Tired of feeling clueless when teenagers are talking? If you have no idea what any of the slang terms your middle schooler uses all the time mean, the team at Lifehacker has your back. They’ve put together a glossary of popular slang words and phrases used by Gen Z and Gen Alpha, so you can finally understand what they’re saying.
While this guide is here to help, it comes with a word of warning. If you’re not in one of those generations and/or you need an online list to tell you what these words mean, you shouldn’t say them out loud … unless you’re trying to be embarrassing. Then by all means, say any of them you want.
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- 4+4 – It means “ate,” as in four plus four is eight, or “ate.”
- Ate/eat – Something done very well, often related to clothes, as in “You ate that outfit.”
- Baka – A Japanese word meaning “crazy” or “foolish,” it’s popular in the anime community.
- Chopped – This means ugly, often describing someone’s outfit or face, but anything that’s not good could be called “chopped.”
- Choppelganger – A portmanteau of “chopped” and “doppelganger,” it’s someone who looks like another person, but worse.
- Clock that – It means “I understand and agree,” but it’s not to be confused with older slang when “clock” meant to see.
- Coworker-core – A description for all things that are not funny or uninteresting in a way that appeals to older generations.
- Fambushing – A combo of “family” and “ambushing,” it refers to young people checking where their parents are on location-sharing apps in order to get free food. If you find mom at Chipotle, you ask for a burrito.
- HTN – An acronym from the online incel community for “high-tier normies,” which describes fairly good-looking men.
- IWEL – A comment section acronym for “I wouldn’t even lie.”
- Mog – To be more attractive than someone, but in an intentional or aggressive way.
- Neurospicy – A way of saying “neuro-divergent.”
- Normie – Someone considered average or normal, can be used as an insult.
- Twin – Best friend
- “We’re so back” – Means the opposite of “it’s so over.”
- Zoomer Perm – A haircut that’s curly on top, short on the sides and popular with young people.
Source: Lifehacker
