Gen Z slang takes over: are you in or out ?

Generation Z's unique slang and expressions are shaping modern language, leaving older generations struggling to keep up.

From Instagram comments to big screen dialogues, Generation Z (Gen Z) is making it impossible for anyone outside their bubble to keep up with or escape their “unserious” vocabulary. “Unserious” itself is a reference to Gen Z, those born between 1997 and 2012, who call themselves an unserious generation.

Having grown up with smartphones and social media, this generational language gap is clearly reflected in the experience of V. Smitha, a homemaker in Kozhikode, who recalls her confusion when her daughter said, “You slayed.”

“I thought that to slay means to kill; apparently, it means that I did well, or ‘ate and left no crumbs,’ as my kids would say,” she laughs, trying to keep up with the youth. “Ghosting has nothing to do with ghosts either. It means ignoring someone without explanation,” Ms. Smitha adds.

Expressions like pookie (endearment), rizz (charisma), aura (the energy a person emits), mid (average), bussin (delicious), and diva (a confident, attractive woman) dominate their daily conversations.  Local slangs thantha-vibe (old-fashioned) and otta-mind (one-mind, when two or more people make spontaneous plans) are in vogue.

Malayalam words such as ‘aynu’ (so what), ‘oola’ (useless), and ‘poli’ (cool) remain common usage even as they do employ phrases like ‘scene annu’ (trouble), ‘oh scene/scene thanne’ ( impressive), ‘vere level’ (super cool), ‘bestie’ (male or female friend seen as a potential threat in a relationship), ‘valli’ ( to get tangled in problems) and ‘vazha’ (useless) in conversations.

While many parents struggle to keep up with the newgen lingo, P. Paul, a  father to two Gen Z daughters, in Thripunithura, finds it easy. “Kids think they’re being cool by reusing old terms,” he says, adding that parents should be open to changing times and words.

“I do not understand why they judge us for using slang when they themselves had used them. Many of us still use terms like ‘LOL’ (laughing out loud) and ‘yikes’ (to express surprise, panic or disgust), which they coined and popularised,” says Sreya T, a 23-year-old English literature graduate, in Kozhikode.