“What on earth are they saying?!?”
It’s a question I ask myself quite regularly as a mom of two teenage boys. It mostly occurs when they’re on their headsets gaming with friends. I’ll hear laughing, yelling, squealing, and then there will be conversations that I swear are in a different language. It’s like a secret teenage code. A code…that I’m about to crack!
As parents, I feel like we should at least have an idea of what our kids are talking about, right? So, with a little help from my kids and a few Google searches, I now know what they’re saying – and so do you! Let’s dive in, shall we?
“Sty”
You know how our parents always called us lazy? Well, it’s like this generation said “Here, hold my Root Beer”. If you overhear your child saying things like… “He’s got so much sty!” or “That’s so sty!”, it’s not an eye infection. The word “Sty” is simply short for Style. Yes, the kids of today decided that a word with only one syllable needed to be shortened even more.
“Bet”
To most of us, this word means making a bet with someone. We were forever saying “Wanna bet?!” to all our friends when we were kids about pretty much everything. Well, these days “Bet” means something different. It basically means… “I agree”. So, if you were to ask your teen if they want pizza for dinner and they respond with “bet” – it means yes. Why can’t they just say yes, you ask? I have no idea.
“Rizz”
I’m sure you’ve heard kids talking about other kids who have “Rizz”. I asked my boys what it means, and they just said it means someone has “game”, and they can charm people. Then, I decided to do a little Google search and “Rizz” is simply short for “Charisma”. It just sounds so much cooler to say “Rizz”, doesn’t it?
“Gyat”
So, I wasn’t sure if I was going to include this one on the list, but it’s become a common one I hear quite often. “Gyat” refers to someone who has a ‘large behind’ – but in a good way! It’s a compliment apparently. (Who knew?!)
“Mewing”
I think there’s about 18,956 pictures on my phone of my kid “mewing”. Basically, mewing is a technique in which the tongue is placed on the roof of the mouth to make the jawline look better. Google also said the technique of mewing can improve sleep and reduce mouth breathing. Some even claim that mewing can treat speech disorders, jaw pain, and sinusitis. I don’t know if there’s any actual science to back that up, so take what you will from it.
“Cap”
The term “cap” refers to a lie, while “no cap” means “no lie” or “for real”. So, the next time your teen asks if you’re serious, respond with “no cap” and see what happens.
“Skibidi Toilet”
I don’t even think the kids know what this means, they just say it. I think it’s the name of a series on YouTube though. All I know is there’s a “Skibidi Toilet” song out there somewhere and it’s annoyingly catchy and you may find yourself humming it in the shower…
here you have it! Teen speak translated. A year from now, we’ll probably have a whole list of new words we’ll need to learn, but hopefully this helps for now.
If you’ve managed to translate any other words that aren’t on this list – let me know! We need all the help we can get when it comes to raising teenagers!
And on that note… peace out, laters, G2G!
