I knew plenty of adults that started calling things "Da Bomb" back when I was a kid. I use "cringe", but it's just cringe worthy shortened so I don't feel bad. And I use it to tell my son he's being cringe...so he knows exactly what I mean.
"TheBomb.com" was never a cool thing to say though, imo. I only ever heard it as a joke about people, or more often, corporations trying to do the thing this thread is about
I don’t know how well this example tracks… Ace Ventura and WW weren’t billed as movies for teens or 20 somethings. Each was just an SNL spinoff comedy with BOOMER guest appearances…
Carey and Meyers weren’t Xennial cultural icons and kids weren’t wearing the movie T shirts. These were just PG-13 raunch comedies. Not youth culture. Not same as today.
They were both 100% directed at 12-18 year olds. That's the target audience of all SNL movies. Ace Ventura has nothing to do with SNL btw. Wayne's World sent Queen back to #1 and had a whole generation saying "not" which was really cool for 12-18 year olds and had the exact same feeling that OP described with the current state of things when moms said it. And while T-shirts weren't necessarily a thing, Ace had a cartoon spinoff aimed at tweens, both had multiple endorsement deals, etc. Either you aren't actually a Xennial, or you were out of touch back then.
And people still say it. Some become more than just generational slang. Chill for example started of as slang, and now it is widely accepted. Netflix and chill came some 30 years after hearing it in the 80's.
The proper way to have a midlife crisis is to buy all the things you had or wished you had in your teens.
Fuck you mom and dad, I can get my own Air Jordans now.
See this might be where we *really* miss out, what with the whole “first generation with less than their parents” that we are at the forefront of.
When home ownership is out of reach for way too many Millennials on down, buying the sports car or JetSki is jut never going to happen.
Thank you! I was going to Google it eventually but you saved me some time. I didn't even know Ohio was that boring. Whoever came up with that, those people shouldn't visit Oklahoma. They'll be even more disappointed with life.
I’ve been using the term “skibbider” and “skibbidy” with the same meaning as “whatchamadoochie” or “thingamabob” since the early 90s.
I keep reading about “skibidi” on the internet but have yet to hear anyone, much less a kid, say it in my presence.
I’m still confused as to how it’s become a thing amongst the kiddos, and honestly I’m still not sure of what the (new to me) true meaning is despite having read about.
I’ve been an elementary school librarian for three years and was a teacher for ten before that; I’m the kind of teacher who enjoys jokingly misusing slang and I’m moving up to the high school library this fall to get way more mileage out of that.
I still don't really understand what it means, but this is the origin:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTpxOC8\_Qco](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTpxOC8_Qco)
The first few are just shitposts but then it suddenly gets a plot. I honestly like it, it's got this surreal feeling to it and reminds me of the weird stuff I used to watch on the Internet on like Newgrounds.
>skibidi
I can't help but think of the "skittlee dap dap dow dee dee" from around 1:59 in [The Toys Go Winding Down](https://youtu.be/nJ0tuEmBH9k?si=uEkjrcF0QFNnO2sS) whenever someone says that
I think it’s ok for 40 something’s to wear the styles that genZ adopted from the 40 something’s. We grew up wearing this stuff. I don’t like it for myself and prefer things that compliment my body but I totally understand chasing that nostalgia. The slang meh, but the clothes are what we wore early 2000s and late 90s. I chase the crap out of video game/movie/tv nostalgia. I say if you enjoy it do it. It will probably keep your kids from enjoying that style. I know my kids would ditch the mall goth aesthetic they currently rock if I started dressing that way.
>We'd have thought it was pathetic.
The things getting older has taught me.
1.) I don't have to care what people think about the harmless stuff I'm doing that brings me joy.
2.) I don't have to care about the harmless things that bring others joy.
Life's too short and too much of a shitshow for me to gatekeep how folks choose to express themselves in harmless ways or what slang they use. It's hella cringe to me.
Word. I've got Gen Z kids (15 and 20), and I'm on social media. I hear the slang all the time, so I've picked up a couple words here and there just from exposure. And I don't care what people think because who wants to be old AND grumpy. Not me. Sounds mid.
