“How can you afford that?”
“Girl Math”
“Ur delulu!”
“I ate that test!”
“I was cooked by it.”
“U slayed.”
“Bet”
“It’s time to glow up.”
“CUL8R”
“Touch grass.”
If you need help with the text dialogue above between two young teen girls, here you go!
“How can you afford that?”
“Girl Math” (A term used to rationalize overspending)
“Ur delulu!” (You are delusional.)
“I ate that test!” (I did unusually well on the exam.)
“I was cooked by it.” (The test was hard.)
“U slayed.” (You did fine.)
“Bet” (I agree.)
“It’s time to glow up.” (To do something that dramatically improves one’s appearance)
“CUL8R” (See you later.)
“Touch grass.” (To interact with the real world.)
Skibidi (goofy, weird, or funny) conversations among young teens are not new. I don’t think my grandfather ever knew what groovy or square meant – I didn’t expect him to. Nor did I use those words around him. Grandparents don’t authenticate a teen’s position in a peer group. Peers do that. If my grandmother called my English teacher a square, I would have been shocked. Squares didn’t use groovy words.
Grandparents don’t need to know teen slang. Most of it doesn’t transfer to everyday use. However, it wasn’t that long ago that words like hippie, bling, OMG, YOLO, fam and “that’s a W” transferred into mainstream English. Last weekend was the first time I heard a sports announcer use “glow up” to describe a low ranked team’s impressive victory over a higher ranked team. “Today, we saw the Bears glow up.”
Here are some terms to listen for in the store, on the radio, or from your teenage grandchildren. Which do you think will last?
“She’s the rizz.” (Rizz: charisma, especially in flirting)
“He’s sigma.” (Someone independent, rebellious, and unconcerned with status; a type of cool)
“Girl dinner” (A meal that’s quickly assembled from snack food)
“Let’s go to Gianno’s; their pizza is bussin.’” (Bussin’: delicious, or something excellent)
“Cap/No cap” (An exaggeration or falsehood vs. genuine or true as in “No lie!”)
“Snatched” (Stylish)
So, ICYMI (in case you missed it), RN (right now) these acronyms are used IRL (in real life). TBH (to be honest), I didn’t know them all, but IYKYK (if you know, you know). If you don’t, you are probably having TFW (that feeling when) you first realized you were old.
Mike Shaughnessy is the founder of Grandly.