My husband and I like to think of ourselves as pretty hip, but apparently, we are now in dire need of a Gen Z (or is it Gen Alpha) dictionary. This epiphany struck while we were driving with our teenagers in the back seat, tuned into the Free Press podcast discussing “What to Expect in 2025.”
First, Bari Weiss—founder of The Free Press—and her partner, Nellie Bowles, launched into a fascinating riff about MAHA Mom. Never heard of it? You’re not alone, but if there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that new terms pop up faster than I can keep up.
When linguist John McWhorter (Professor at Columbia University) started talking about the 2024 Oxford Word of the Year—“brain rot”—our backseat critics perked right up. Who knew there was an entire competition for “Word of the Year”? McWhorter then rattled off a series of Gen Z slang words that really got our teenagers going:
- Bussin – A big thumbs-up for when something is awesome, delicious, or just overall amazing. Your kid’s dinner is bussin if they scrape the plate clean!
- Let him cook – A phrase that means “sit back and watch” or “give them space to do their thing.” Think of it as letting someone work their magic without interruptions.
- Demure – Usually an English adjective meaning reserved or modest, but it’s found new life in Gen Z circles as a playful label for someone who’s acting falsely shy or coy.
- Left no crumbs – A high compliment indicating total excellence: You did such a fantastic job that there is nothing left—no crumbs to pick at. You absolutely crushed it.
- Skibidi – Refers to a meme or dance trend that popped up in certain online corners (and somehow ended up on every teenager’s feed). If you hear this word, it might be time to ask if they’re reenacting a viral video.
- Sigma – Derived from the “alpha/beta” personality meme saga, a “sigma” is the cool lone wolf—someone who’s confident and independent. Gen Z loves a self-sufficient icon.
Taking obvious pleasures in their parents’ ignorance on these new terms, our teenagers wanted to know whether we are, in fact, “Boomers”—the ultimate generational diss. But no amount of eye-rolling from the peanut gallery will stop us from deciphering this teenage code.
After all, an emoji dictionary and acronym cheat sheet were once enough. Not anymore. Now we’re dealing with whole words that sound familiar but have gained quirky new definitions. Our kids love it; we parents do our best not to develop, well…brain rot.
So next time you’re in the car, listening to a podcast about politics, markets, or MAHA Mom, be prepared: your teens might lose interest—until a surprise linguistics lesson or pop-culture reference swoops in. That’s when they’ll pop up from the back seat, fully engaged, asking, “Are you guys Boomers or something?” And you can smile knowingly, whip out a brand-new Gen Z phrase, and show them that maybe—just maybe—you left no crumbs.
[Image credit; Written with help from ChatGPT]
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