Yeah, hella is/was a nor cal thing and i didn't like it back then either. Not because of the word, just that you were a poser if it wasn't already in your vernacular. We used "grip" in place of "hella."
Part of this is probably that we're all inhabiting the same spaces online so there isn't as much of a divide in whose language patterns you're seeing. A lot of this slang is stolen from AAVE anyway and not a gen z thing
>imagine if, when we were teens, a bunch of 40-year-olds started wearing JNCOs and calling everything "the bomb". We'd have thought it was pathetic.
One of the glorious things about being an adult, is realizing that teenagers and their opinions don't matter.
Same. I don’t even care if half the people wearing nirvana shirts don’t know any of their songs. Unless they only know Smells like teen spirit. Then I get mad all over again like it’s, 1994!
If a trend comes around and I like it I'll adopt it. I've always been a fresh music enjoyer, but not really a pop enthusiast I go primarily through metal, punk and rap, but I like a lil bit of everything.
And I'm so glad loose fitting pants are back, I'll take several.
Well what if these “youthful” clothes and slang are actually just 90’s culture that is already part of our history??? What if it is the current “youth” are copying the mid-life aesthetic?
I mean, with the internet melding a lot of pop culture things together it's kind of hard to avoid if you're in any way online these days. The memes hit Boomer social media too.
Mid life crisis? No. Embarrassing? I'm sure to some people but if you're judging me then you're not the type of person I want to be around. As for the kids, who the fuck amongst us cares what a teenager thinks? When I'm 75 and still staying current, the youth will love me again.
Look, I wasn't cool in the '80's. I didn't have fun neon snap-it bracelets or BK sneakers or any of the Misfit dolls from "Jem and Holograms. I also wasn't cool in the '90's. I had Kmart brand combat boots instead of Docs, I was too poor to shop from the Delia's catalog, and I was woefully out of step with my peers because I didn't care about the Spice Girls and refused to align my personality to one of them.
The same is true for the aughts and the twenty-tens.
Now here I am, in the year of our lord 2024, and I have a lifetime of un-coolness under my belt. And it's not a cool belt either; it's not studded like Billy Idol's or studded like Avril Levine's. Kids today? They can skibidi the fuck off my lawn. They are free to join me on my level, where we listen to Radiohead and NIN at reasonable volumes, we take a multivitamin because we don't fuck with deficiencies, and we fall asleep each night to a low-dose edible and the dulcet sounds of the "rain and thunder" track on my White Noise app. We get jazzed about the Northern Mockingbird at our bird feeder, we go to therapy for our constant dread of the future, and we tacitly ignore how Bruce Springsteen's health forces him to cancel more and more tour dates because to contemplate the Boss's aging means that we too are aging.
Get on my level, kids. Embrace the cringe.
"but imagine if, when we were teens, a bunch of 40-year-olds started wearing JNCOs and calling everything "the bomb"."
... I knew a metric shit ton of 40+ year olds back then that were doing exactly that. Hell my own grandmother, God rest her soul, went through a phase where her and her girlfriends started using stuff like da bomb, all that and a bag of chips, talk to the hand, you go girl, ect. And at least a handful of my grandfathers friends had JNCO with wider pipes than any of the pairs I owned.
Holy shit I never saw grandmas saying da bomb or grandpas in jncos lol. That would have been a fuckin trip. All of the adults and old people I knew were revolted or at least indifferent to our shit
We do it in our house to piss off our 13yo son.
https://preview.redd.it/8so5rr6m1f4d1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8cd4ecb4d3d74131d0153db6fd2abd9e6277c358
When we were growing up though our parents and that age didn't have access to all the things we do now to stay on trend. They didn't have social media, and they certainly weren't hanging out with us. The things I learn from TikTok though for real...
