Among Us by developer InnerSloth deeply prioritizes both deception and teamwork via its chat system but usual emergency meetings only last for several minutes, so players have either created and borrowed simple slangs to simplify the process.
Among Us is an online competitive puzzle game based on a player’s ability to communicate efficiently with other players. Once the game begins, players take the role of a group of cartoonish characters in a diverse science fiction environment.
Every player will be assigned the role of an impostor or a crewmate and will be expected to perform various tasks across the map. Crewmates will focus on doing simple challenges and observe the behavior of fellow players. On the other hand, Impostors destroy the Crewmates’ tasks in order to isolate and kill them in the process.
Crewmates can call an emergency meeting or report dead bodies and decide on whether or not a player will get evicted from the match. Impostors will do their best to trick players into evicting the wrong players.
This process requires a lot of discussions, but to ensure players can’t prolong meetings for too long, the time is limited to only a few minutes. As a result, the mode of communication utilized by players is short, snappy slangs created to essentially exchange details with ease.
SUS
One of the most common slangs used in Among Us is SUS which is a shortened word for suspect or suspicious. It is the go-to word when a player accuses or believes that they might be the impostor. Alternatively, Impostors can utilize the word to divert attention away from themselves and towards an unwary innocent Crewmate.
AFK
Among Us is also available on the PC via Steam, so several of gamespeak made its way into the game’s vocabulary. One word commonly used in the game is the term AFK. Unlike SUS, which is a shortening of a single word, AFK is an acronym for Away From Keyboard.
The phrase originated from PC gamers who would usually need to excuse themselves while inside a match for different reasons. Since then, the term became common among gamers across the world, even the ones who don’t play on keyboards. Since Among Us is also available on the PC, it wasn’t long before AFK became a commonly used word.
Where
Other Among Us slangs are just shortened thoughts rather than acronyms or individual words. When a player notifies the team of a dead body, Crewmates usually often instantly ask “Where” to locate the dead teammate’s body.
It’s a simple question that starts the conversation going and demands players to present alibies to remove themselves from the list of possible suspects.
Vent
Vent is used by Among Us players both as a noun and as a verb to describe how Impostors utilize vent openings across the map to easily move from area to area.
