Is GEN ALPHA SLANG just NONSENSE?

How does slang even happen? And what does it mean when a looks maxxing sigma tells you your drip and rizz are on fleek, no cap, on gawd? If you're confused, I got you.
Edited with Gling AI: bit.ly/46bGeYv
#language #languages #slang #genz #genalpha #rizz #drip #skibidi

[@ericherde1]

The window-yeeting of Prague.

[@lucasw158]

A fellow defenestration-knower 🫡

[@mbkltd1]

I came here to say oh you mean defenestration?​@@lucasw158

[@fariesz6786]

isn't that general school curriculum or are murican schools just mid? 😜

[@mbkltd1]

@@fariesz6786 I think mid would be giving American schools way too much credit.

[@artifactU]

we should start saying yeet again i think it was a funny word

[@ADJJ]

“Dish” becoming “Snack” because of inflation tho 🤣 😅

[@antonm1834]

LMAOOOOOOO

[@ochronus]

Shrinkflation at its best!

[@qdmc12]

2 bucks for a vend

[@lurklingX]

this made me laff out loud fr. 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 (also recently learned "absolute unit" or "snack/snacc" is actually aussie, originated there. TIL.)

[@ahwhite2022]

He had a few good ones like that, I appreciate his dry delivery.

[@cloud3x3]

I'm 40, black and a gamer, and we've been using a bunch of these words, unironically for decades. It's weird when it's been called Gen Alpha slang, because I don't understand how people don't understand these words.... Except for skibidi, gen alpha can have skibidi.... I am trying to bring wowzers back though.

[@pxolqopt3597]

What about rizz

[@peteaceves5237]

​@@pxolqopt3597I'm also 40 and rizz has been around for a minute. Just wasn't used that often.

[@itisyerdad]

Yea, most of these are words I’ve been using since I was a kid.

[@citroenboter]

A lot of slang is either taken from or based on black vernacular English it seems. Slay, work, period etc were all things said in the 80s by queer ballroom dancers. It's quite fascinating but also saddening to observe from an outsiders perspective.

[@Level_1_Frog]

I'm all for bringing wowzers back 👍

[@gabebrutal1874]

I'm 40, parent of a gen z son. I learned all of his slang to embarrass him in front of his friends. No cap. On God.

[@sgttomas]

😂 🙌

[@marcalberts6703]

My daughter hates when I do this

[@sm4shv3v0]

Lmaooo my mom does this too except im not embarassed by it i think its hilarious. She made the younger dudes at her job laugh hysterically after a supervisor tried claiming they didnt complete a task that had been finished days earlier. My mom responded with "nah that been done" and she was so confused on why they were laughing. I thought she would talk like that only infront of me and my friends to be embarrasing but now im convinced she actually just heard us talk so much she started to unironically incorporate it into her speech 😂😂😂

[@johnnyvonbodmann6393]

LEGEND

[@dahat1992]

All parents do this. You may as well tell us you tell dad jokes.

[@FIRETOR]

"What sigma means?" "It means alpha💀"

[@djaii328]

But more "low-key" alpha, when you get into the minutia.

[@LVL5esper]

Dont recall streamer Destiny being some low key Alpha, dudes just a cuck

[@moshdee456]

Also that a skull means 😂

[@wrongtown]

​@@moshdee456"I'm dead" from laughing so hard.

[@midbc1midbc199]

Some guy was beaking off drunk and got in people's faces hollering "I'm a sigma male"........ Instantly said back to him " what? You're a smegma man"

[@MacroManatee]

I met an elderly man with whom I chatted about his life story. I didn’t know his exact age, but he owned a business in the ‘50s so I could definitely think of him as “old.” As our conversation drew to a close, he invited me to dinner at his house at an undetermined future date. I liked the idea and told him, “That would be really cool.” He shook his head and said, “‘Cool.’ You young people and your slang…” I chuckled a bit and bid him goodbye, but inside I was reeling. “Cool” has been in use for, like, three generations at this point! I didn’t even think of it as slang until I met someone who PREDATED that definition of the word! Unfortunately I never got the chance to have that dinner, and he died within a couple of years after our conversation. I’ll never forget him, though; it was like the distant past had reached out and tapped me on the shoulder.

[@drewb5738]

cool story bro

[@stephenlurie821]

He was probably being sarcastic.

[@NJGuy1973]

You should have said "that would be the cat's pajamas."

[@TonyGarcia]

@@NJGuy1973 or "the bee's knees."

[@stephenlurie821]

I'm sitting in the catbird's seat!

[@_tonypacheco]

We were yeeting in 2015/16, I don't think gen alpha can have that one

[@languagejones6784]

They yeeted out of the womb

[@alexanderbrady5486]

I am 90% certain I remember yeet from 2010. But I will admit it was only meant in the sense of "to throw something or otherwise launch very quickly," typically in reference to actions in a video game. I never used it as an exclamatory "expressing excitement or approval," as Wikipedia claims.

[@Finimabob]

yup, it's been around since 2014 and came from vine

[@_tonypacheco]

@@Finimabob "this bitch empty, YEEET" is the first time I saw it, but surely it predates the vines lol

[@zackkertzman7709]

@@alexanderbrady5486That just unlocked a memory! I had a friend in middle school (90's) who used to yell "Yeet!" like that - like "Yeah!" or "Cool!". That may have been his own idiosyncratic thing though.

[@Levi_OP]

You should have just left it at "this is skibidi jones" 😭

[@languagejones6784]

I should have made merch skibbidi zaddy

[@gabrielmaximianobielkael3115]

I was going to write exactly this lol

[@Matzu-Music]

@@languagejones6784 oh, and we don't say cheugy

[@caribbeanman3379]

@@languagejones6784 Might be interesting to do a video on KZbinse - creative alternative vocabulary used by KZbin content creators to avoid getting their videos demonetized. e.g. un-alived in place of killed; PDF-file in place of pedophile; etc.

[@JerehmiaBoaz]

@@caribbeanman3379 Nah, avodemo is sadge.

[@repker]

I could've sworn sigma originated from a play on alpha and beta, as a way to be adjacent and "above" the ridiculousness of the pseudo-scientific dichotomy. "They're not an alpha but they aren't a beta either. They're a sigma." The self awareness faded and sigma was lumped back into just being "better" in the same way alpha is better.

[@GTSN38]

As far as I know, a sigma is a lonewolf, not a follower or leader.

[@userequaltoNull]

It was *originally* un-self-aware, but people mocked it so voraciously that people like Alpha-M and other grifyers stopped using it all together.

[@itsPenguinBoy]

Yeah, it's another one of those shifting euphemism things, this time out of protofascist incel culture, who wanted to add something to their nomenclature where one group of incels, themselves feeling excluded from alpha-male competition, proposed there was this other group who they supposed was so cool *because* they refused to compete in the hierarchy of masculinity because they were simply too cool and apart from it's pettiness, just like sigma is all the way over in the greek alphabet, but then they just shoved sigma above alpha in that same (fictional) hierarchy, giving themselves a potential redemption arc. It seems implied that alphas win by beating the competition but a sigma wins by simply being, both by being so far apart nobody sees them and because nobody would dare challenge them. It's not just above the top, it's above *competing* for the top, which makes it doable. Like "maybe the fact that I'm so fucked up means people should fear me, maybe I am a sigma". It's a deeply messed up power fantasy.... Aaand now all that incell stuff is mainstream, great.

[@chofaimporovitch1543]

I thought it was a reference to 6-sigma, a super-narrow slice of the greatest amplitude.

[@Not_Morgoth]

The first I remember seeing about “Sigma” as a classification was something similar to Alpha but not inclined towards leadership for one reason or another. Ironically Sigma as a label for a subset of people is no more or less valid than Alpha or Beta is, the concept of this hierarchy is derived from debunked studies about wolves.

[@cfkay3727]

Gen Alpha's slang hasn't changed much at all from Gen Z slang. I bet elementary schoolers are just repeating the slang they are hearing Gen Z influencers say on TikTok

[@polimana]

as some one who works with children, yup!!

[@jaygrundy2781]

This is exactly true I’ve literally seen it happen in real time

[@manatillia]

Largely yes, but I think there’s two other things happening. A) kids aren’t fully understanding what some gen z slang means and so aren’t using it quite “right,” which annoys gen z. B) Kids latch onto things they think are cool and make them their whole personality. That’s not new, but gen Alpha kids have more access to the internet than any generation before them at that age, and so they’re exposed to (and creating) content created specifically for them. I think this echo chamber is part of why Gen alpha talk the way they do.

[@twipameyer1210]

It's not like generations are distinct groups of people. It's a conintuum so I'm not surprised that the slang doesn't keep made up generational lines.

[@TheVortexCollective]

yeah dude, this is prob a big part of it

[@foogod4237]

I was kinda surprised that you (and the other references) didn't even touch on "unalive". Arguably, it wasn't invented by Gen Alpha, but it really seems to have been embraced by them as slang in a way not done by any previous generation. As far as I know, it was actually invented by Gen Z as a sort of tongue-in-cheek reaction to de-facto online censorship of words like "die", but for quite a long time was mostly used not as a general-purpose slang word, but very deliberately in specific situations to say "I am using this word because I am forced to, which is a commentary on the state of things". Most Gen Zers wouldn't actually use "unalive" unironically in everyday conversations (which I think would be seen as a bit cringe to most of them). However, a lot of Gen Alpha seems to have heard this word so much in KZbin videos, etc, that they have actually adopted it, entirely unironically, as a slang term which they use in their everyday lives. What used to be a social/political statement is now just another word for the next generation. So even if they didn't _invent_ the term, they have arguably invented _its use as ordinary slang,_ which I think is an interesting phenomenon in and of itself.