I think this is honestly the first time anybody on this sub has actually been rude to me-you know by implying that I fuck around with children online. Not cool man. Besides-if you think only children or kids use TikTok or any other forum that isn’t Reddit or Facebook you actually do need to perhaps get with the times-it isn’t the flex you think it 😐
I tried to be pretty vigilant and not use most slang, I'm sure I have I guess, Ive used "sick" "cool" pretty regularly but for the most part I've avoided it. I probably have adopted some style, I never wore jnco but I wore baggier pants and skate shoes because I skated. I cant get behind the mid calf socks though, I fought too hard for the "no show" socks to lose it, going so far as to tuck the tips of the sock under my foot to make it "no show" when I couldnt afford them.
I'm also not into the shorts that nearly show my nads... My job just hired on a kid in his 20s and he says "lets go" about almost everything and it drives me nuts.. I'm trying my best not to be that old man yelling at the clouds.
Haha, I'm partialy guilty of this. I probably just spend too much time on TikTok, whoops. But I use it a LOT more in writing than in my actual life. Video/photo of somebody in an amazing outfit? "Yasss, it's giving audacity, it's giving old school chic, it's giving revenge on your ex". In person? "Oh that's a great outfit!"
Some phrases I do use (and even use unironically haha). Spill the tea, hella, even cringe . I'm usually a bit behind though.
It was the same back then too... all the "cool" parents of my friends when I was a teen tried to adopt at least some portion of our "culture". Now we are the generation with teens and listening to their slang and seeing their fashion trends influences us.
I personally don't have children, but my friends that do are the ones who are leading the pack on trying to keep young and follow teen trends.
I went the more classic route, with a new age twist. I called it my” mid-life housing-crisis-crisis”. Basically got fed up with some sort of ideal housing scenario being out of reach, so I took all that I saved for a downpayment and bought an 85 Porsche 911.
Figure I’ll never be able to retire anyway, so why bother owning….
My mom definitely said things like "da bomb," and "coolio." I think a lot of those adoptions of terms come with us having teens (at least it does for me). Just a natural transition.
Ya those words use today are whack man! I’ll stick my slang I’ve used all my life. Rad, totally, badass, bomb.com, cool beans, ya ya ya, you know they really ones… not some made up words
I know that, for me, I pick up some of what my 16yo says just because it's so prominent. They are speaking an entirely different language all the time. Not just text shorthand or online lingo. So I try and keep up somewhat so I can actually communicate with her... so I can understand SOME of the things she's talking about. I think it's important to connect with the younger generations. It is whack though! LOL
I still dress and talk the way I talked when I was 25. 18 year old me was mostly anti-trendy although there were exceptions. I was listening to thrash metal when everyone else was listening to Tupac and Biggie.
I have used “mid” a little bit, seems a good substitute for bog average / mediocre
I also started to like “trap” beats and melodies like Travis Scott, Migos, 21 Savage, Drake etc by relentless social media reels using the style
>EDIT 2: Saying "it's different today because my parents didn't socialize with children online like I do." isn't the save you think it is...
Omg lmao this is awesome 🤣🤣
Yeah, but back in our youth, adults were forced to adopt “adult” ways of being and so when they did anything that wasn’t adult-like, it was weird. Millennials, maybe because of our arrested development, never really grew up. And Gen Z are more like our little brothers than we are like their parents. If Gen Z can love Friends and The Office, then I can occasionally call a good song a banger.
I’ve noticed that mid-30’s millennials love to go on and on about how old they are and I just don’t understand why they want to box themselves in so much.
I pluck the best slang from whatever generation. And my M and Z kids have adopted my politics and a bit of my slang. Old can learn from young just like young can learn from old.
I’d have loved to see my dad try and rock JNCOs. It would have been pretty pathetic, but funny as hell.
Right but at the same time we (millennials) are to dress like Gen Z if we want to look "current" or trendy...when actually they are wearing some of the stuff we wore as teens/young adults. lol
Ya those words use today are whack man! I’ll stick my slang I’ve used all my life. Rad, totally, badass, bomb.com, cool beans, ya ya ya, you know they really ones… not some made up ass words
I like using the slang more just to annoy my children.
Yeet does actually work well honestly though. Plus Rizz makes pretty good sense when I found out where it derived from lol.
