Theatre
Feature
Mean Girls The Musical: the essential glossary
All the fetch words and phrases you’ll need to know before Mean Girls The Musical hits the West End in 2024
There’s a time-honoured tradition of teen movies creating their own language – think Cher’s “I’m totally bugging” in Clueless or Veronica’s “How very” in Heathers. 2004’s Mean Girls just might reign supreme as the most quotable teen comedy of all time, and the 2018 Broadway adaptation only expanded upon that legacy, with its soundtrack introducing plenty of new phrases to the Mean Girls dictionary. Behind on your North Shore High vernacular? Don’t worry – with Mean Girls the Musical set to arrive on the West End in summer 2024, you’ve still got plenty of time to memorise our handy glossary. Securing your tickets, however, is something you won’t want to wait on…
Fetch
Origin: Gretchen Weiners
Adjective
1. Used to describe something cool or pleasing, such as the colour pink or finding out that your new friend is from Africa.
2. Isn’t going to happen
Example: “Oh my god, that is so fetch!”
Burn Book
Origin: Regina George
Noun
1. A scrapbook containing damning information (mostly unverified) on everyone at North Shore High School. Can be found in Regina George’s bedroom.
2. The collective title of the pages photocopied and scattered across North Shore High School, airing everyone’s dirty laundry.
3. Probably not a good idea.
Fugly
Origin: Teenage girls across 2000s America
Adjective
1. A blend of the words ‘f*cking’ and ‘ugly’.
2. Used to describe a girl who you particularly dislike, regardless of her actual physical appearance.
Example: “Regina George is a fugly cow.”
Apex predator
Origin: Science?
Noun
1. A predator at the very top of the food chain.
2. A high school student at the very top of the food chain.
3. Regina George.
Example: “Gotta keep things cool with the apex predator.”
The Plastics
Origin: Janis Ian and Damian Leigh
Noun
1. Teen royalty.
2. A clique of high school students made up of Karen Smith, Gretchen Weiners and Regina George.
3. So called because all three of them are shiny, fake and hard.
Example: “I saw the Plastics wearing army pants and flip flops, so I bought army pants and flip flops.”
Mathletes
Origin: The US school system
Noun
1. A team of students who compete in mathematics competitions at a regional or national level.
2. Nerds.
Example: “You can’t join the Mathletes. It’s social suicide.”
Wednesdays
Origin: Unclear (possibly the Babylonians)
Noun
1. The third day of the seven-day week.
2. Hump day.
Example: “On Wednesdays we wear pink.”
Revenge party
Origin: Janis Ian
Noun
1. A party with revenge.
2. A colloquial expression for a mission undertaken by your two best friends to ruin the life of your enemy.
Example: “A revenge party is a party that ends with somebody’s head on a spike.”
Halloween
Origin: The Celts
Noun
1. The eve of All Saints’ Day, typically celebrated on October 31 by people dressing up in scary/sexy costumes and eating lots of sweets/getting really drunk.
2. The one day a year when a girl can dress like a total slut and no other girls can say anything about it.
Example: “It’s Halloween.”
October 3rd
Origin: The Romans
Date
1. The third day of the eighth month in the Gregorian Calendar.
2. The day Aaron Samuels asked Cady Heron what day it was.
Example: “It’s October 3rd.”
Glen Coco
Origin: Unknown.
Noun
1. Student at North Shore High.
2. Popular recipient of many candy canes.
Example: “Four for you, Glen Coco! You go, Glen Coco!”
Mean Girls the Musical opens at the Savoy Theatre in June 2024. Find tickets here.
