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.
This is not even vaguely new.
The difference is the rate at which new slang is born.
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’.
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.