What does “chat” mean?
Chat is a way of addressing an imaginary audience, as if you were a streamer talking to your viewers: “Chat, is this real?” It turns any moment into a broadcast.
Where it comes from
From live streaming, where creators on Twitch read and reply to the scrolling chat. Viewers borrowed the habit, and by 2024 “chat” was a general exclamation offline, usually with a question, as if the room were watching too.
Chat in a sentence
- Chat, did he really just say that?
- Chat, we are so back.
Can you say it at work?
Fine as a joke among people who stream or watch; otherwise it needs explaining, which kills it.
Related
Slang: cooked · it’s giving · lowkey
More slang
clanker · glazing · fanum tax · mogging · chopped · big back · All 49
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