Gen Alpha Says If You Use These Slang Words You're Officially Old
RIP 'slay.'
Yan Krukau / Pexels For most people, the idea of going back to middle school is a waking nightmare. Trying to figure out where you fall on the social ladder was hard enough once, let alone repeating the endeavor.
As with any generation, Gen Alpha has their own lexicon of what’s cool and what’s not, and they’re letting everyone older than 13 know.
Gen Alpha says if you use these slang words, you’re officially old.
1. 'Slay' no longer slays with the kids.
Social media influencer Nicole Pelligrino interviewed her Gen Alpha sister, Simone, and Simone’s bestie, Georgia, to discover which words are in and which are out, and “slay” is completely ancient.
“It’s not even funny how out ‘slay’ is,” Simone proclaimed. Nicole pushed the slay agenda, wondering if she could still say, “That’s a slay,” but Simone and Georgia’s emphatic response of “Oh my god, no,” put the word to rest, buried in a grave, where apparently it belongs.
2. 'Bet' is not okay anymore.
Nicole then asked if “bet” was still the right way to say “okay,” and it turns out, it’s not.
Photo: cottonbro studio / Pexels
3. Period(t)... wait, what is this?
“Period(t)’s okay,” Simone answered half-heartedly. Nicole asked for reassurance, only to hear it’s pretty much out, as far as Gen Alpha is concerned.
“Period(t)” as a slang word essentially takes a literal meaning: It’s used as the end of a statement, with nothing after.
“When somebody says something, and it’s like, so true, it was facts,” was one Gen Alpha’s explanation. Someone else explained, “It just means ‘stop,’ there’s nothing else to it.”
4. 'Swag' is not cool anymore.
Nicole posted a follow-up TikTok continuing her conversation with Simone and Georgia, and she immediately discovered that the word “swag” is “so out.”
5. Using 'simp' makes you look foolish.
“What about ‘simp?’” Nicole asked, only to be told that the word is also “so out” in the world of Gen Alpha.
As Georgia explained, “That was like a 2020 thing,” a statement I'd assume makes even the fresh-faced kids in Gen Z feel like they should move into a cemetery and never leave. While three years doesn’t seem like such a long time for a word to die out, for Gen Alpha, three years actually represents a major developmental milestone: The difference between being 10 years old and being 13 years old is huge.
Photo: Polina Tankilevitch / Pexels
Gen Alpha is more likely to use slang words like “Fanum tax” (someone who steals your food) and “skibidi” (a person who is not nice). These words that make me feel like I’m a thousand years old apparently originated from Twitch streamers and a YouTube song. What’s notable is that they highlight just how malleable language is, as words and the meanings they hold are always evolving.
It’s also important to note that a huge amount of Gen Alpha’s slang is rooted in AAVE, African American Vernacular English. As noted by a man who goes by @human1011 on TikTok, “There’s a long history of African American Vernacular English being used to create new ‘slang’ words in general English.”
He listed off various words that originated from AAVE, including slang like bruh, bae, fam, and vibe, along with other words, like jazz, dude, soul, banjo, and the word “cool” itself.
As someone who lands firmly in the category of Elder Millennial, I can promise Gen Alpha that someday, they, too, will be pushing 40, panicking on an existential level about words they don’t understand while slathering serum on their wrinkling skin, waxing philosophical on the relentless and enduring passage of time.
Alexandra Blogier is a writer on YourTango's news and entertainment team. She covers social issues, pop culture analysis and all things to do with the entertainment industry.