[@josephlh1690]

I think the term unalive can be traced to social media as a more...ahem... age appropriate way to say suicide, so they could keep their ad dollars. I had never heard the term until recent years, I am 28 years old, and most people explained that they used the term to avoid being flagged for inappropriate language.

[@vivatechnologic6482]

​@josephlh1690 this is the actual reason why. It's to avoid demonitization.

[@Nassifeh]

Er, what? Alpha's *oldest* members just hit their freshman year of high school, are you aware of that? Gen Z's younger half absolutely uses this and the younger generation is just copying them. This is one of the major problems with this, stuff being attributed to "Alpha" because someone has seen high school kids using it for a few years now and not like... the 8-12 age bracket.

[@Dreg-dd4nq]

It’s only used by 20-40year olds on social media in order to avoid demonetization. It started on TikTok and spread to other platforms from there. It’s not used in any other setting so I wouldn’t classify it as slang. It’s definitely not any sort of gen alpha slang so that’s a bit weird to think it’d be included in a gen alpha slang video

[@foogod4237]

Wow, I guess nobody here even bothered to read what I actually wrote. Is basic reading comprehension really that bad nowadays? I literally said *in my second sentence* that the term wasn't invented by Gen Alpha, but by Gen Z to avoid de-facto online censorship (hint: that was talking about demonetization. That's what I meant). I also already explicitly said that _the ones who originally invented it do _*_not_*_ use it as slang._ *That was part of my whole point.* But I definitely have heard quite a few Gen Alpha people using the term completely unironically as everyday slang, *unlike previous generations did.* That is the point. And yes, some people you might consider "young Gen Z" may use it too. There is no precise internationally-standardized dividing line between Gen Z and Alpha, you know. This is a cultural thing and who exactly gets put into which category is entirely a matter of opinion. The point is that the *majority* of Gen Z do not use it as slang, but Gen Alpha increasingly does, which is a difference between the two generations in general.

[@obazu3727]

The sigma term is a bit more complicated than explained in this video. The meme isn't, that sigma is "super alpha"; it's that the sigma is a "lone wolf", that is neither "alpha" nor "beta". The first time I came across the term, it was being used satirically, to mock the whole concept of alpha and beta males and red pill culture, but according to Wikipedia (which, I acknowledge, might not be the best source for tracking origins for different internet lingo), it originated as a serious concept by an alt-right writer in 2010. I think this highlights an interesting pattern of a kind of an irony loop where a controversial term gets shot up in popularity, by people using it both ironically and unironically and it getting increasingly difficult to tell, which is which.

[@followingheartlines]

maybe thats where the misunderstanding aspect comes in - for gen a they misunderstood the context they heard it in and just got that sigma is better than alpha so they use it to mean ultimate alpha.

[@TAP7a]

When you watch the videos that came out a few years ago that were popularising the term, you find that it basically just means AuDHD

[@OlgasBritishFells]

It's strange because sigma is one of the last letters is in the Greek alphabet. I thought when they say, " What the sigma?" it literally meant "What the insignificant...."

[@ZacharyBittner]

I was around when sigma started to get popularized on a certain forum. It really comes from movie tropes. Basically, you have the Alpha, who was the strong leader. The Beta, the follower. Then some people pointed out that some characters in movies/tv shows were neither alpha nor beta. Such as villain characters, antiheros, lone wolf characters, etc. etc. So those types were determined to be Sigma. This also lead people to create even more greek letter men. such as Delta males, Omega males. etc. Here is the thing though. You will notice every following group other then Alpha males are not umm... social people and are not as negative as Beta males. That is to say, it was a bunch of terminally online guys who didn't like being categorized as Betas because they didn't hit the gym or socialize. So they started inventing their own types where they were the coolest type. Way more cool then Alpha males!

[@dtcahoon]

I also think it comes from toxic male culture. Being “Six Sigma” certified is a form of corporate speak that means you are better than others and meant for executive or higher levels of your business status. IMO.

[@reimiyasaka]

I'm the translator that used "sus" in an anime and upset so many people that it became trending on Twitter. Some of the audience knew "sus" was a thing long before Among Us; others thought I was mistranslating it to try to look cool. The word in Japanese was "kyodou fushin", which literally means to behave suspiciously, and the character says "kyodoru", which is the shortened (also somewhat old) slang version of the word. It's been five years and I still get people harassing me about that completely unprovoked. But also, it's interesting that a lot of the same words in different languages end up having equivalent slang words in other languages. Convergent evolution.

[@Envy_May]

still kinda sus idk if i should believe you

[@lazerbungalow]

Here I was thinking "fleek" absolutely predated Gen Alpha and had been under the impression that it's already fallen out of fashion.

[@iout]

I think it does. There’s a woman in her mid-20s who claims to have invented the word by randomly describing her eyebrows as “on-fleek” one day and posting a video of it. If she is actually the originator, then definitely not a gen alpha word. And I definitely don’t hear it anymore, so I figured it had fallen out of fashion too, but I admit I’m not exactly a representative sample.

[@cool_sword]

​@@ioutyeah, eyebrows on fleek is from either a Vine or a video from when vine was popular

[@thebillyd00]

Yeah i remember hearing this word being used in school back when vine was around. I haven't heard the word used much since, but I guess it stuck around enough to get popular with kids again.

[@syro33]

I remember it being considered gen z slang a while back, weird to see it being called gen alpha slang (i mean im not surprised they use it too, kids copying teenagers to seem more mature makes sense). Same with yeet, lit, hype, drip, etc.

[@syro33]

even rizz was gen z slang for a bit, but i think many of us stopped using it when younger kids started saying it. It became not cool anymore (kinda similar story with sus and among us stuff in general?)

[@foogod4237]

I love how so much of this sounds like it could be some sort of weather report: "There's a vowel merger slowly spreading east across Pennsylvania, and GOAT has changed part of speech to past-participle, which means expect back-formations soon."

[@nyanuwu4209]

*whether rapport

[@alinaqirizvi1441]

*wither rapid

[@dloorkour1256]

I want to know what this vowel merger is. I probably already do it, here in W. PA. Cot/Caught maybe? (usually the same pronunciation here.)

[@clifsportland]

@@dloorkour1256 yeah cot/caught. that's why he brought up coffee.

[@DrDeuteron]

@@nyanuwu4209 drizz maxing or cloud yeeting.

[@dungeoneering1974]

Dude, 80's slang was rad. Totally bodacious. Today's slang is grody to the max I mean like gag me with a spoon.

[@flubnub266]

Truly righteous. Rock on!

[@macklyn]

@@flubnub266 Keep on truckin' the weather is getting gnarly....

[@tahnibobonnie]

That’s Bitchen

[@anthonywarfield7348]

Word up!! That was da bomb yo.

[@MrcreeperDXD777]

Radical

[@RetroGamerr1991]

"Shooketh" originally came from the old medieval tapestry memes around 15-20 years ago that were all over 4chan and YTMND

[@chrismacinnes3770]

NPC is 100% pre 80's roleplaying games and referred to any characters the DM invested in.

[@MrShermo]

Well yeah, but using it as a slur for real people is much newer.

[@Darkhunter218]

@@MrShermo No, it's not lol

[@Boxygirl96]

@@MrShermosince when is it a slur? I thought it was still just a rather harsh insult applicable to pretty much anyone, did someone pin it to a specific group at some point?

[@Drazard]

Oldmate just doesn't understand what slur means and thinks it's applicable to any generic word that is used to insult. ​@@Boxygirl96

[@unshackledjester]

​@@Drazard >.> "Oldmate" is probably a lot older than you, Drazard, so they use the word as it was used when they learned the meaning, which is more in-line with the definition and a completely correct usage of the term. What the word means and how it is used, however, are different in modern language. A slur is just an insinuation, innuendo, or allegation that is meant to insult them or damage their reputation... however the term slur seems like it was muddled/focused on the Ethic Slur pejoratives and then became a word used to describe pejoratives generally aimed at a group of people. NPC is a slur, because it is insinuating that the person is... not a person, they're a Non-Player Character devoid of choice, thought, and autonomy.

[@TirelessGod]

This is for real one of those "trust me, the video is more interesting than you think" types. I learned a lot, thanks man

[@languagejones6784]

@@TirelessGod thank you!

[@jamesk.949]

love the video but i was born in the middle of gen z and nobody i know coast to coast my age has ever heard of anyone using "cheugy" literally no idea where people get that from, we've been confused about this for years

[@basicallyno1722]

Apparently some girl made it up, then a big tik tok user popularized it. I don’t know.

[@sheep4483]

yeah, I've heard it was misattributed to gen z by millenials, but I'm not sure how that might have happened and I never really looked into it.

