Current Slang

So, one of the most common questions for authors of Young Adult literature, especially Contemporary Realistic like Handcuffs, is how do you sound like a teen?

The answer is NOT slang. Okay, some slang works for establishing certain characters and their speech patterns, but I'll admit there's a bit of slang in Handcuffs that actually makes me cringe and hide from the book, and I use any type of slang very sparingly.

But I do find slang FASCINATING. Because it's part of language, and how language changes is so...have I said fascinating? Yeah.

I also find some of it annoying. Here are some of the slang phrases that I hear constantly. Remember that I'm in middle America...the northernmost part of the south and the easternmost part of the midwest, so what one hears in other places may be very different.

Gotcha- as a teacher I hear this all the time, said in a good natured way, to indicate, I understand.

I know, right? I think I first heard this one on Juno, but I could've missed some other pop culture reference. I really can't say this with the right intonation, so I don't use it irl or online.

It is what it is - Meaning this is the way things are, or accept it, or some variation of that. I really hate this one because it seems very meaningless to me.

I haven't heard any words for cool that are newer than Sick (which I had heard on the internet 5 years ago, but hadn't noticed irl until 2 years ago.

What slang words are you guys hearing?