‘You’ve probably heard or read “You are sus” or just “Sus” many times. In 2021, “Sus” was among the top choices for the Youth Word of 2021, but what does Sus mean exactly and where does it come from?
The top 10 youth words of this year leave many people outside the gaming bubble puzzled. Among the favorites of German youth this year are:
- Sheesh
- Wednesday
- Accurate
- Bro
- Same
- Low earner
- Cringe
- Wild
- Papatastic
- Sus
Of course, some candidates for the Youth Word of 2021 are self-explanatory or widely known: Cringe or Sheesh are part of the everyday vocabulary of youth today. Sus or even Papatastic are often only known to groups involved in the gaming cosmos.
Speaking of cosmos: The term Sus comes from a game with crazy colorful astronauts who fight each other in space — does it ring a bell?
What does Sus mean and where does the word come from?
This is the meaning of Sus: Sus is used as an abbreviation and means “suspicious”. In its original English form, it is “suspicious”, hence the use of the first 3 letters.
The word was originally used in the multiplayer game Among Us to describe a player suspected of turning against their teammates.
What is Among Us? In Among Us, players take on the roles of astronauts. As cute-looking space travelers, they must complete various tasks on a space station. However, not everyone has the same goals: one or a few players are called imposters and must secretly eliminate all other peaceful astronauts and sabotage their work.
If a player is caught sabotaging a task or murdering fellow players, they write Sus and the color of the suit in the chat. This way, all players know who they need to vote out into space at the next internal vote. If all imposters are dead in space, the innocents win.
This is how Sus is used in conversation: After the remarkable success of Among Us, which has also captivated many non-gamers, the use of Sus (via Google.books) has increased significantly in chat. However, it no longer means the same thing as in the game Among Us. It’s more about expressing doubt about something.
Example
Someone posts in an Instagram story:
‘I bake the best cake in the world, no one tastes better’
If you respond with Sus, it jokingly expresses that you don’t believe him or her about the best cake in the world or question it. But maybe you use the word Sus in a completely different way. Let us know in the comments.
In 2019, a term from gaming culture sneaked into the selection of youth words: A term from WoW is one of the most searched youth words of 2019
