Name: Delulu.
Age: About a decade.
Appearance: Self-deception as self-care.
Please don’t tell me this is more youth slang to learn. I’ve only just figured out how to use the term “nang” properly. Relax. There’s nothing difficult about learning what delulu means. It’s the easiest thing in the world!
Really? Hey, psst, don’t look, but are there any young people around?
No, I don’t think so. Right, good. Between you and me, then, delulu isn’t easy at all. It’s weird and layered and nuanced and complex and … wait, is that a young person coming over?
Yes, why? Ahem, so as I was saying, delulu is really easy! We’ll get it in no time! We’re so smart!
Please tell me what’s going on. OK, look, the short answer is that delulu is an abbreviation of “delusional”. It began about a decade ago as an insult that K-pop followers targeted towards obsessive fans who believed they would befriend, date or even marry their favourite stars.
Right, easy enough. But now delulu has evolved. Now to be delulu is a good thing.
But it isn’t good to be delusional. Or is it?
No. But maybe it is. Have you seen a TikTok video of a woman in a moderately busy tube carriage in London, dancing and pouting into her camera as though she’s in a music video, to the obvious bafflement of her fellow passengers?
I am hip and trendy, so yes. Right, well, she’s delulu.
But she’s acting like a maniac. That’s the point. Most people would die of shame if they tried doing that. But the woman in the video is fearless. She has overridden her body’s natural capacity for embarrassment. By kidding herself that she’s something special, she has become something special. To repeat: she is delulu.
So she’s manifesting star quality from nothing. Basically, yes.
But she looks idiotic. Oh my God, look around at what young people are inheriting. The planet is on fire, natural resources are running out, homes are unaffordable. In their position, wouldn’t you start to rely on audacious, seemingly impossible leaps of faith as well?
Hang on, you’re just describing self-belief. Not really. Self-belief means you have confidence in your own abilities. Delulu, though, is limitless. It means you have confidence beyond all ability. Plus it’s way more fun to say.
Right, I get it! Delulu is another way of saying: “Fake it till you make it.” No, we don’t say that any more. We say: “May all your delulu come trululu, because being delulu is the solulu.”
Nope, too silly. I’m out. Sululuit yourselelelf.
Do say: “I’m delulu! I can do anything!”
Don’t say: “Hang on, was Matt Hancock delulu?”
