Almost everyone uses slang. According to Preply, 94 percent of Americans use slang at least some of the time; more than half (54 percent) use it in most of their conversations, but 50 percent of Americans utter a slang expression they don’t comprehend.
‘Groovy’ was a gift from the Baby Boomers. ‘Chill’ and ‘totally’ came courtesy of Gen X. According to a 2019 study by the Pew Research Center, Gen Zers’ slang reveals a heavy influence from digital communication through TikTok, Instagram, and the like. These phrases, however, ignite a cringe.
“Rizz”
Spawned in social media and youth culture, ‘Rizz’ is short for ‘swag’ – ie, charisma. That irresistible magnetism and self-assured cool, which your Uncle Bob might once have referred to as ‘the gift of the gab.’
‘He’s got mad rizz,’ referring not to a contribution to the contemporary riot-grrrl scene but to a chappie who could charm the scales off a serpent.
“Lowkey / Highkey”
These terms are borrowed from hip-hop culture, where they were first used to employ subtlety or overtness in pithy forms. Lowkey generally refers to subtlety or restraint. I’m lowkey excited for the concert: I’m excited, but not in an over-the-top way.
Conversely, ‘highkey’ obliterates any semblance of coyness, foregrounding absolute ebullience or strong passes of emotion: ‘I’m highkey obsessed with this show!’ The puzzle points can annoy. ‘It’s like, are you excited or not?’ an aged Boomer complains.
“Bet”
Originating in African American Vernacular English (AAVE), “bet” is a signal used to affirm, approve, or agree—in other words, it’s my cooler, quicker way of saying ‘okay’ or ‘I’m down.’
You invite your friend out for coffee later. ‘Bet!’ they fire back. Short, sweet, to the point. But because it’s so abrupt, so staccato, we are all inclined to regard bet! as too colloquial, almost rude. ‘Just say “yes”.
“Doomscrolling”
You check your Twitter feed and Facebook, an aggregator site. Two hours later, you are stuck in a ‘doomscrolling’ vortex of relentless negativity. According to Pew Research, around 66 percent of Americans report being exhausted by the amount of news.
Like all buzzwords, this one entered our lexicon sometime around 2020 and expressed our newfound infatuation with gorging on avalanches of bad news. Just as energy drinks fill the mind with anxious thoughts instead of feelings of calm, doom-scrolling doesn’t break our focus from life’s stressors but makes them even worse.
“Touch Grass”
Emerging from gaming communities on the internet and forums such as Reddit and Twitter, this phrase is a gamer’s troll saying, ‘Get out into the real world.’ When you’ve been told to ‘touch the grass,’ that’s your sign to put down your computer and head outdoors.
Spending at least 120 minutes a week in nature improves well-being. However, the word is often used disparagingly to suggest that someone is excessively addicted to the online world, which gives it a somewhat smug undertone.
“Shook”
Coined in African American Vernacular English and adopted into mainstream culture around the mid-2010s, ‘shook,’ as in ‘totally shook,’ is GenZ shorthand for a state of extreme surprise, disbelief, or psychological mayhem.
To some Boomers and Millennials, belittling or sensationalizing simplifies complex feelings into one buzzword that flies off our tongues.
“Snatched”
‘Snatched’ is Gen Z’s highest form of praise. It often describes a perfect ensemble, hairstyle, or look. The word’s origin is deeply steeped in drag culture, and back then, it pretty much meant ‘snatched’ as in fantastic – well-put-together, camera-ready, and c’est magnifique.
“That dress has you snatched for the gods!” That’s supposed to be a compliment, but often, a newcomer to the community will hear it more as threatening or contemptuous. ‘The first time I heard it, I thought it was the most terrible thing someone could ever say to me,’ a young Millennial exclaimed.
“Sus”
Borrowed from the massively popular online game Among Us (players try to identify and eject the ‘impostor’ before the ‘CREW’ finishes a task), ‘sus’ stands for ‘suspicious.’ ‘Sus’ is often used in the Among Us online game by players to point out anyone behaving suspiciously – and is now also frequently used by teens to say something along the lines of ‘Isn’t that questionable?’ or simply to mean that one suspects the other might have an evil or scheming plan.
The use of sus by teens as a call-out of somehow suspicious behavior or to suggest evil intent is now at 62 percent. It peaks in frustration when it is dropped into sentences with no context: ‘That pizza is a little sus,’ and your listener is left wondering – too expensive or just a little too normalized as a breakfast item?
“Girl Dinner”
Popularised on the short-form video app TikTok, ‘Girl Dinner’ is a meal composed of snacks and small bites instead of a constructed entrée. #girldinner has more than 1.6 billion views and includes videos of users mock-sharing their ‘girl’ dinners. It is a spirited relative of a charcuterie plate, perhaps with a bit of cheese, crackers, pickles, olives, and maybe some leftover takeout.
Falling Asleep, meanwhile, has almost 1.4 million likes. ‘The controversy under the name “Girl Dinner” can deepen the relationship between eating disorders and insecurity with femininity, which is harmful to all sexes, ‘ cautions Jasper Murray on Black and White.
“Girl Math”
Girl Math is shorthand for the silly, sometimes irrational self-justifications people, especially young women, make about their purchases: If I don’t buy coffee every day, spanning the week, I’m not really spending any money anymore. Wow. Using this logic, you’d have enough saved after about six years to treat yourself to a new dress!
The TikTok hashtag #girlmath has 232 million views. ‘The “Girl Math” videos reinforce these stereotypes by perpetuating the notion of women having low intelligence and being bad at math,’ the Black and White observes.
“Yeet”
First used in the mid-2010s, yeet is said to have originated in viral videos on Vine, the short-form video-sharing website owned by Twitter, and was often paired with a dance move to needlessly punch across the room. Merriam-Webster defines “yeet” as a verb that generally means to throw (something) energetically or forcefully.
But it’s more than a verb; yeet can also express excitement or approval, as anyone who’s chucked anything while shouting ‘Yeet!’ can attest. Part of what makes it excruciatingly irritating is its overuse and lack of refinement.
“Fax No Printer”
Born in the halls of TikTok and Twitter, it translates to: ‘Facts, no questions’ or, in other words: ‘Just the truth, no explanation needed.’ It is often dropped like a mic after someone says… well, they either said something profound or they at least made an awesome point.
However fun it might be to play around with words, to most of us, this kind of thing is pretty cringe-worthy: “Climate change is real. Fax no printer.”
Finna
It is a mobile contraction of the expression ‘fixing to,’ with a history in African American Vernacular English (AAVE) going back an entire century. It is laden with a sense of immediacy and intention: I’m finna grab a coffee; I’m about to do it.
And its overuse can easily make it sound childish or unduly lazy, especially to the uninitiated. ‘About to’ is still the favored phrase of many over 50, not least for its clarity but also because ‘just about’ is still seen by some as a tell-tale marker of professionalism.
Bussin’
From AAVE comes ‘bussin’, which typically refers to something delicious, especially when referring to food: “Yo, this pizza is bussin’. Cheese-y and hot!” OR “Yo, these leftover apple pies are bussin’.”
A 2023 survey by Preply reveals that 21% of parents despise the term “bussin.”
“Cap”
Emerging from hip-hop slang in the late 20th century, ‘cap’ now appeals to Gen Z as typical youth slang, exploding across TikTok and Twitter circa 2017.
To ‘cap’ is to lie, while ‘no cap’ is truthful or sincere. Calling someone out belongs to a crowd-insider slang world that feels dismissive, making conversations slightly less sincere at every usage – especially if you’re not in your slang flow. The Preply 2023 study found that 14 percent of parents utterly hate the term.
