Rashida
My mid-20s have been a pivotal time for me. Not only have I become responsible for my own health insurance, but I’ve also reached the age where teens think I’m old. This has led to me an interesting dilemma regarding slang words.
Gen Z seems to think the “cool” slang words are only for them, that it’s just “cringey” when anyone over the age of 22 says them.
But a TikTok I saw recently (that’s right, Gen Z, Millennials have made their way to your app) got me thinking. When we consider the age of people that generally popularize those terms, they aren’t 15. Previously, we explored the top slang terms of 2020 and the origins of slang words. Today, we’ll explore the age group of people who originated or popularized slang words.
The Example
The video on TikTok of a teacher on her Zoom meeting saying “no cap” (which means no lie) to her students. You could hear them respond with sheer disgust and call her cringey for saying that. She retorted by asking them how old The City Girls (popular hip hop duo) are. The kids conceded that The City Girls were in fact in their late 20s, and the teacher explained that slang words weren’t made for kids or by kids, they’re typically used by people much older than them first.
Got em!
Why Do Kids Try to Claim Slang?
I absolutely love how the teacher responded, and I certainly can relate. But, I also remember being a teen and thinking it was so embarrassing when an adult tried to use “our” slang. Based on the several other blog posts I’ve seen on the topic, it seems like parents and teachers everywhere experience the same thing. So, why does it happen?
As we enter our pre-teen and teenage years, we are changing in many ways that lead us to diverse from our parents. According to Parenthetical, “these diverging paths are one of the reasons why parents and teens frequently don’t see eye-to-eye, causing stress and sometimes even conflict in the family.” Slang is one way to identify more with peers and less with adults in our lives and to distinguish our generation. When people in another generation use the slang we identify with our own, it collides with the independence teens are vying for.
Can “Old People” Use Slang?
Now, for a teenager, 26 is old. In the grand scheme of things, it’s not. The reality is that people my age are the ones populating the modern slang that Gen Z claims. The celebrities they hear it from are typically older than them and in their 20s. For those reasons, slang will often overlap between Gen Z and Millennials for now.
But what about parents and teachers in their 30s, 40s, and beyond? Is it too late to pick up some new slang? Well, no, it’s not. However, chances are that you may still be attached to slang from your youth and that there’s not as much exposure or incentive to learn the latest and greatest slang. If you have or work with kids, it’s a good idea to understand the basic terms so you can make sure your child is safe. Don’t let them know you know, and only sprinkle it into your own dialect if you want to embarrass the kid or spark a laugh.
The kids that use slang typically aren’t in the age group of people that originated or popularized it, but it often becomes an important part of their independence and generation. But next time one calls you “cringey” for saying a phrase that was around before they were born, ask them how old The City Girls are.