[@thebillyd00]

Yeah the only people I've heard using it in conversation were millennials, but it was the first time I had heard of the word, and I've only ever seen it used online since.

[@blockshift758]

After a bit of looking up chuegy is very similar to the Filipino word chugi/tsugi which means "something to be considered dead or not a thing anymore"

[@doriannewendymarsh5266]

@@blockshift758 Now THAT'S cool.

[@robbaskerville253]

As a Gen X, I find most of these ridiculous, but the word "Yeet" is one we've been needing. It has an emotional context that "throw", "chuck" and "hurl" are just lacking.

[@microbry]

Yeah, it's like the long lost counterpart/antonym to "yoink!"

[@NoodleKeeper]

Agreed, Yeet is hilarious and clearly indicates a more dramatic throw that chuck and even hurl don't meet.

[@SoopahG]

Of course "hurl" still works quite well for "puke". Very onomatopoeic. 😅

[@Hazed64]

​@@microbryPERFECT, yoink perfectly encompasses a friendly yet hilarious grab of someones personal belongings

[@fadeawayinwestla]

Defenestration just doesn't have the same ring ;)

[@Kempy13]

Elizabeth Taylor called Richard Burton a "simp" in 1966 Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? they both sigma rizz no cap

[@TraesHisTraxx]

Simpleton

[@twatts1523]

I love that movie!

[@trollingfortruth5039]

on god?

[@languageonly]

@@TraesHisTraxx I thought it comes from simpering.

[@heatherkuhn6559]

Given the time period, she was probably calling him a Communist sympathizer, i.e. a "symp."

[@h4724-q6j]

I'm firmly in Gen Z (closer to the older end by most definitions) and almost all of these words were extremely popular with my cohort when I was in high school. Many of them only became common towards the end, but they definitely weren't created or popularised by people younger than me. Some of the ones you described as being from the 20th century or before did have a slightly different meaning to my cohort than what you described. I'm still not convinced that "cheugy" ever saw significant usage by _anyone,_ much less before millenials started writing articles about it.

[@djbeema]

Wait does Gen z say "cohort" a lot or is that just you 😂

[@h4724-q6j]

@@djbeema I'm talking about generational differences. It's a relevant term with a specific meaning in this context.

[@AdroSlice]

Cohort is a very technical term, often used in statistics. It's for example in the name of google's ad tracking concept "FLoC", Federated Learning of Cohorts. Specifically, a cohort is defined as a group, usually of people, who share a defined characteristic.

[@0xm]

Hey did you know i have an extension that brings back the guy in your pfp and his real name is mr jingles

[@jordanledoux197]

Holy fuck, I'm early-ish millenial, and having you, a person that is referring to high school in the past tense, refer to "the 20th century" as if it were a mythical time of mystery made me feel REALLY goddamn old.

[@splitp1]

Great video as always. As a black Gen-Xer, I laugh so hard when I hear all of the "new" slang . It's nice to have a linguist break down and explain the actual origins of these terms. Also love your distinction between slang and dialect. Keep up the good work. Also, getting onomatopoeia right on the first try is truly epic.

[@maramclaine830]

So Fun. GenX here. I was popping and locking in the 1980s. Salinas Valley CA. So NOT funny to me THEN. My Dad used to play NWA Dopeman to his HS seniors and very Compassionately and passionate his Young Ladies to not to be a Berry . Or let ANYONE run a Train " I moved to OK with some Faerie Godchildren recently and Cal he's 10 was delighted to show me his favorite KZbin videos. Introducing me to the BRILLIANT video of Lil Nas Cant tell me Nothing. BEST historical cowboy costume in the opening scene. Oklahoma is over 20% Black and has 38 different Tribal Nations. And Black Cowboys for Trump. Definitely REAL ate the Best Shrimp Boil of my life he cooked. It's REALLY different here than the West Coast. The Weed is OFF the Chain strong and affordable. Over 400 dispensaries in OK City ALONE. And only medical. Want to keep this shit isc on the DL. Fun using some GenX slang Then I got to explain who Billy Ray Siris was. He kinda knew Miley. Then we all did the Achy Breaky Heart dance. ❤️

[@flockofone9214]

I think yeet and rizz are some of the best slang words. And I’m really old.😂

[@Dionysius8421]

Skibidi is from Skibidi Toilet, which is from a mashup of "Give It To Me" by Timbaland ft Neli Furtado and "Chupi V Krusta" by Fiki. Fiki was likely trying to reference Little Big's Skibidi, which most likely was a callback to Scatman John's "Scatman (ski-ba-bop-ba-dop-dop)," which had been a meme in the early aughts, when Little Big were growing up. Of course ultimately this traces back to the jazz practice of scatting - yet another black source! Editing to add: I'm a late Millennial/Zennial (June 95) and just have always found this stuff neat.

[@donkeytonk]

Skibidi is also a popular MC in the UK from the 90s drum and bass scene

[@NutchapolSal]

i thought skibidi toilet is just a made up name by the creator of those clips but turns out it has Etymology?!?!? unbelievable

[@RavingKats]

RIP Scatman

[@Dionysius8421]

@@donkeytonk Fascinating! I do think the jazz link to the meme of Scatman is stronger, but still a good note to make, thank you!

[@PeterSipes]

The first instance of a student using "skibidi" was definitely in a scatting context. I was covering in a classroom, so the students were a bit more relaxed in their behavior. The kid was straight up scat singing and said "skibidi". I knew then and there that I would be hearing more of skibidi. I want to say it was October 2023. The funny thing about this incident is that the kid was one of those deeply uncool yet terminally online sorts. He was aware of the "skibidi" first due to his internet use, but none of his peers would model their speech off of him.

[@brookejohnson9914]

The fact that stan came from an Eminem song will never stop being funny to me.

[@roboterson]

Blew my mine the first time I made the connection

[@-47-]

@@roboterson How is this even a connection that one would have to make? That's like making the connection between the song "Thrift Shop" by Macklemore and... thrift shops.

[@hypercube8735]

@@-47- Macklemore's Thrift Shop didn't originate the use of the term "thrift shop". The difference is Eminem's "Stan" invented the use of the term "stan" to refer to an obsessive, unhinged fan, as opposed to as a person's name. We can't normally trace slang term back to a single specific known originating use.

[@tofire2261]

@@hypercube8735 didnt stan come from kpop culture and its huge problem with stalkers?

[@michael_r]

@@tofire2261no. It came from the Eminem song that heavily samples a Dido song. Nothing to do with k pop.

[@symsee]

@languagejones, Gucci has been around since at least 1993 where it was being used in the military; “Gucci kit” was the term for “high quality equipment”.

[@BrewSnee]

Saves me a post, if UK boomers used it Gen Alpha definitely can't claim it.

[@hcrone]

Also in the 90's we referred to Patagonia as Patagucci since their outdoor clothing and gear was high quality and expensive.

[@blackman5867]

w explanation fr fr ong

[@GTSN38]

As far as I'm concerned it was used way before 1993.

[@MrMontanaNights]

I remember them using it in the movie Sniper, which came out in 1993. I'd bet it goes back a fair bit further then that.

[@theyruinedyoutubeagain]

This guy is the endgame boss for people who watch videos at 2x speed

[@CodeHK]

Oof. I was watching this at 1.5x and had to tone it down to 1.25x lol

[@chocolatezt]

Hmm, I started at regular 3.7 and had to reduce to 2.35...

[@PaweMateuszBytner]

Nah, not even close to Louis Rossmann

[@cchoi108]

Yes

[@hypergodkz]

​@@chocolatezt based

[@nineteenfortyeight6762]

"Skibidi" sounds like something teenagers would have said 100 years ago.

[@jenrosejenrose7417]

skibidi doo dah?

[@S_Drake]

23 skibidi-doo

[@trajectoryunown]

Sounds like something straight out of scat music.

[@Antnee659]

While having a snap battle with slicked back hair?

[@Psylaine64]

@@trajectoryunown i'm almost 100% convinced that skat music was the origin of it infact

[@baporwabe2241]

it's also worth mentioning that 'Looksmaxxing' was biggest in online incel communities before it became mainstream. In an incel context, "-maxxing" as a suffix describes things you do to maximize your chances of having sex with a woman, usually as a way to compensate for some other inherent flaw. "Mogging" is also an incel word from the acronym "Male Of Group", meaning to be overshadowed by a more dominant man, usually a Chad, another incel term. The same thing happened with "-pilling", describing accepting a certain political ideology, usually a radicalizing one, though I don't think that's common outside of online gen z/millenial political spaces. Mewing wasn't invented for incels but it gained most of its traction there before escaping containment. (I'm pretty sure the fandom/politics phrase 'escaping containment' is going to become mainstream here in a few years as well.) having been tracking right-wing and incel culture for almost a decade now, it's incredibly jarring to hear kids using the same words, even if they don't know about the hateful ideology behind it. i've seen this happen with a few other far-right words/memes in the last decade and it'd be fascinating to watch if it weren't also terrifying.

[@mileslima8114]

Hi, 15-year-old here. This is absolutely fascinating and I’d be interested in learning more about this. Is there anywhere I should go to read further?

[@languagejones6784]

@@baporwabe2241 I really debated how far to go down that rabbit hole and decided it was best for another stand alone video. I also need to add “based”!

