Artist had ‘no idea’ he’d be responsible for one of the most-used phrases across the world today

There seems to be a new buzzword phrase we've become absolutely obsessed with only to be replaced with the next big thing just the next month later.

At the moment, no doubt, your timeline and conversations will be flooded with the likes of 'brat', 'very demure' and 'slay', but there's one extremely popular phrase which has clearly stood the test of time ever since it was arguably first coined over two decades ago back in 2000.

However, the person responsible for one of the most-used phrases across the world today actually had 'no idea' he was the one behind it.

LL Cool J first coined the phrase back in 2000 (Gregg Deguire/Variety via Getty Images)

Any millennials out there will remember American rapper LL Cool J's reign in the 90s into the golden Y2K era but not many actually know that he apparently came up with the 'G.O.A.T' acronym.

In case you're not in the know, 'G.O.A.T' stands for 'Greatest Of All Time' and the 'Luv U Better' star - who has just released his first new album in over 11 years titled THE FORCE - used the term for his eighth studio album which came out 24 years ago back in 2000.

Speaking of the phrase, he told Metro: "There’s no question I came up with that!"

Explaining the inspo behind the phrase, the actor says it came about by 'smashing together' Muhammad Ali’s famous 'I am the greatest' quote along with the nickname given to basketball legend Earl 'the Goat' Manigault.

Yes, the rapper and actor is responsible for the phrase G.O.A.T (Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic)

Reflecting on the legacy and just how widespread 'G.O.A.T' is used, he admitted: "It’s pretty wild that it turned out how it did.

"I had no idea it was gonna become a worldwide phrase and statement."

While the 56-year-old wished he'd trademarked the phrase - he's decided not to dwell on a missed opportunity and instead wants to be more positive about his addition to pop culture lexicon.

"To be able to touch the world through my art like that is pretty dope." he shared. "What it says to me is that I can do more creatively. It says to me, if I’m capable of creating terminology for the entire globe, I can do some big things."

Talking of buzzwords, Cambridge Dictionary recently revealed its word of the year was none other than 'manifest'.

The word in question was looked up almost 130,000 times on the Cambridge Dictionary website - making it one of the most viewed words of 2024.