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When Clueless hit cinemas back in 1995, it didn’t just launch plaid skirts and Paul Rudd: it changed how people talked. The teen comedy, written and directed by Amy Heckerling, took the local slang of Beverly Hills teens (aka “Valley Speak”) and made it global. Suddenly, phrases like “As if!”, “Whatever” (with matching hand gesture) and “Totally buggin’” were everywhere.
What’s Valley Speak? It’s the laid-back, hyper-verbal dialect of teens in California’s San Fernando Valley — a mix of uptalk, “likes”, “totallys” and made-up words that sound both casual and oddly precise. Heckerling didn’t invent Valley Speak, but she researched and refined it. She hung out at Beverly Hills High to make sure protagonists Cher and Dionne spoke authentically, while adding her own twists inspired by jazz, classic noir, hip-hop and even prison slang.
To celebrate 30 years of Clueless this month, Babbel is unveiling a definitive glossary of the film’s most iconic slang compiled by Clueless expert Jen Chaney, author of As If!: The Oral History of Clueless as told by Amy Heckerling and the Cast and Crew.
The Clueless Slang Glossary
As if!
Definition: A definitive “no way” or rejection.
Inspiration: Amy Heckerling credits her actor-producer friend Meredith Scott Lynn and the NYC gay community for introducing her to the phrase. “At that time, which was like early ’90s, ‘As if!’ was floating around in the gay community, and I thought it was really a multiuseful, multipurpose word. I thought it would be a good thing for teenagers to be saying.” She adds: “Some of the people I knew were already beyond ‘As if,’ so they were just going ‘Zif!’” showing the speed at which slang circulates and evolves, and how Heckerling took language from specific subcultures and redistributed it to new, mainstream audiences by reallocating its speakers and broadening its cultural reach.
From the script: Cher (played by Alicia Silverstone), pushing away a high school boy that she would never date: “Ew, get off of me! Ugh, as if!”
Audi
Definition: Slang for “I’m outta here.”
Inspiration: Heckerling heard students at Beverly Hills High School using this slang, derived from the pronunciation of the Audi 5000 car model, which sounds like “outie.” Its evolution went from the phrase “I’m outta here” to “Audi,” then “Audi 5000,” and finally simply “5000.” This progression was documented in UCLA Slang 2 (an annual compilation of contemporary student slang by UCLA’s linguistics department), a key source for the script.
From the script: Both Cher and Tai (Brittany Murphy) exit scenes by announcing: “I’m Audi.”
Baldwin
Definition: A hot guy.
Inspiration: Coined by Heckerling from the pop culture presence of the Baldwin brothers, who were seen as the epitome of male attractiveness in the early 1990s. By turning their surname into a catch-all for desirability, Heckerling transformed a proper noun into a pop-cultural adjective.
From the script: Cher, referring to Josh (Paul Rudd): “Okay, okay, so he’s kind of a Baldwin.”
Barney
Definition: A stupid or inadequate male, a loser.
Inspiration: Sourced from the UCLA dictionary, which notes “barney” comes from the Flintstones character named Barney. By combining cartoonish familiarity with the sharp bite of teen judgment, “Barney” becomes a clever shorthand in Clueless for the kind of guy who just doesn’t measure up.
From the script: Cher, referring to the douchebag guys Tai befriends at the mall: “I don’t know where she meets these Barneys.”
Betty
Definition: A very physically attractive female.
Inspiration: From the UCLA Slang 2 and The Flintstones. Amy Heckerling’s use of “betty” nods to both its nostalgic, cartoon-era connotation (The Flintstones’ character named Betty) and its more modern slang usage, showing how language can be affectionate and trendy at once.
From the script: Cher, referring to the portrait of her mother: “Wasn’t my mom a betty?”
Buggin’, as in Totally buggin’
Definition: Freaking out or losing your cool.
Inspiration: 1980s slang already in circulation, probably originated in rap and hip-hop culture, likely from an earlier meaning of bug, to annoy or pester. As Amy Heckerling put it: “Buggin’ was around. Totally has been since the eighties.” The word gained traction in hip-hop culture, appearing in tracks like A Tribe Called Quest’s “Buggin’ Out” and Whistle’s debut single “(Nothing Serious) Just Buggin’.” Heckerling placed the slang in a setting no one expected: the sun-drenched, hyper-verbal world of Beverly Hills teens. By combining recognizable slang with Valley-girl cadence and context, she gave the word fresh novelty, turning something familiar into something fresh and unexpected.
From the script: Cher, describing her father’s 50th birthday party and making a pro-immigration argument: “People came that, like, did not RSVP. So I was, like, totally buggin’.”
Hymenally challenged
Definition: A pedantic way of saying someone is a virgin.
Inspiration: Coined by Heckerling, this phrase parodies the trend of using politically correct or euphemistic language to soften or reframe sensitive topics. It layers humor with social critique, highlighting how society often awkwardly or indirectly talks about female virginity. The phrase is a clever linguistic joke emblematic of the ’90s fixation on euphemistic speech, disability language and political correctness, turning a delicate subject into a playful, coded expression.
From the script: Dionne (Stacey Dash) correcting Tai when she asks Cher if she is a virgin: “Besides, the PC term is hymenally challenged.”