[@baporwabe2241]

@@mileslima8114 hi! most of this is from lived experience so I don't have any super in-depth resources i've personally used recently. But I'll try! Content warning for antisemitism, misogyny, and violent bigotry. I tried to make these as accessible as possible to beginners but it's still very upsetting to read. Contrapoints' video 'Incels' is a good explainer of the basics of incel ideology. Moonshot's 'Incels: A Guide to Symbols and Terminology' is super in-depth on terminology, history, and origins, and there are a lot of good jumping-off points for finding other rabbitholes to go down. It's also very dense. The ISD explainer 'Memes & the Extreme Right-Wing' also explains far-right icons that have entered the mainstream and has several links to other related articles. I can't hyperlink but I tried to use the most Google-friendly titles I could. Let me know if you have any issues with finding these!

[@Rosenzweigjcb]

​@@languagejones6784 מבוסס Israeli communities are using the word "based" translated into Hebrew.

[@revangerang]

@@baporwabe2241 Thank you for your service O7

[@Kriil]

I taught my 3-year old to say "Get off my lawn!" instead of "go away!"

[@KitsuyuutsuR]

Why do I find that deliciously comical? 😂

[@blackman5867]

Teach him how to get lvl 999 fanum tax gyatts by W rizz with snake like Drake from Ohio too

[@abruemmer77]

🤌

[@mlthewi1287]

Remember "class clown?" Well you people are comment clowns and I love it!

[@ParisuSama]

I thought "It's giving" was simply erasing the implicit "vibes" after the adjective. Like, "It's giving creepy vibes" becomes "It's giving creepy" or "It's giving poor vibes" becomes "It's giving poor"

[@trollingfortruth5039]

Exactly. When I first heard it I thought, oh are we abandoning the word "vibes" now? I would have been fine with that.

[@RobBulmahn]

I'm not a fan of this one. It always leaves me feeling like something's missing from the sentence.

[@swedneck]

@@RobBulmahn it's just grammatically incorrect, it should be shortened to "giving creepy vibes" or "creepy vibes..", you remove the fluff words that can be easily inferred by context, not the stuff that actually matters!

[@RobBulmahn]

@@swedneck Why waste time say lot word when few word do trick?

[@saintsalieri]

I think a noun follows "it's giving," not an adjective.

[@FloridaCore]

I feel like "Skibidi" has to come from jazz scatting somehow.

[@languagejones6784]

@@FloridaCore this seems most likely

[@jlewwis1995]

Yeah I was gonna say, I'm pretty sure skibidi has been in use by jazz musicians for decades, it's definitely not new 😂

[@theanitmeme]

Didn’t the current usage of skibidi come from the Toilet in Ohio videos? That was definitely jazz style scat, but not a jazz song.

[@Rosenzweigjcb]

Feels scatman inspired

[@davespriter]

it’s from a song

[@cometsmith]

chronically online person here with some added info: 12:48 if anyone really wants to know: the term skibidi comes from a song called Dom Dom Yes Yes, originally by Biser King and later became viral due to the cover by Fiki. The line "schtibidi dom dom yes yes" is (from my understanding) just scatting, and has literally no meaning. It became popular due to a Turkish man dancing along to it, where it stayed popular for a little while. After a while Alexey Gerasimo (a russian animator) made an animation of a video game character's head coming out of a toilet and singing the song, which went viral among Gen Alpha on scrolling apps like tik tok and youtube shorts. Gen Z and millennials found out about "Skibidi Toilet" (as it was affectionately titled) with basically no context (not that there was much to begin with) and found it hilarious because it seemed like the first piece of media that was made for Gen Alpha and not Gen Z, and made all of the 16-22 year olds feel old. From there people started ironically using the term "Skibidi" i think as just a nonesense word. Skibidi Toilet was so popular and it meant absolutely nothing that i think just mentioning it was humorous to the point where people would replace any adjective with skibidi for no reason, i.e, "Thats so skibidi" or "screw my skibidi life." It literally does not mean anything, to anyone, for any reason. 18:40 while sheesh has been around for a long time, theres been a resurgence due to the "sheesh" memes. its old and dead by now but it was a meme where someone said sheesh in a funny high pitched voice and pointed to their arms (i think to point out the "ice in their veins"). So sheesh has been around for a long time, but it recently has a new reference that might add more context to the usage. 19:47 Similar to sheesh, sus has been around for a long time, but was rejuvenated with the Among Us craze during the covid pandemic. Among Us is a mafia-type game where there are imposters trying to kill other players, and since you were often typing or in heated debates, it was a lot easier to say sus rather than suspicious, and since so many people were saying it, I think its safe to say it regained popularity. It also has a double-meaning where people often use it to call someone gay? which im not sure if that was a common usage of it before Gen Z. Usually someone would call someone "sus" if they make a gay joke or do something somewhat gay, and not just as a straight up insult or slur. 20:03 I think it should be noted that I (as a member of Gen Z) have only usually ever heard this in sexual contexts, so maybe beware if you want to use this one in front of your kids or younger family. (someone correct me if im wrong here but i havent heard it used in many other contexts) 20:24 as far as im concerned, "yeet" came from a vine where someone threw something into a crowd and yelled "yeet!" If that isnt the origin of the phrase, it's definitely where it was popularized among Gen Z, as it went pretty viral. I distinctly remember a lot of people yelling yeet when they threw things in middle school.

[@MyUsualComment]

Millennial gamer here. "Yeet" has been used in the gaming sphere for at least 15 years.

[@r.d.6290]

Never seen "sus" in context of calling something gay. Only seen it when a commenter hints that an art, picture, thumbnail or short video comes from a "lewd" source. "That profile pic is sus..." and so on.

[@innitbruv-lascocomics9910]

​@@r.d.6290 You'd be surprised. It's very often used for that. Almost like a group of boys going "AYOO" when they see or say a homoerotic thing. It functions almost exactly like an "AYOO" moment. But is also is just in reference to sexually lewd or innuendo like behavior. Just conveniently applied to homoerotic behavior.

[@GoofRebelMusic]

​@@innitbruv-lascocomics9910 i first saw sus on tiktok comments in 2020 and it was almost always used cruelly to indirectly call people gay. It took a bit before i realised it had a much broader usage.

[@jaredhouseman2094]

​@@r.d.6290it definitely is

[@MoonSolace1]

If I remember correctly, Sus made it's return back when the game "Amoung Us" went viral, instead of pronouncing the whole word "suspicious", gamers abbreviated the word as gamers often do.

[@nicolaim4275]

Yes, and the otherwise non-gaming streamers and youtubers who played among us continued the practise, meaning that a lot of young people got the shortened form from their media consumption during covid.

[@FiftySixishTV]

Sus has been in Australian slang for decades before amogus popularised it more widely

[@lambn25]

To sus someone out has been used since the late 1800s so it definitely has a longer history then among us

[@TayWoode]

Where I live everyone of every age says sus for suspicious and also “sus it out” to figure something out

[@scoutylugs]

@@FiftySixishTVexactly… this is an expression I’ve used my whole life in Oz and I’m 53.

[@ryanmano6707]

I'm old enough to be highly annoyed by the new usage of "out of pocket." y'all discounting our generational trauma of being gouged by insurance.

[@Joe-em8gc]

I assume you're talking about the figurative "out of.pocket" meaning the money you had in your pocket is no longer there, like "I paid for it out of my own pocket," versus the use in business English, meaning unavailable. God only knows what "out of office" did to make them leave. Anyway, I have an auto-reply email from 18 years ago with that phrase, so it's at least that old. I'm new to the channel, and maybe it's been done already, but I'd be very interested in some material on business English.

[@NickRoman]

@@Joe-em8gc , I didn't know that was being used in business anywhere. I think if people are saying that it is because they picked it up elsewhere. Where I work, it is still out of office. Maybe that's partly because then we can write OOO.

[@johnd5931]

I paid for it out of pocket. Is there another use of that phrase? If there is idk it.

[@Dominator150395]

@@johnd5931 Nowadays it's often used to mean "out of line", like if somebody says something messed up and uncalled for.

[@stephb745]

Yeah, this one's weird to me when I hear it. I always knew "out of pocket" to mean "not available." I get that automatic sense of wrongness when I hear it used now. Guess some Gen A heard their parents say it so much they decided to try it on for size. LOL

[@patrickhodson8715]

Consider me one more person who wants the Middle English pet peeve video!! I always cringe when people say “thou doth” or “he hast,” or when they add “-eth” to things that aren’t even verbs lmao

[@zephlodwick1009]

It all started with "ye olde" and has been downhill ever since... Is what I *would* say if it wasn't even older. You see, "went" is the past tense of a mostly obsolete verb called "wend"- now found only in the phrase "wend one's way". The original past tense of "go" was "yeed" (which my spellcheck is very annoyingly autocorrecting). But after "yeed" had mostly died out, poets like Spencer mistook it for an infinitive, so they invented "yeeded". We also get "holier than thou" (although that might be accurate since Romeo says "For thou, fair maid, art far more fair than she"). "Powers that be" *is* accurate. It comes from Tyndall's translation of the bible.

[@GoofRebelMusic]

Cant make oldtimey jokes without studying middle english first? Seems practical.