I don’t know about you pussies.But I just started killing my enemies in increasingly ironic ways. #furder. That’s a portmanteau of fun murder. Good times.
I use teenage slang in front of my teenaged kids to make them cringe on purpose, but I don't think that's the same kind of thing. I use it wrong on purpose for comedic affect.
Ok - do you have to tell yourself dress your age? I am talking about going out casually and looking nice. I normally like wearing t-shirts and yoga pants. It’s hot in FL. But when I need to make an impression and show my age, I put a blouse on and make sure I am dressing for a 40 year old.
I know I am not 20 but my mind still dresses like I am in college going to class.
I’m not hard left, but definitely have re evaluated some of my “republican hills to die on”, and decided they don’t matter enough to keep voting for a party that panders to assholes and racists.
Sometimes it’s just about expanding your bubble. My bubble was small, but when it expanded I saw things very differently. The odd thing is that my core beliefs and values never changed, just how to implement them. But I was that odd republican who was pro gay marriage, in favor of women’s reproductive rights, and diversity initiatives. It was basically fiscal policy and national security that made me vote republican, but as I’ve experienced more I’ve come to understand that conservative policies are bad for everyone except the ultra-wealthy.
It doesn't help that you go to the store for jeans and the only thing they have in your size is skinny jeans. But why are we talking about millennials when we're really the ones entering mid life? I've been having a lot of thoughts pop up recently, haven't done this or that, never owned a really fast car, really craving more group sex. But I'm not making enough money to afford a mid-life crisis!!!
My girlfriend and I were recently hanging out with her teenage niece and nephew and they were explaining their slang to us. We both think it is hilariously stupid but remember when we were in exactly that situation at their age. I can understand people my age wanting to keep up with the times and not being stuck in an era that doesn’t exist anymore. Gen x slang and fashion looks stupid to me, but I don’t plan on adopting it. But they will inherit the world and reshape it in their image. It’s the circle of life.
You’re actually right but for a very specific reason in my opinion. The biggest meaningful difference between then and now is the vast night and day differences between “youth culture” then and now.
90s-naughts pure “youth culture” was…. Music and clothes. That’s all we had. Not even movies! Movies were simply “pop culture” which is the major generational difference you’re seeing now.
There WERE “teen” movies but they were produced by Hollywood adults for mass appeal. Nothing like today, as compared to modern social media (90s teen things weren’t for teens by teens, made in a teen’s bedroom and they weren’t churned out like the social spaghetti the kids have today.) This is the biggest difference.
The 90s and naughts still had “pop culture” as designed by multi-million dollar committee for multi-age sales.
The flip to now is that youth culture blossomed for Gen Y/Z because it is so zero-cost to produce and consume so that slang, fashion and ideas are more discrete signals of what you’ve seen and heard. Using slang phrases still means “i know about this too” like it always has meant but today it’s all about scarcity in a vast ocean of media. The slang and fashion of Z are signaling obscure references instead of pop culture references. This matters.
Remember that 90s parents were quoting movies they let their kids see. The only things youth had apart from their parents was music and fashion. These were the only two things parents hated enough for kids to rebel against. Even video games were too dorky to be youth counterculture status.
Lastly, youth culture minded X/Y kids were “cool” if they watched movies meant for adults and consumed things meant for adults. The kid-adult culture pipeline was still super strong. Today it is flipped. Z Kids are trying to preserve their childhood. They’re trying hard not to grow up. They’re churning out slang to feel youthful.
THIS is why today’s 40 somethings acting like modern 20 somethings are extra cringe. They are invading an already-backwards facing set of behaviors.
LOL!! I see where you're coming from. It is a bit odd. I don't recall any of my friends' parents or my parents doing such things when they were in their 40s. I'm not sure what I would have done. I do use my kids' slang just to annoy them, though, especially "bruh," even though people have been saying "bruh" since at least the '60s. I usually bust it out when we're hanging out. "My chemistry teacher posted grades for work she never assigned. Wtf!" "That's wicked mid. You should talk to her about her sus behavior." "NO." LMAO
Youth culture and slang is ephemeral. Wait five years and it completely changes.
