Internet Culture » Meaning

What Does NGL Mean and How Is It Used?

Abby Hill | Updated On December 20, 2023

Chatting online with friends has made it easier for us to keep in touch with the ones we care about. But another thing that this era of chatting and messaging online has given is numerous abbreviations of sentences and phrases. In fact, at the present day, we are so habitual of these abbreviations that we use them in our daily lives too, especially the Gen-Z. Initially, these abbreviations along with emojis were used to save time while texting and to type the things we want to say faster, but now they are a huge part of our conversations. 

Abbreviations like NGL that originally means Not Gonna Lie or Not Going To Lie. Well, there are tons of other such abbreviations that we use in our daily conversations and not just on texts but verbally too. But today we are just going to talk about “NGL”. The abbreviation is quite popular, especially on Reddit and Twitter. You might have seen lots of Tweets starting with “NGL”. So isn’t it worth knowing more about it? Of Course, it is. So let’s dig into it. 

Not Gonna Lie

NGL which is short for the phrase Not Gonna Lie is most of the time used at the beginning of a sentence. The main motive of putting NGL at the beginning of a sentence is to indicate the honesty or openness of the sentence that someone is going to say. There’s another similar abbreviation like NGL that is used while expressing the truthfulness of your statement which is TBH, it stands for, To Be Honest. 

TBH is quite more famous than any other abbreviation. It is used for stating the honesty and the truthfulness of the sentence and is also put at the beginning of it. 

Although, it is not mandatory to use Not Gonna Lie strictly as stated above, as the tone of it can change as per the meaning of the sentence. In fact, not just for stating the openness of sentences, Not Gonna Lie can also be used to insult someone. Well, the basic nature of the abbreviation is to share your honest opinion, be it in a positive way or in a negative way. 

95 percent of the time, Not Gonna Lie is used to state your honest opinion about anything.  Like one can say- ‘NGL, I don’t like cats that much’ or ‘NGL, I experienced the same thing you said yesterday.’ 

Hence, the primary idea of using this phrase is to express your true feelings for something or someone. 

But how did NGL originate? Let’s know more about NGL and its origin.

How and When Did NGL Originate?

It’s been quite a long time now since the phrase Not Gonna Lie or I’m Not Gonna Lie came to its origin. And from the very beginning, the phrase is being used to state the vulnerability of something that someone is going to say.  

The phrase can be used in the beginning or sometimes at the end of a sentence. 

It can be said that Not Gonna Lie or NGL altered sometime between 2009 and 2010 because this is when the abbreviation was added to the urban dictionary for the first time, after that the word became even more famous and came into the limelight of Google Trends. 

In fact, for now, NGL is at its peak on Google Trends. It means that people are searching for the word on the online platform more than they ever did. And not just Google, NGL is gaining quite a popularity on Reddit and Twitter as well. 

All this started with just a small meme that became huge afterward. The meme said- “They had us in the first half, Not Gonna Lie”, here, the person was just stating the truth that despite the fact they won the match, the other team had them in the first half of the match, he was being honest about their win. The meme was started by Apollos Hester. 

Despite knowing the exact meaning of the Abbreviation NGL, people often wonder how they can actually use the phrase in their sentences or in conversations. So let’s learn about it.

How to Use NGL?

Just like TBH, NGL is kind of a direct abbreviation of a very popular real-world phrase- Not Gonna Lie. Hence, if you know how to use the phrase Not Gonna Lie in real life, you are probably all set to use its abbreviation too in texting. This is also because of the reason that the word doesn’t use any weird grammatical rules and you can just use it as it is, like you have been using it in your real-world conversations. 

Let’s take it this way, if you want to tell your friend that you don’t like donuts, you can simply say Donuts are too Sweet, NGL.

And if you want to insult your friend for liking donuts, you can say NGL, Donuts are for kids. 

These are two totally different statements with different uses of the phrase Not Gonna Lie. In the very first sentence, NGL is used at the end of it while in the second one, it is used at the very beginning of it. 

There are many other internet slangs that are gaining popularity these days, so let’s have a look at them.

Some Other Internet Slangs

Here are some other popularly used internet slangs with their meanings:

IDC-I don’t care

TBH– To be honest

IDK– I don’t know

FR– For real

STG– Swear to god

IMO– In my opinion

FWIW– For what’s it’s worth

IMHO– In my honest Opinion

SRSLY– Seriously

LOL– Laughing out loud

LMAO-Laughing my ass off

IK– I know

IKR– I know right

ROFL– Rolling on the floor and laughing

OMG– Oh my god

TTYL– Talk to you later

BRB– Be right back

Now let’s look at some examples using NGL in sentences.

Examples of NGL

Examples 1

Person 1- NGL, this dress doesn’t suit you much.

Person 2- OMG, FR? My sister said she likes it.

Example 2

Person 1- Wow, NGL, Mr. Potter looks good in this blazer.

Person 2- OMG SRSLY? he’s too old.

Person 1- IDC, IMO older guys are really attractive. 

Person 2- Man you’re weird.

Person 1- IK

Example 3

Person 1- Dude, did the principal catch you?

Person 2- No, I ran.

Person 1- FR? NGL, I thought we were busted.

Person 2- Me too but I got away.

So this was all about the phrase Not Gonna Lie and its abbreviation and how people use it. It’s quite a common phrase these days as people have started using it in their real-life conversations too, making it even more familiar.