[@VivekPatel-ze6jy]

Honestly the fact that it's completely historically inaccurate makes it funnier for me

[@doriannewendymarsh5266]

@@zephlodwick1009 I had been led to believe (by some other linguistic vid on youtube - possibly RobWords?) that 'the' was originally written in English with a letter which didn't exist in the German typeset that they began setting bibles in, so they settled on using the 'y' as an alternative, so when you saw the word 'ye' everyone reading just knew, at the time, that it was pronounced 'the'.

[@mduckernz]

Honestly, the fact it’s super wrong is kind of the point, it’s intentionally absurd, which is a bit of a common theme in new language developments

[@zevelgamer.]

Congratulations on 100K Dr Jones! You're officially a sigma, rizzler,get all the women (And men). W video. You deserve every bit of it!

[@languagejones6784]

Thank you! Once I get my plaque I can replace my hand drawn crayon & construction paper youtube wall art

[@zevelgamer.]

@@languagejones6784 Keep it! I'm sure it will give you nostalgia once you grow even further.

[@jakobbauz]

"I don't care what your textbook says" is such an alpha move, coming from a wolf. From a PhD, I mean.

[@bunk_foss]

WHAT THE F I WAS REPLYING TO COMMENTS IN MY NOTIFICATIONS AND KZbin PUT IT HERE.

[@bunk_foss]

I am so sorry Jakobbauz.

[@jakobbauz]

@@bunk_foss Yeah... no worries. You can always just delete your comments...

[@bunk_foss]

@@jakobbauz Bless you.

[@markusklyver6277]

based

[@Matty002]

my only nitpick is that alot of the slang that got popularized from the queer ballroom scene was itself taken from black women. they deserve the credit for your language slays

[@taprobanna]

wake up rizzler, new skibidi jones just dropped

[@ms.tiadaniel8415]

Lit! 🔥

[@Twocat5side]

no cap frfr

[@tiborklein5349]

On God, let's get this ratioed. 👍

[@cbg1609]

On god no god no cap

[@juiuice]

man I still don't like hearing "mid" as just another way to say "bad", to me it's still a notch above "bad". Like it's still competently made but doesn't exceed into anything special or I guess "good". edit: I appreciate the insight in the replies I keep getting btw :J

[@leonardo9259]

Mid take on god

[@juiuice]

@@leonardo9259 mid as in mid or mid as in bad??????? lol

[@severussin]

But what if I got that *fire* mid tho?

[@deddrz2549]

I think your right, I think of mid as something that's made just well enough to get people to think it's good while I think it's not good

[@MaoRatto]

Mid to me is weird as I am like "Do you mean middle of the road? Just inoffensive?

[@jn3440]

Honestly most “gen alpha” slang lists are full of slang us Gen Zer’s were using but I guess adults never caught it until Gen Alpha started parroting it.

[@merrytunes8697]

And….It’s mostly black slang

[@GrueTurtle]

It usually is. Every generation. ​@@merrytunes8697

[@therevolutionwillnotbeyoutubed]

And most Gen Z slang is just Gen X and Millennial slang from the hood.

[@donbusu]

@@merrytunes8697 definitely tied to rap's popularity too. Jit has been used around Florida to mean someone young, and I've been seeing it more and more often as Florida rappers gained popularity in the mainstream the past 10 years.

[@proverbalizer]

@@merrytunes8697 yup, and when black people are using is it's wrong, but as soon as white newscaster pick up on it 5,10, or 20 years later is "all good" lol

[@kademcgill2599]

I think "Sus" is another example of recency bias. It popped into heavy mainstream use after the game "Among Us" came out and exploded in popularity during the pandemic. It's a social game where you're trying to deduce which player is an imposter sabotaging the spaceship you're on, and killing the crew. The whole game is about confirming suspicion, so you can see why it would get truncated.

[@starcrafsf7101]

And sus means all of that “suspect” “suspicious” “suspicion” and it became popular to abbreviate it to just sus or use it as such around that time because of the game. Though it didn’t really change anything of it because yea it didn’t really get created by the game. Because it already existed.

[@boubayaga_]

I had to stop to laugh when you explained February Ramadan every 33 years

[@TimothyReeves]

not so much explain, as allude to...it definitely took me a minute to get that

[@erikroth9174]

I have heard it said that "yeet" is the opposite of "yoink", in that they connote the same sense of casualness, just in opposing directions (away vs. toward).

[@AmedeeVanGasse]

The word "yoink" could be onomatopaic related to the verb "to yank" ('yoink' is the sound you make when you yank something/someone). I first learned the verb "to yank" (I am a Dutch speaker, English is only my third language) with the meaning of "copy" or "pull in" in the context of the Linux editor sed, which has the commands yiw (yank in current word), yaw = (yank all word, includes a trailing space) and yap (yank all paragraph, includes trailing newline). I propose that we add yiw, yaw and yap to slang.

[@mal2ksc]

Like "poof" is the sound of vanishing in a puff of smoke, so "foop" must be the sound of _appearing_ out of nowhere.

[@mal2ksc]

@@AmedeeVanGasse Yaw and yap are words already, and one of them already is used as slang. Yaw is one of the three degrees of freedom for a vessel, whether marine or aerial, along with pitch and roll. Yap is the sound a small dog makes, and as slang it means talking incessantly.

[@pegy6384]

The first time I felt really old was when I heard a kid say "ratchet"--and I said "Wretched?" "No, ratchet." "But...that's already a word."

[@cheeseboy8241]

that's another reinterpretation of an accent!

[@HotCrossB1S]

MY THOUGHTS EXACTLY

[@machematix]

In NZ growing up in the 90s 00s we said "Rat shit"... Probably came from misunderstanding american accents?

[@jemiller226]

@@machematix Interesting. Plus with the shifted vowels in NZ English, you'd get something that would be somewhat close to how I would pronounce "wretched" in western Pennsylvania.

[@avic2697]

Yes!! And "swag" instead of "swagger!" 'Swag' is already a word, and they have no clue what the word 'swagger' means. Smh

[@alexdavidson7498]

The guy who wrote the first thing about alpha wolves later realized he was wrong, but unfortunately couldn’t fix public perception.

[@jack2453]

I had always assumed that 'tea' was about sharing gossip over a cup of tea.

[@evolving_dore]

Maybe? I always interpreted it as referring to the act of "spilling the tea", in which something contained is released all over (and cannot be recontained). I don't think any interpretation is incompatible with either of the others.

[@ophiss5406]

​@@evolving_doreYep, same thing as older gens using Spill the beans

[@nhinged]

It is this guy just acting confident over not knowing anything in THIS realm

[@boop-9167]

I had assumed that too but I had previously researched the term after finding out about its use in Polari and realised that one of the theories is that it has a double meaning as 'T' for Truth and the fun word play of spilling tea.

[@artsyelectriathletic]

What's the "T" as in what's the "truth"

[@subversiveasset]

I am really intrigued at linguistic inflation -> "dish" -> "snack"

[@tyleradams6048]

Is it shrinkflation in this case?

[@nunyabiznis3595]

It'll be "morsel" next, then "crumb".

[@jakeaurod]

waiting for them to shorten hors d'oeuvres with the obvious consequences. Hilarity must ensue.

[@leemiller1837]

Nosh

[@chassmith6778]

NPC is from D&D and other TTRPGs. Video games borrowed the term from there.

[@joenapalm4841]

If anyone challenges you on this, tell them my Hunt the Wumpus/Holmes Basic bona fides have your back

[@----Moon----]

That is until they start tryi ng to use CPU somehow

[@sonjeow]

Awesome video. Had me all the way to the end and gave me a new appreciation for language.

[@ogorangeduck]

Yeet is obviously just an English reflex of PIE *(H)yeh1-

[@nyanuwu4209]

What's it got to do with pie?

[@rmonogue]

@@nyanuwu4209proto Indo European, common language root for many European languages

[@travcollier]

Maybe... But I'd bet it is actually more about a shared omomotopoetical origin for both. IIRC, "yeeted" was made up on the fly by a celebrity in the context of a video game, and took off because it just works and fills a mostly empty semantic hole created by video game physics ;)

[@BC-sn8im]

@@travcollierI thought yeet came from two vines where people where dancing saying ya yeet ya yeet then a short time later someone threw a water bottle in a crowded hallway and yelled yeet

[@travcollier]

@@BC-sn8im Maybe. The popularization I was exposed to was gaming related. There's often a bit of difference between what brought a work into (or back into) consciousness and usefulness that keeps it sticking around.

[@SomasAcademy]

~20:38 I believe the origin of the word "yeet" as an onomatopoeia for throwing something originated in a vine of someone throwing a CD, and was popularized a bit later by another vine where someone is given an empty soda can and says "This bitch empty, YEET!" while throwing it - that vine is certainly where I picked it up.

[@vectorwolf]

I made a comment already, but I think the true origin comes from a foreign knock-off Land Before Time cartoon that became a very popular meme at the time, and one of the characters making a weird little noise in their dialog that people thought was hilarious, so they started imitating it.

[@SomasAcademy]

@@vectorwolf Oh yeah I remember that video lol, not sure if it can definitively be tied to the use of yeet while throwing things though, seems like it might be a coincidence.

