Speak the lingo… slang your kids and grandkids use

Ever had trouble keeping up with the way your kids and grandkids talk? Trying to make sense of their ever-changing vocabulary can be a challenge. So we thought we’d give you a hand to speak their language.

  • Feels (“The feels”) – A wave of emotions that can’t be explained.
  • My bad (“Sorry, my bad”) When they finally confess to having done something wrong or
  • Bae – While all in lowercase, this is an acronym for Before Anyone Else or Before Anything Else. Also short for babe or baby.
  • Basic – Someone who lacks originality or goes along with the crowd. Something you’ll never be.
  • Can’t even - When something is too ridiculous, overwhelming or unfair. Sometimes heard as “I literally can’t even”.
  • FOMO - The fear of missing out. Perpetuated by Facebook, FOMO is every kid's nightmare that someone somewhere is having more fun than they are.
  • Legit – A synonym for cool or awesome, often used to describe something seen as excellent: “That band last night was legit”.
  • Ride – If you a hear a teenager asking “how do like my rides?” they’re probably referring to their sneakers, particularly if they cost a bomb. Can also refer to a car, as in “your ride is dope”, i.e ”I like your car mate”.
  • Frenemy - A combination of "friend" and "enemy”. A frenemy is a person who pretends they’re your friend, while they’ve been not so friendly behind your back. You know them, we’ve all got one.

Legit words to describe looking good: fierce, hot, babe, hottie, fine, blazing, sickening. Yep sickening: “they look so good it makes me sick”.

No doubt you’ve also had a bit of trouble deciphering texts from the young ones, so we thought we would help out here as well:

  • LOL (laugh out loud)
  • OMG (Oh my God)
  • YOLO (you only live once)
  • SYS (see you soon)
  • LMAO (laughing my arse off)
  • JK (just kidding)
  • CUL8R (see you later)

Try using some of these next time the kids are round and you’ll probably find them all rolling on the floor laughing (ROFL).

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