Try this experiment. Have a conversation with your parents where they speak exclusively using slang from their generation, and you speak exclusively in millennial slang. What are the chances you would understand each other? The most popular slang terms for each generation, uncovered in a recent study by Great Senior Living, proves that we don't all speak the same language. According to the study, Baby Boomers — the generation busy shaming millennials over avocado toast — are the least likely of any generation to recognize the meanings of today's most commonly used slang terms.
According to the New York Post, slang develops in each generation when people want to separate themselves from the status quo. "Much slang starts out as a kind of low-level guerilla warfare directed at straight society, designed to keep out the squares, or annoy them, or both, and is then abandoned by the group which originated it once the words have become common currency,” Max Decharne wrote in the recently released book “Vulgar Tongues: An Alternative History of English Slang,” the Post reported.
When I was a kid in the pre-internet '90s, using slang terms ensured that me and my friends could talk openly in front our parents, and they would have no idea what we were saying. It turns out they still don't. In the study boomers were the least likely of any generation to recognize the meanings of the most commonly used slang terms today — only 8 percent correctly defined "lit" as something that was really awesome; 92 percent thought it meant being drunk or high.
Bye Felicia Because, I Can't Even ...
Boomers fared slightly better on some other slang terms with 17 percent correctly guessing that "extra" meant over the top, and 35 percent understood that "yaaas" is a way to express excitement. Additionally, 37 percent of boomers surveyed knew why you "can't even" compared to 51 percent of Gen-Xers and 61 percent of millennials (are the rest of these people not online?). 54 percent of boomers understood what it meant to say "bye Felicia" to your former "bae," and 87 percent of all surveyed knew that bae meant "before anyone else."
The high level of understanding around these two terms might have something to do with "can't even" and "bye Felicia" being the oldest slang terms still in circulation today, according to the survey. "Bye Felicia," stems from the 1995 Ice Cube movie Friday, and came back with a vengeance after the release of Straight Outta Compton in 2015. "Can't even" has been trending since 2005, according to the website Know Your Meme.
However, 43 percent of boomers also knew that "THOT" meant "that hoe over there." How do they know this? And, let's agree that this one is sexist AF, and everyone should stop using it ASAP.
No One Knows What "Snatched" Means
Of the 2,000 people surveyed from all three generations, 97 percent did not know what "snatched" meant. Guilty right here. I just looked this one up, and according to Pop Sugar, snatched is a new slang term used to describe anything that looks really good. Basically, it's the new on fleek because, on fleek is so over.
Pop Sugar also listed several other slang words that are working their way into everyday conversations. And, if you have major FOMO, these new slang terms terms are: Sus (sketchy or shady), boots (basically this can be used the same as AF; instead of saying "I'm tired AF," you can say "I'm tired boots"), Stan (hardcore fan, which stems from the Eminem song Stan about an over-the-top fan), and OTP (one true pairing, kind of like bae).
While your parents might not understand why your bae is so lit, you might have trouble decoding jargon from their generation. Maybe they want to get on the horn (phone) to discuss a bogus (unfair) problem before they go postal (go crazy) on some wannabe (poser) who is shaking their tree (bothering them).
Seriously. I can't even.