In on the heavy clambakes
Definition: Being “in the loop” or part of the party scene.
Inspiration: Heckerling’s jive-talk dictionary, a 1970s dictionary she discovered and photocopied from a library. The phrase echoes retro slang used to describe being included in social events or parties.
From the script: Christian (Justin Walker) to Cher: “I’m new, but I thought maybe you had an in on the heavy clambakes?”
Jeepin’
Definition: Having sex in a car.
Inspiration: Rap lyrics, referencing sex in a car (Jeep).
From the script: Murray (Donald Faison) to Dionne: “What’s up? You jeepin’ behind my back?” Dionne: “Jeepin’? No. But speaking of vehicular sex…”
Keeping it real
Definition: Staying authentic or genuine, often with street credibility.
Inspiration: Coined by Donald Faison (who plays Murray). He overheard a kid in his neighborhood saying it, and added it to the script. Donald Faison says: “I heard that from my neighbor – some kid in my neighborhood said ‘just keep it real, Just make sure you keep it real.’ And I was like – oh that’s what the kids are saying now. I said it because he [Murray] was trying to be a hoodlum. And when you keep it real in the hood, you keep it as gangster as possible.“
From the script: Dionne asks Murray: “Why would you shave your head?” Murray’s response: “I’m keeping it real.”
Monet
Definition: Someone who seems desirable from a distance, but isn’t up close
Inspiration: Heckerling borrowed the term from UCLA Slang 2, which is a playful reference to the impressionist style of artist Claude Monet. The slang implies that, much like Monet’s paintings, someone might be visually pleasing from afar yet chaotic upon closer inspection. Hence it’s a tongue-in-cheek critique of Monet’s famously blurred brushwork and a sharp insult used by kids at the time.
From the script: Cher, referring to Amber (Elisa Donovan): “She’s a full-on Monet. It’s like a painting, see? From far away, it’s okay, but up close, it’s a big ol’ mess.”
Rationed
Definition: Way of saying that one is socially unavailable or that one’s time is limited.
Inspiration: WWII-era movies slang, as Amy Heckerling explains: “That’s from World War II movies. Because rationing was a big thing.”
From the script: Christian: “Hey, Duchess, you rationed this weekend?”
Surfing the crimson wave
Definition: Surfer-style euphemism for menstruating.
Inspiration: Drawn from a long tradition of vivid euphemisms for periods. Amy Heckerling noted, “If you look through any slang dictionaries, there are tons of terms for sex, for being drunk and for having your period. People are very expressive about that. One I loved is Shark Week.” “Surfing the crimson wave” plays on both the physical reality of menstruation and the surfer vernacular, creating a humorous, highly visual metaphor, and exemplifying her adeptness in taking fringe slang or invented phrases, then anchoring them in character dialogue so naturally that they feel like authentic teen-speak.
From the script: Cher explaining a tardy: “Mr. Hall, I was surfing the crimson wave. I had to haul ass to the ladies.”
Toe-up
Definition: Physically unattractive; a play on the slang phrase “tore up.”
Inspiration: Derived from general slang for “tore up,” possibly evolving from the phrase “tore up from the floor up,” which refers to someone looking extremely disheveled or being heavily intoxicated.
From the script: Dionne, objecting to Cher’s suggestion that they adopt Tai: “Cher, she is toe-up. Our stock would plummet.”
Way harsh
Definition: Extremely hurtful or harsh.
Inspiration: Rooted in general Valley Speak, “way” is used as an intensifier, much like “very” or “really.” The phrase isn’t made up of new words, but rather gains its distinctive feel from the delivery and context. As Heckerling explained: “That will change the feel of any word, by how you say ‘very.’ Harsh was just harsh. That wasn’t like a new word.”
From the script: Cher, after Tai calls her a virgin who can’t drive: “That was way harsh, Tai.”
Whatever (with “W” hand gesture)
Definition: A dismissive retort. Often accompanied by the “W” hand gesture.
Inspiration: From Heckerling’s friend Meredith Scott Lynn and her circle, paired with early ’90s hand gesture culture, a progression of the L hand gesture widely recognized as “loser.”
From the script: Amber to Cher, after Cher makes a flimsy debate point about the Haitians: “Whatever.”
You got my marker
Definition: A slang word for IOU or favor. Which means this is Christian Stovitz (Justin Walker) for “I owe you one.”
Inspiration: A reference to Guys and Dolls, the 1950 Broadway musical adapted into a 1955 movie starring Marlon Brando, Frank Sinatra and Jean Simmons: “A marker isn’t just a piece of paper that says, ‘I.O.U. 1000 dollars signed Nathan Detroit.’ It’s like a pledge that a guy can’t welch on it. It’s like not saluting the flag! My marker’s as good as gold.” It also refers to Little Miss Marker, the story, first published in 1932, centering around a little girl, named “Marky” left as a “marker” (a form of collateral) for a gambling debt. The most well-known adaptation is the 1934 film starring Shirley Temple. Both Guys and Dolls and Little Miss Marker originate from Damon Runyon’s distinctive storytelling universe.
From the script: Christian, to Josh after he says he’ll drive Cher home from the Bosstones party: “Thanks, man. You got my marker.”