[@GrandHighGamer]

@@vectorwolf The "yeeeee" meme? Feels unlikely, since it doesn't sound a lot like yeet in practice. Then again, everyone seems to think tony soprano says 'gabagool' when I absolutely 100% can't hear any L at the end (just gabagoo).

[@marasmusine]

Pleasingly though, it does sound like the opposite action of "yoink".

[@vectorwolf]

@@marasmusine it's a very appropriate sort of word, and has become a permanent part of my lexicon, for sure.

[@13ellamy]

i feel like a majority of the gen alpha list was stuff i and other gen-Zers were saying as teenagers as well. it’s for sure slang that gen alpha is also using, but mainstream gen Z used most of it as well (in addition to the actual original uses). outside of like mewing, skibidi, rizz, fanum tax, eating, sigma, and delulu (and cheugy but i don’t think anyone actually uses that outside of some millennials on tiktok) i was using basically all of these as a teen from my recollection, and quite a few were being used by my millennial sibling years before me. also i believe “sheesh!” in this case is specifically referring to the usage associate with the “ice in my veins” pose? not a new word but a slightly different usage i think? but still like exasperated/amazed

[@JohnDBloch]

Honestly this video was kind of a farce. “Here’s all the gen alpha slang” Guess what, gen alpha is just using slang that they’ve heard. Dunking on them by saying “you didn’t make this up” is stupid. Who cares who made it up. This languagejones guy is cooked.

[@michaelladerman2564]

My brother used "sheesh" in the early 70s. It's not new at all.

[@Anthony-V-Music]

This is quickly becoming my favorite channel atm, I love the way you break down language and I have BEEN saying that most of what people call "gen alpha slang" predates them by a lot its very validating to hear that from such an articulate and understanding person, honestly it makes me wish more people thought like you did about not only language but other things in general Im glad to see someone who is so genuinely mindful and thoughtful about such overlooked subjects

[@Vinvininhk]

17:22 in Cantonese/Chinese there is 低調, which literally means "low-key", and it means to conduct oneself/ do something in a inconspicuous manner, or in a way that doesn't attract extra attention. And yes the antonym of that is 高調 which literally means "high-key"

[@cockatooinsunglasses7492]

That is interesting.

[@Pscribbled]

Few things. I believe sus is a form of convergent evolution between the origination of what you mentioned and a shortening of suspicious during the height of the Amongus era in the pandemic. Yeet was popularized by a 2014 Vine where the first usage was some dude throwing a CD.

[@felipedasilveira5808]

Probably due to Jerma985 that knew the term from the spell of the same name in steve Jackson's sorcery (iirc)

[@dtcahoon]

“SUS” comes from the video game “Among Us”. Which became popular during the pandemic. Suspicious about who is the traitor. It’s just short term for chatting in that game and became adapted to vocal speech. IMO

[@kathozog9740]

Nope, just no. Here in Australia we have been referring to things or people that we don't quite trust as "sus" for at least 30 years... "Need to get more milk. I chucked the one from the fridge, it was a bit sus." "Watch out for that dude, he's a bit sus."

[@samanjj]

@@kathozog9740 came here to say this after taking a selfie for the mob

[@Poppa_Capinyoaz]

People have been saying sus since well before AmongUs.

[@bjornsan]

First time I heard "vibing" I thought it meant to get high and when I learned what it was I thought "so it's just a verb of the really old slang".

[@languagejones6784]

@@bjornsan SO OLD

[@nyanuwu4209]

@@languagejones6784 'Vibe check' sounds like when you test the batteries in your sex toys...

[@favfruitcake]

@@nyanuwu4209I’ve been laughing for like 10 minutes how did you come up with this 💀

[@lurchaudio4075]

vibing has also been used by jazz musicians in a negative way. when you're making fun of someone, mocking their talents as a musician, taking the piss, that kinda thing, that's "vibing" somebody

[@gwensmosh5532]

if you're "vibing" that's like you're "chilling (out)" which depending on the person might imply getting high. That's less on the word and more on circumstances, though.

[@TexRobNC]

I feel like 5 mins in, I am wondering if since hand sanitizer is a pretty new thing (we didn't use it in the 80s or 90s unless you were maybe at a hospital), and I am wondering if Hannitizer is something other people have adopted? My nieces said it, and now it's a family word

[@faithstea]

If I recall correctly, cheugy came from mexican slang in the 2000s maybe earlier. There was a huge debate over this last year when a resurgence of started and around the time Pokemon Scarlet and Violet used it in the English localization in 2022, a game that had been in development since before gen z where teenagers. They absolutely did not create it, but if I'm wrong then I'd love to know where I can reliably search things about etymology and lexicography. I want to see more videos like this! I love language and its history and this was really informative, thank you!

[@TheLoopyTiger]

I thought it came from 90's surfer slang, but I could also be 100% wrong

[@brad8644]

I thought cheugy was the opposite of gucci

[@WeAreASecret]

This… makes too much sense. Fits with my experience of the word

[@alexacutioner]

Same. It's like knockoff Gucci where the label is spelled wrong, CCUGI, and someone heard it and spelled it phonetically. They try real hard to look impressive but missed the mark.

[@matthewheimbecker9055]

*pushes up glasses* Feels weird to be trying out an um actually on my first viewing of your channel, but NPC is NOT a video game term. Originates with tabletop roleplaying in the 1970s. Anyway, New Subscriber!

[@about99ninjas56]

Npc is definitely a video game term also. While it may have been invented earlier, it's use is applied in the same way in video games. And video games are just digital role playing games. Lol

[@LordofSyn]

​​@@about99ninjas56 You're right. That was by design. Many video game developers from the 70s to today have been inspired by tabletop RPGs and adapted those game systems into video games. It was and still is one of the easiest ways to get into coding. That's why VG RPGs are such a staple and have been since the industry started. So many of the same terms used in TTRPGs made their way into VGRPGs.

[@JamesR624]

It's also literally from Video Games. Most likely because in both tabletop games and video games, it's literally the same concept; a "Non-Playable Character". This is like claiming "Pong is actually not a vdeo game. It's a tabletop game."

[@LordofSyn]

@@JamesR624 I did not claim it was only in tabletop... Just that tabletop is where the label is from and was adopted by video games.

[@matthewheimbecker9055]

I definitely misspoke here. I didn't mean to imply that the term isn't in use in video games. Of course it is. I meant that its origin is in tabletop, that's all.

[@ToNowHereShow]

Non-player character comes from D&D circa 1971 and RPG video games use the same lingo. Since D&D came from making one figure on the wargaming board special or a player character, the individuals the players interact with played by the Dungeon Master were non-player characters. NPC become quite important as charismatic player can have henchmen who will need stats and not just personalities for the DM to act. Having written all that, I realize you may already know all about it. 🙂

[@CaptainHat]

D&D was actually the precursor to modern wargaming (GW emerged from a D&D group that had a large collection of minis) but otherwise you're mostly correct. I say modern wargaming because people (including the military) have been doing war games for centuries (chess can be seen as a wargame of sorts, Wells had a system in the late 19th century, Royal Navy wargames run by Wrens were instrumental in fighting U-boats in ww2) but the way most hobbyists engage with it today comes from that branch of the tree as it were.

[@urphakeandgey6308]

@@CaptainHat I disagree about the wargames part. I'd say D&D is more of a precursor to all RPG video games, in particular turn-based ones. The gameplay is very similar. In no world would I ever compare chess to D&D. You're basically comparing a turn-based _strategy_ game with a turn-based _role playing_ game. I don't see how wargames are even comparable to D&D. I assume you're talking about stuff like Risk, Chess, and so on, right? Those are nothing like D&D.

[@sillygoosegoose]

the interesting thing to me was when reading an enid blyton book (1940s/50s england) and there being references to characters using american slang that totally went over my head as a kid. the word that was considered slang was describing things as “okay”. this word read as so utterly neutral to me as a zillenial child that it didn’t even occur to me that it would seem out of place in 1940s england. i still can’t quite get my head around how a word that is so neutral and ubiquitous now is really relatively new - similar idea to “cool” i guess!

[@TheLivirus]

"fan is short for fanatic" Did not know that. I assumed it had some connection to a literal fan.

[@Loctorak]

Can't tell if serious or sarcastic 🤔 😅

[@wyldeman0O7]

When i was little i would imagine someone fanning themselves because they were so hot from being starstruck

[@andybaldman]

Can’t tell if dumb or dumb.

[@hellcrow539]

This has to be a joke

[@chere100]

Funny. I'm completely unsurprised that it's short for fanatic. Kind of seemed like an obvious connection. "Look at these crazy young people, they're fanatics. It's just a boy band." "Aww, don't say that, John. They're just having fun. And I hear they like to be called fans, not fanatics." "Fans? Youth and their ridiculous slang..."

[@ajschlesinger]

Here's some fake gen α slang using the remixed-older-phrases formula. Bonus challenge: guess the etymology before reading the full definition: 1. Straw: "Netflix cancelling the only sitcom I even bother watching is fully straw." Adj. meaning frustrating, pushing beyond a limit. 2. Otters: "That album that charli xcx just dropped is straight otters." Adj. meaning exceptional, impressive. 3. Under (V): "I was undering the algorithm by splicing emojis into the spicier words." V. meaning to navigate undetected. 4. Kafufu (N): "Whatever Language Jones was saying about reduplication was a big kafufu to me." N. meaning something incomprehensible. ETYMOLOGIES: 1. From the idiom "The last straw" (from the earlier idiom "the straw that broke the camel's back") 2. From the earlier slang "outta sight" 3. From the phrase "flying under the radar" 4. From the word "confusing"

[@languagejones6784]

Kafufu from covfefe???

