“I’m Shook”: Here’s What It Really Means

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It’s funny how slang becomes official over time, but I guess that’s part of the evolution of language. For instance, the expression “what’s up?” was practically unheard of in the early nineteenth century.

After that, it came into existence some time in the middle of the 1800s. However, it wasn’t until the 1990’s that its popularity really exploded. It was almost like every teenager and their friends were saying it.

However, that wasn’t the end of the story. It wasn’t long before “what’s up?” morphed into “wassup,” an expression that didn’t exist before the end of the last century.

Then, “wassup” took off in the early 2000s. And, who could forget the Budweiser commercial with a bunch of teenagers yelling “wassup” at each other over the phone?

Today’s expression is also an interesting piece of slang that has a curious history.

 

What is the meaning of “I’m shook”?

“I’m shook” means I’m startled or surprised. People use it when they come to a sudden and unexpected realization.

Ergo, this surprise sort of leaves the speaker speechless and confused, or, in simpler terms, it leaves them shook.

You can also use “I’m shook” to mean that you are scared or worried somehow.

 

A closer look at “I’m shook”

There are three components in this expression. You have the pronoun “I,” which is combined with the present tense of the verb “to be.” And, the star of the show is the verb “shook.”

 

What’s wrong with the verb “shook”?

For starters, the definition of the verb “shake” can be one of three things. “Shake” can mean to move or vibrate, which can relate to structures or the ground itself.

It can also mean the rapid movement of an object either up and down or from side to side. And, the final definition of “shake” is to adversely affect someone’s composure by shocking or astonishing them.

Obviously, the phrase “I’m shook” relies on the third meaning.

Now, the interesting thing to note here is that “shook” is the past tense of “shake,” while “shaken” is the past participle form of the verb. This should give anyone pause.

You see, we always use the past participle form of a verb when trying to use it as an adjective.

Example

He is a fallen angel.

In the above sentence, “fallen” is an adjective that modifies “angel.” Additionally, “fallen” is in the past participle.

This is what the above sentence would look like if we were to use the past tense.

He is a fell angel.

Sounds wrong, doesn’t it?

The past tense connotes a specific time in the past, whereas the past participle does not do that.

Rather, the past participle is happy to talk about an action that could have happened at any point in time in the past, which is why this form of the verb can be used as an adjective.

Now, when we look at our expression, “I’m shook,” we will realize that the verb is in the past tense instead of the past participle. How can that be?

Well, this is the idiomatic part of this expression. It’s one of the very few instances where the past tense is used as an adjective, and it is also why this expression is best used in informal situations.

Its grammatical “incorrectness” would make it irksome in any formal letter. After all, you can’t have the CEO of a company telling their shareholders that they are “shook.”

It would seem unprofessional and would undermine their credibility.

 

How to use “I’m shook”

As just stated, you want to reserve “I’m shook” for informal and colloquial situations. With that in mind, here are a few examples to see the expression in action.

I was shook when I learned that Amir didn’t make it into the academy.

Person #1: Have you heard? They’re laying people off in our company.

Person #2: Really? I’m shook.

I almost had a car accident. I’m shook.

As you can tell, “I’m shook” is used in negative scenarios, cases where something bad has happened.

You really can’t use it in positive scenarios as it would seem out of place and strange.

After all, when someone is “shook,” their composure is lost and they are negatively impacted by whatever they’ve just learned or seen.

 

The history of “I’m shook”

Before I leave you, I promised you that this expression has an interesting history, and I would like to deliver on this promise.

You see, if you google it, you won’t find a lot of information. But, if you use Google Books Ngram Viewer, one of our favorite tools here on Linguaholic, you’ll notice that the expression “I’m shook” has gone through phases.

There were times when people used, while there were other times when it practically didn’t exist.

For instance, up until 1869, Google has no record of this expression being used in any books. Then, “I’m shook” was used until 1875, after which it disappeared again.

The expression didn’t resurface until 1897. It stayed around for a while this time, gaining in popularity until 1922, after which it disappeared again.

It was finally in 1953 that the expression came and stayed around until the present day.

Now, there are several unanswered questions.

First of all, did the expression maintain its meaning throughout the past two centuries, or was it perhaps slang for something else?

Additionally, just because Google can’t find this expression in its recorded books doesn’t mean that people weren’t using it during the times that it had “disappeared.”

So, were people still using it for example between 1875 and 1897, and if so, why did people stop using it in print?