Every generation has slang, but Gen Alpha’s has a particularly unhinged quality, some parents say. Still, experts say their bad rep isn’t totally deserved.

In the beginning, there was “skibidi.”

It appeared abruptly in the lexicons of kids under 14 — the first slang term unique to Generation Alpha. Parents’ ears perked up as they began to hear it around the dinner table. It could mean bad, cool, or nothing at all, their kids explained. Then a dozen more incomprehensible terms followed suit.

Gen Z’s “slay” and “tea” are officially vintage, giving way to “sigma,” “gyatt” and “fanum tax.”

Everyone’s getting whiplash.

      • PugJesus@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        8
        ·
        3 months ago

        The primary difference is that the slang ends up born (and abandoned) on the national and international levels, whereas in times past slang would become lodged in the regional vernacular first, and some of it would never move ‘up’ to replace old slang. In a sense, then, there was more slang in days past - it just was less ‘standardized’.

        • shalafi@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          4
          ·
          3 months ago

          I kinda get that. We called anime “Japanimation” in the 80s. Nothing racist there for y’all haters, just what we called it. But you’re right, never heard that term outside my local group.

  • Phegan@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    54
    ·
    3 months ago

    Every generation has this article published about them, congratulations, you are officially old and out of touch.

  • Phegan@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    32
    ·
    3 months ago

    Dividing us into generations is a way to make us feel segmented and separated. The concept of generations is made up, we shouldn’t feel tribal about the era we were born in.

  • catloaf@lemm.ee
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    24
    ·
    3 months ago

    They’ll go away soon enough. It’s just been dialed up to 11 through media like tiktok.

  • hactar42@lemmy.ml
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    17
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    3 months ago

    This is basically repeated every 10 years. Some of them will stick around for the long-term some will die. I don’t for see skibidi or gyatt stick around long-term. At least not unironical. I’m in my 40s and I don’t have any peers who still use words like “phat” or “whateves”. But someone saying bling would not seem out of place.

  • msage@programming.dev
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    13
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    3 months ago

    Can’t wait for some local news with traditional reporting of teen slang:

    “Is your teen child using slang like ‘no cap’? It could indicade that they are having Sex-Without-Protection. More at 11.”

  • Boozilla@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    8
    ·
    3 months ago

    Reminds me of Nadsat from the movie, A Clockwork Orange. Haven’t read the novel yet.

    • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      5
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      3 months ago

      There’s a lot more in the novel that isn’t in the film.

      That said, the copy that Kubrick used to adapt into the film did not have the final chapter of the novel (it was an edited down American version) and it is such a better ending than the book.

  • Etterra@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    7
    ·
    3 months ago

    Slang is stupid, film at 11:00. This is just old people complaining about young people. We’ve been doing this for literally thousands of years. It’s not newsworthy, not even in in the modern age of 6 second attention spans.