Woman, 27, baffled over meanings of teenage slang terms – but do YOU know what these Gen Alpha words mean?
A 27-year-old woman who considers herself Gen Z has tested her knowledge of slang language from the generation after her – and realised she knows less than she thought.
Gen Alpha refers to anyone born between 2013 and 2024 and, to older people, some of their slang language may sound entirely foreign.
This is what Summer Fox, from London, realised when she decided to test her knowledge of Gen Alpha’s vocabulary by asking her 12-year-old cousin to share a list of terms they frequently use.
‘I’m convinced I was still down there with the kids, that I was up to speed with the slang, I’m only 27,’ Summer said in a video posted on Instagram.
As soon as she read through her cousin’s ‘dictionary’ list, however, Summer quickly realised how out of touch she was.
The first phrase Summer, who appeared confused by several terms, read out was ‘aura points’ and it’s a way to quantify how cool someone is and whether they bring good energy.
Summer admitted: ‘I have heard of this recently and it did freak me out because I didn’t know that one. When someone says you’re gaining aura points, it means you’re giving off good energy, you’ve got cool vibes. I sound so old!
‘Or people can deduct aura points from you, and be like “Ew you’re being so cringe, minus aura points”.’
Content creator Summer Fox, from London, decided to text her 12-year-old cousin to test her knowledge of words popular with those in their teens and early twenties
The next word was ‘sigma’ that can be used in different contexts.
As a complimentary adjective, it is used to describe someone as a dominant leader, lone wolf, someone who is cool and popular.
On the other hand, ‘what the sigma’ also translates to ‘what the hell,’ Summer, who was perplexed by the word, said.
She added: ‘I don’t understand, why sigma? What is sigma?’
The official definition of sigma is the eighteenth letter of the Greek alphabet.
The next word on Summer’s list from her cousin was ‘skibidi’ that originates from a short web series called Skibidi Toilet, which was posted on YouTube in 2023.
The outrageous plot follows a war between toilets that have human-like heads and humanoids with CCTV cameras instead of faces – dubbed CameraHeads – and viral show has more than 65 million views on the American streaming platform.
Summer said: ‘Apparently people are saying “What the Skibidi” which I assume means “What the hell”? I don’t mind that one because it sounds silly, so it makes sense.’
Summer appeared confused by some of the words and had no idea what they meant
‘Skibidi’ can also mean an array of other things depending on the context in which it is used, including signalling that something is good or bad, cool or weird and dumb.
‘Ballerina cappuccina’ is another phrase that Gen Alpha appear to be using in their everyday lives and Summer claims it means someone who looks ‘cute and classy’.
The phrase is part of the popular group of ‘Italian brain rot’ characters trending on the internet and originates from an AI-generated image of a cappuccino cup with a face on the body of a human ballerina.
Lindsay Sped – who describes himself as a ‘student translator’ on TikTok – defined Italian brain rot as: ‘Blending AI-images and videos with made-up stories.’
The next one on Summer’s cousin’s extensive list is ‘slay’ that used to only mean killing an animal or human in a violent way – but now also translates to someone who has done exceptionally well or impressed others.
‘Slightly offended that she thought I wouldn’t know what slay meant,’ GenZer Summer said, since the term is used widely by her generation as well. ‘I know what slay means, thank you.’
Another phrase that is popular with both Gen Alpha and Gen Z is ‘it’s giving’.
This can be used to convey that you like something or to describe someone’s vibe or personality, for example, ‘it’s giving CEO,’ which translates to: ‘You are [or it is] giving CEO energy.’
Gen Alpha and Gen Z have also found another adjective for the word ‘yum’ or ‘yummy’.
When describing a delicious meal, for instance, they will say ‘That’s bussin’ as Summer explained: ‘Basically they’d all be eating their lunch in the canteen and they’d say “That sandwich was absolutely bussin.’