[@revangerang]

For 4 I was thinking "kerfuffle" (which I just learned this very moment is not actually "kerfluffle." My life is a lie ._. )

[@gc2009able]

@@languagejones6784 KZbin's UI gives me the option on your comment to "Translate to English". Hilarious!

[@imtooqueerforthis]

The example sentence made me think 'undering' was from 'undermining'

[@Pablo_Gardens]

small correction. Yeet didn’t exactly spawn from videogames but actually a viral video from vine where a woman was holding a soda can, launches it at a high school crowd in a hallway, and shouts “yeet!” as a random onomatopoeia. It was funny and viral and is the reason yeet means to chuck or throw something. Other than that, great video

[@WisdomCritFail]

I came here to say this. People started referencing the vine whenever they threw things, by shouting yeet just like the woman in the video. I'd label it as an interjection rather than an onomatopoeia, at least when it was first popularized.

[@InventorZahran]

I've been trying to use "forf" as a contraction of 'forfeit', but its homophony with the word 'fourth' makes it impractical in spoken language.

[@RangeGleasry]

I like this one and will adopt it

[@jeanalisson]

Isn't yeet from that vine of a girl throwing an empty soda can in the hallway?

[@sownheard]

Exactly she Yeeted that soda can 😂

[@Yora21]

I still like to refer to new things the kids are into as hip, to underscore how clueless I am about the subject.

[@samanjj]

Don’t go changing your groovy self you bad thing

[@hemerythrin]

Considering where most "new slang" comes from, I will just assume Skibidi is black slang from the 1970s.

[@languagejones6784]

I definitely mention that pathway in the video, but it's unclear whether it applies to skibidi in particular, unlike no cap, on god, etc.

[@R3T4L1AT3]

Did not expect a Thomas Pynchon reference, which reminds me . . . still waiting for that bookshelf tour

[@djjohntab]

@@languagejones6784 MC Skibadee (RIP) was an amazing UK jungle/drum and bass MC. Amazing flow. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MC_Skibadee

[@deddrz2549]

I forgot from which song, but skibbidy came from some skat singing that later was used in a mashup song that got popular on tiktok

[@Salsmachev]

@@deddrz2549 The main cultural touchstone for Skibbidy seems to be a show called Skibbidy Toilet. I don't know if that's the origin, but it seems to be the populariser.

[@faketouge]

Great video. What most people don't understand is that a lot of these words were made trendy because they were obscure references to an online trend that only the chronically online understand at first. Then people use them for some ironic humour and they get picked up more broadly. I was disappointed that you didn't get into "sigma" more deeply. From my understanding "sigma" became trendy when online life coaches (and I use that term lightly), one in particular, started making online posts (usually youtube videos) about the wolf pack hierarchy in application to humans and saying something along the lines of "Is Sigma better than Alpha". People then ironically claimed to be "a sigma".

[@mjb7015]

I always thought "stan" was specifically short for "stalker-fan", as in a fan who obsessively stalks the celebrity of interest.

[@ZipplyZane]

And I always thought it came from "stand," and with the idea that you "stand up" for someone you are a fan of. Then I thought maybe it was a Jojo reference.

[@jakeaurod]

I always thought it was short for "understand".

[@peadarruane6582]

Its from this Eminem song kzbin.info/www/bejne/nYCwmYFjncuAqrs

[@vespasiancloscan7077]

I thought so too, except as in, a fan of the game Stalker

[@FabbrizioPlays]

Wait do people actually not know Stan by Eminem?

[@danrobrish3664]

What you said about people mistakenly thinking an old slang term is new reminds me of a conversation I had with a fellow Gen Xer in the 1990s at the University of Minnesota. Bear in mind that I grew up near Washington, D.C., and he grew up in rural Minnesota. I described someone I didn't respect as a "schmuck." He replied, "I love that word! It's the perfect combination of 'shit' and 'fuck'!" I was surprised to hear this and it turned out he thought it was a term recently invented by Gen X. I told him that it is a very old term and comes from Yiddish, not a portmanteau of Anglo-Saxon vulgarisms. He said he thought it was new because he heard it from students who came "from big cities out east." I asked if those big cities were ones with large Jewish populations and he said, "Yeah, I guess they are." I then asked if he'd heard professors using the word "schmuck" and he said he had, but he'd assumed they'd learned it from students. I had to give him some credit, though. There's not much Yiddish spoken in rural Minnesota, so it's easy to understand that he hadn't heard "schmuck" until he got to the university. And to his credit, he correctly determined the meaning "contemptible person" from context clues. And although his hypothesis about the etymology was wrong, it was plausible.

[@Isitshiyagalombili]

Where did he think the m came from? What a schlemiel! Lol

[@doriannewendymarsh5266]

OMG, this reminds me of a time my husband cocked his head at me inquiringly and said "keshka?" Turned out he thought it was a Yiddish phrase because he'd heard a Jewish friend of our say "Qu'est-ce que?" - which is like the most Maine thing ever.

[@jmodified]

He obviously didn't watch much TV.

[@roryscullion5121]

The phrase dig comes from Irish. When the Irish first arrived in America many were Irish-only speakers. When they went to building sites etc. for work they would get a bilingual Irish person to explain things. After a while, locals started to realise ‘An dtuigeann tú?’ (Pronounced an diggin too) meant ‘do you understand?’. This was then changed to do you dig.

[@zarfmouse]

Whenever I hear a tidy story like this it screams folk etymology to me.

[@Test_Tube_Boi]

20:36 SO close but no cigar😂 it originated in a vine, ("This bitch empty, YEET") and TRANSITIONED into videogames following the vine's viral popularity around like 2013-2014ish

[@mosaicowlstudios]

I was talking to my husband about a song and said, "the young people might call it a Bop, isn't it crazy that old-timey word is being used again?" He said, "Bop? I've never heard that word being used to describe a song, it's old slang AND new slang?" He is 53 (Gen X). I am 39 (Millennial). I may have only known it was a slang word from the 30's or 40's because I've been a musician most my life. He skipped knowing the word when it was used in past decades, and hasn't heard it yet in today's time.

[@hhhaaarrrmmmaaannn]

Oh you don’t want to know the new meaning that’s been placed on it by TikTok…

[@nunyabidnith7110]

"Bye Felicia" had a nostalgia quality at that time...and I feel like it was largely driven by Millennials who grew up watching Friday as kids.

[@PCGGC]

yes and then got further immortalized in the video of the guy who pushes his gf off the bungie ledge when she says if he does they are breaking up lol

[@denippon]

The joke about inflation got me giggling like a tiny child. Thanks for the great video!

[@Loctorak]

Giggling like a tiny child that understands inflation

[@juicedsky688]

You definition of Finna was interesting. Texas in the 60s and anywhere near there used the word fixin’, as in “fixing to“. I remember seeing a video with a linguist complaining that we use the word fixin. The family members I discussed this with thought it was insulting because there was no word to replace fixin. The spellchecker is so fighting me on this word. The linguist at that time noted it was just Texans who used that word.

[@Kberridge]

I find it interesting how the slang used in the early-mid 2010’s (yeet, on fleek, glow up, bussin) have specific associated videos/media to go along with them, whereas most of the new or revived slang has very little in terms of a popularized usage. Just think it speaks to the fleeting impact of “virality”

[@Juan_rivera]

Adhd his only some sick like bussing is the only that stuck

[@TheMidnightGoose]

Not quite sure how you do it but I always find your videos so entertaining while also feeling like I'm actually learning something. I think my brain just likes how distilled the information you provide is.

[@languagejones6784]

@@TheMidnightGoose thank you! That’s exactly what I’m going for

[@PrincipalSkinner3190]

As a teacher, you missed some of the most popular ones: "Cook", "Cooked", "Yapper/Yapping" "Left no Crumbs", "Zesty", "Lock in", "Brain Rot", "On God", "Bro" (degendered version).

[@angelaa7388]

Precursor to "Left no crumbs" was "ate"

[@PrincipalSkinner3190]

@@angelaa7388 Yes I know that, but it's still worth a mention. A lot of younger kids don't even use "ate" anymore.

[@Loctorak]

On god makes me cringe. I kind of like cooked and have started using that as well. Also your name is principal skinner and I've been watching Unlimited Steam as background noise while I sleep for like the last month, which are two totally unrelated things and you may not even know what im talking about, but its good to see you... Skinman. (Ps: in my mid 30s for context)

[@tedgrant5118]

From your video... "Lit." We used lit in the late 70s and early 80s to describe someone who was drunk or high. Most folks my age, late 50s/60s understand if I were to say, "Yeah, the dude was lit," as meaning very drunk or high. Said person could also be "totalled, " as in, "Dude was totalled!" Regarding names, "Settle down Nancy," was/is a barb that guys would often throw at one another. I suspect we took this from our parents who might call a "Bruce," a "Nancy-Mary." Fascinating video, consider me subscribed. Thank you.

