You use it in normal dialogue?

- I've used it in normal dialogue.

- Do you use on fleek in real life, do you use it?

- I use on fleek. (laughs)

- Good, so they're on fleek?

- Yes. - So okay!

So I guess though it's still debated whether it's fun

or cool to use, people are really using it out in the world,

even though it did originate online, so I guess on fleek

is good, you can say "on fleek," it's slang!

We did it everybody, it's definitely slang!

And it just means the same as several

other slang words that we already have.

♫ Bring up the heat ♫

(upbeat music)

♫ I got no choice but to throw hard ♫

(upbeat music)