The Gen Z and Gen Alpha slang is too confusing? Fear not, as we dive in to explore. And if You’re a Gen X, take the crash course now!
“So, are you a Skibidi or a Rizzler?” I asked my Gen Z child. “I’m a Skibidi Rizzler”, came the instant reply!
“Go figure”, said my Gen X mind. But for those who are totally lost on “cool’ sounding Gen Z terms belongs to an alien planet, do we even speak the same language, (apparently we’re both speaking English here), here’s the lowdown on language, semantics, ‘Bussin’ words and more!
Note of caution: Unlearn whatever grammar and vocabulary rules your English teacher threw your way. Today’s lingo, a loosely derived social media/video games dictionary is all about the rules that break the rules.
To Start Off
For the unschooled: Skibidi means cool, bad or dumb and is pronounced “Skibidiii with a flourish and slide to the accent. “Its meaning depends on the word its paired with, such as “Skibidi Rizz,” which means someone who is good at flirting, or “Skibidi Ohio” which refers to something that is weird or eccentric. People Magazine, not me!
And then there’s ‘Skibidi Ohio Rizz’ – Apparently someone who has ‘Bad Rizz’ or is bad at flirting. The Ohio part has something to do with how nothing goes right in this particular American state? But if you ask a Gen Zer, he will tell you it’s all meaningless!
And then there is that other word that just appeared on my radar of indefinable, noncompliant, defiance laden (I’ll explain why defiant, very soon) terms: ‘Mog’, which means to basically look better than someone else when standing next to them? Note, I put a question mark there.
Because you never know when the generation that invented the words will disown them, in an act of obvious defiance, as everybody uses them now, especially their parents which means they’ve hit the ‘uncool’ mark. In Gen Z terms uncool would mean unmog? Aha, now that’s a major blunder you ‘Melon!’ I lost some major ‘Aura’ points there or perhaps even took on the ‘Negative Aura’ often associated with Gen Xers like me!
But that’s Not It
There’s also the point of using extremes, polar opposites as a way to express your highs and lows in ‘low key’ as few words as possible.
So you’re either a ‘Sigma’ or an ‘Alpha’, you either have ‘Aura’ or you don’t and if it’s all about ‘Rizz,’ your sex appeal, as I’d call it from where I’m looking, would turn into ‘Bad Rizz’ or is it ‘Low Rizz,’ as in, am I an L, if I fail to turn heads, or make your heart do a double flip?? And for the doubly fortunate, I could be a W which is short for Win if I have High Rizz – W me I hope!
And if this conversation has your head convoluted into a hundred different yoga poses all at once, it’s because it’s meant to, or rather, a term I do love the Gen Zer’s for inventing – you are suffering from ‘Brain Rot,’ what many Gen Zers would call a ‘Skibidi toilet’ (because Gen Alpha has the start on that one)!
Horror of horror shows, my children will refuse to own me because I wrote this article.
And then there’s the allusion to kitchen semantics
If you’re cooked, you’re Mike Tyson in a fight against Jake Paul who definitely did the cooking? But if you’re one of those who’s following up on the conspiracy theories regarding that match as fixed from the start, you definitely think its ‘Sus’.
And wait, there’s more where that came from: if your outfit is ‘Giving’, you got it made in the style wars department! Hmm, but that one is tough because there are new terms like ‘Bussin’ (which I get is a new word, language evolves with time), but then there are old terms like ‘Giving’ that acquire a new meaning.
POV: At least ‘Bussin’ is a new term to learn, as in; those brownies are ‘Bussin’ or ‘Dope’ (taste good)? Well, in the world I come from, ‘Dope’ had nothing to do with delicious brownies unless of course, there was some in them, and then they’d be ‘Sus’? Get the drift?
But when someone has all the ‘Drip’ and their outfit ‘Ate’ down or its ‘Giving’??? Now that’s a hard one to pull off!
Add One More!
And one to drop off your list in 2025 if you don’t want to lose that ‘Aura’ are probably terms such as ‘cringe, no cap and slay’ – words that might just have met their 3 year end-of-life mark. No one uses them unless they’re trying too hard to be…? Umm, yours truly? Never! I wouldn’t dream of it, not now anyway!
What I determined from the slang terms is that Gen Z and Alpha, is all about opposites and extreme expressions in lowkey terms, I mean, why use an entire sentence when you can say it in a word, or two at the most? If ‘Aura’ is positive and negative, so is ‘Rizz’ and check this out, ‘Skibidi Toilet’ is a thing too, perhaps if you’ve done something especially cringe, you lose ‘Aura’ points and might be a ‘Skibidi Ohio’ or, ‘Skibidi Toilet?’ Are they even one and the same?
Please note: the lingo does follow rules as in both words originate from the root word ‘Skibidi’ – Don’t mind me, just my Gen X brain trying to make sense here.
And all those lingual gymnastics to reveal to you by the way that I’m not sure if this is actually the work of Gen Z or Gen Alpha, one superseding the other?
But it’s clear that even if you learn the terms and how to use them right, which is an exercise in impossibility for a Gen Xer, the moment you get it right, the Zers and Alphas will decide that you have lost more ‘Aura’ points and switch to yet another term, discarding this one to the list of have-beens. According to my Gen X language radar, that takes approximately 3 years. Yes, 3 years for a new Gen Z/Alpha term to reach the end of its product lifecycle till a new one is adopted.
Kinda like them jumping off Instagram to SnapChat and us, trying to follow them into the space that they’ve created as an exclusive world, not meant for the Gen X AT ALL!
So Why All The Exclusivity?
And why do my children cringe if I use a term that they have coined and use with the utmost freedom? Oh well, I think it has something to do with appearing cool, using terms that set them apart from the ‘uncool’ crowd, namely, reality check, US? Well, at least cool is a word that stood the test of time, I sigh with relief!
Umm, noooo, that’s ‘Dope!’ You ‘Melon.’ You got it wrong… again!
P.S. If you really didn’t get any of the terms mentioned above, ‘Rizz’ is a shortened version of Charisma, ‘Sus’ comes from Suspicious, ‘Melon’ has nothing to do with anything and for the rest, go figure!