[@Endrushmi]

12:08 we were saying yeet in highschool in 2000.

[@jamesmaybrick2001]

As an old man, shouting at the clouds i find that a lot of these new funky phrases drive me doolally tap.

[@audiohourtapes7632]

😆

[@Loctorak]

"Old man yells at cloud" Classic, good reference 😂

[@ivanmadrigalt]

14:57 Bop doesn't mean good songin Gen A/Z slang. It means homie hopper, or someone who dates many people

[@languagejones6784]

@@ivanmadrigalt that’s genuinely hilarious to the generation that grew up with bop it

[@lawrencewretham7816]

I have never seen or heard anyone use “cheugy”. I’ve seen it in articles about slang but never in use. I am active on line, have regular people I talk to both sides of the Atlantic and game online with a cross generational group. I am beginning to think it’s either very regional or was just made up by somebody to bait a journalist. Skibidi, however, is bloody everywhere. Also, “yeet” is old now and only used ironically in the UK. This is an excellent video.Straight bussin’ no cap.

[@yuu34567]

Based on what I've seen I don't think it has ever seen widespread use but I have encountered it in the wild before. It's been a few years since I've heard anyone say it in any context though.

[@CitiesTurnedToDust]

In my day the slang was perfectly sensible and refined. We'd say "Say, you choice bit of calico, let's ankle to a nifty speakeasy, burn some shoe leather, and get zozzled on giggle water 'til we're ossified - it'll be the cat's pajamas, see?" Why would anyone think their slang better than that?

[@AK-jt7kh]

The height of slang. Very posh!

[@mal2ksc]

The cat's pajamas? That's old hat! Now it's the bee's knees!

[@KingBongHogger]

As goofy as it sounded I can still deduce it means asking a pretty girl to go dancing and drink until you pass out. Still makes more sense than this skibidi nonsense.

[@Clear_Night4]

Totally interested in a vid about black twitter and pompeii graffiti Also interested in any videos that include neurodivergence and language

[@patrickhodson8715]

I think there might be a girly/girlie split happening. Girly (adjective) has the syllables divided and consequently the L is dark, since it’s in coda position. On the other hand, girlie (noun) is divided so the L is not dark, since it’s now in the onset of the second syllable. Idk if anyone else besides me exhibits this split or if there are any other minimal pairs, but that’s what I’ve noticed. Thank you for coming to my Ted talk

[@traumatizedamericanrat]

I think I have this too, tho, Im not sure if its more of a split on one having an affix and the other having fused to the word, or the types of l are being phonetic. idk tho TT

[@jakeaurod]

I noticed the specific use of _grrl_ in an online trans, gay, and female impersonator community 20 years ago. Not sure if that fits into this convo. Where does _gurl_ fit?

[@altrag]

@@jakeaurod Can't wait until _gyal(u)_ gets back-imported from Japan and see what odd connotations it ends up with given how it's used there.

[@Spotastic9]

Jawn is a word I never ended up using much myself, but its origins are from the Philly area. I'm originally from Camden, NJ, just across the bridge from Philly, and the word is also used heavily there. It's a noun that that can take the place of pretty much anything. "That jawn is lit." "Who's that jawn across the street?" "I need some ketchup on that jawn." The word has come to prominence with the release of "Bel-Air" on Peacock, the remake of "Fresh Prince of Bel-Air", with the main character, Will Smith, being from Philly. It's actually an amazing remake and I was chuckling as I explained the word jawn to my wife as we started watching it.

[@emmahill6832]

The gen z slang included here, I was using as a millennial. A fun example of words being used wrong or misunderstood, is that when I worked in a marketing department, I was saddled between gen z and gen x, and my gen z coworker COULD NOT UNDERSTAND why us OLD people INSTISTED on stealing HER gen z word "swag" and applying it to marketing gifts sent out to clients. She would physically wince whenever it was used in reference to gift baskets and the random crap we sent out. I explained that swag was an acronym and stood for "stuff we all get," like how a goodie bag at a birthday party was "swag." She explained that when she was in middle school, "swag" was a term used to describe kids who wanted to be cool but were trying too hard. "Swag" was a shortening of "swagger," like the cool guy walk.

[@gabyg389]

Swag is not an acronym, that sounds like a backronym. Swag means a bag of your belongings, like in the song Waltzing Matilda.

[@mensuramjr]

@@gabyg389 @emmahill6832 Swag actually originated from thieves cant in the 18th century meaning loot. Swag/Schwag became slang for promotional freebies in the 60s and still survives in the business world today. The meaning of it being "cool" then ironically "cool" items didn't come into being until the 90s.

[@gabyg389]

@@mensuramjr Swag has a very particular meaning in Australia. It means a bag of your belongings as men would travel from place to place looking for work. It's in our national song 'Waltzing Matilda'. Different countries have different meanings for words, that's the point of linguistics. The idea of a bag of things (either stolen or your own) then became associated with promotional goods in general.

[@wcookiv]

I specifically remember when swag became popular as a short form of swagger and I had to sit for a few days with my inner petulant prescriptivist complaining that it means free stuff given out for attending an event.

[@knockeledup]

The first and only time I heard swag referred to as stuff we all get was from Michael Scott on The Office. I’m guessing it was written as a joke for the show?

[@Tux-rs7rp]

“What’s mewing” “It’s the sound a cow makes”

[@onidaaitsubasa4177]

? Interrupting Cow: 🐄-mew? Isn't mewing the sound a cat makes and not a cow? 🐈‍⬛-mew What county is the cow from if it mews, France?

[@Unknownentityfeline]

Are you talking about the process of "mewing" ? The practice of putting your tongue and jaw into a certain position to shape the jawline into a more attractive angle to correct the chinless look that is unattractive? So named after Dr. Mew, the doctor who developed the exercise. This is the only other definition of mew or mewing that I know, the other, of course, is the cat vocalisation.

[@AshenElk]

In case you weren't joking, mewing is a high-pitched crying sound, especially that of a cat, while a cow's sound is mooing.

[@MilanRobin]

@@AshenElkappreciate the effort but he was most definitely joking

[@lazydroidproductions1087]

WRONG! It’s a baby cat noise

[@DrShawn_]

“Tea” is short for “Sips Tea” which is short for “Let’s sit down and gossip while we sip tea on a plantation in Georgia while we occasionally clutch our pearls and say things like ‘I do declare’” “It gives” Real Housewives of Atlanta vibes ya dig ? So “giving someone the tea” is more about what we were doing while drinking said tea. I want to say it’s analogous to how “killing the rabbit” was a euphemism for being pregnant .

[@ZipplyZane]

I thought it was more like the Kermit sips tea meme.

[@DrShawn_]

@@ZipplyZane yes . Kermit sipping tea is a reference to old southern ladies sipping tea and gossiping

[@vulpo]

I think it's actually British as in the phrase, "spill the tea," originating as a metaphor for the gossip that is spread while tea is being served.

[@ZipplyZane]

@@DrShawn_ That meme seems to be more about sitting back amd watching the chaos, while making a snarky remark. Less gossip, and more "I told you so!"

[@DrShawn_]

@@ZipplyZane I think you’ve misunderstood it . If I tell you to “give me the tea” I’m asking for a juicy story .

[@Songfugel]

Rizz coms from the sound of the word charisma... I never realized that before, even though it should be so obvious 😅 I was pretty shocked to find out I knew almost all of these, the old and almost all of the new ones as well. I guess watching twitch on the side while programming is helping even a dinosaur like me to stay even relatively up to date with today's slang 😂

[@livewire98801]

I laughed so hard I lost track of the video at the "snack/dish inflation" joke.

[@doesthisusername]

I feel like saying speedrun to mean "doing something quickly" is more common nowadays than it was when I first got into the hobby in 2016, which I find pretty neat.

[@Squaredasher]

The first use of “yeet” to my knowledge was a vine from ~2014 (maybe earlier, we don’t know when the original was uploaded) in which the girl shouts “yeet”, seemingly as a grunt of exertion, while throwing an empty soda can as far as she can down a crowded school hallway. Many young people began shouting “yeet” when throwing things, and the word thus became a verb meaning “to throw”

[@virgoroyalty]

Yeet is MUCH older than this. My mother was saying it in high school in the 80s and it reemerged some times in the early 2000s

[@BuckMcAntlerson]

If your mom was saying it in the 80s, it was just a local thing. I never heard it until a decade ago.

[@NeeL-ZzZz]

Yeet is the opposite of yoink

[@virgoroyalty]

@@BuckMcAntlerson I would say regional as in a southern black thing as opposed to local. I remember it SPECIFICALLY being in a song while I was in middle school, we’d say it all the time during basketball games for a good shot (or we’d yell it as you hit the beat dancing), and one day my mom heard me saying while watching tv and told me it was old slang. That and “Yuwey” which evolved into “yull”.

[@througtonsheirs_doctorwhol5914]

from whence came : "Twerk"... from the phrase : "put that A$$ to work" = "t'work, twerk... and people forgot that !

[@vivalafiaga]

i'm pretty sure cheugy, fleek, and yeet are all gen z co-opted by gen alpha younger siblings/niece/nephew. pretty sure yeet dates back to late 2000s/early 2010s tho