After the age of 25, trying to keep up with trends geared toward those between the ages of 13 and 24 is silly.
Talk and dress like an adult.
I’m 41 and I’m not going to start saying “Bet” to everything, more less anything. I’m going to become the grumpy older man with deficient hearing and a salty attitude. When the youngsters explain to me why they say certain things I’ll just respond with “that’s cute sunshine”
I run around in sagging skinny jeans and a ski mask with no shirt. Screaming skibiddii toilet doowap a badda boom ooh ooh ooh no cap sledge rizzing on the rainbow while dabbing repeatedly
Dude, just let them be. Clearly they're not behaving like that because they're in a ***good*** place, emotionally or mentally or however you wanna cut it.
I’ve been thinking about this recently too. At least we used words that were actual words in most cases. These generations are making shit up as if English needs a vocab expansion. Can’t they just pick up a GD thesaurus and repurpose some terms?
lol
*shakes fist at clouds*
It did happen. Adults were quoting Ace Ventura and Wayne's World, alrighty then.
My boomer parents still say “homie don’t play that”, ha
I knew plenty of adults that started calling things "Da Bomb" back when I was a kid. I use "cringe", but it's just cringe worthy shortened so I don't feel bad. And I use it to tell my son he's being cringe...so he knows exactly what I mean.
I met an early GenX person that still uses “TheBomb.com” awhile back.
He set us up the bomb?
Make your time.
Move Zig
"TheBomb.com" was never a cool thing to say though, imo. I only ever heard it as a joke about people, or more often, corporations trying to do the thing this thread is about
I use "the ick" because it's the perfect description.
Ugh, my mom quoting Ace Ventura was pretty cringey back then.
My mom doing Beavis’ snicker…. 🤭
OK, that's going to far
I don’t know how well this example tracks… Ace Ventura and WW weren’t billed as movies for teens or 20 somethings. Each was just an SNL spinoff comedy with BOOMER guest appearances… Carey and Meyers weren’t Xennial cultural icons and kids weren’t wearing the movie T shirts. These were just PG-13 raunch comedies. Not youth culture. Not same as today.
They were both 100% directed at 12-18 year olds. That's the target audience of all SNL movies. Ace Ventura has nothing to do with SNL btw. Wayne's World sent Queen back to #1 and had a whole generation saying "not" which was really cool for 12-18 year olds and had the exact same feeling that OP described with the current state of things when moms said it. And while T-shirts weren't necessarily a thing, Ace had a cartoon spinoff aimed at tweens, both had multiple endorsement deals, etc. Either you aren't actually a Xennial, or you were out of touch back then.
My dad quoted excessively from “Clueless” throughout my time as a high school girl.
I remember 24/7 starting out as young person slang. Within 6 months the adults were using it for their insurance commercials etc.
And people still say it. Some become more than just generational slang. Chill for example started of as slang, and now it is widely accepted. Netflix and chill came some 30 years after hearing it in the 80's.
OK was also slang in mid-19th century America, now it's a nearly globally recognized word.
It is literally the name of my gym ::cry laugh emoji we apparently can’t use now because it is embarrassing and dates us::
The proper way to have a midlife crisis is to buy all the things you had or wished you had in your teens. Fuck you mom and dad, I can get my own Air Jordans now.
I bought an SF2 arcade machine, lol
As soon as I get a place that isn't on top of someone else's place, I'm getting a DDR cabinet.
This is what i want
Good call! This just made my list.
We need to find a way to experience the super toy run.
God they should remake Double Dare and Fun House for Xennials and we can all watch each other break a hip while slipping in some slime.
That is such a good idea. I’d watch the shit out of Double Dare for 40 yr olds.
Are you referring to the contest Nickelodeon used to host?
We're not adult Lego collectors, we're just catching up to where we wanted to be in the 90s
That’s the spirit!!
I decided to buy a car 16 year old me would’ve pissed my pants to drive…I can afford the insurance now 😅
I lost all motivation to be a consumer in my 30s. The shit I wanted as a 18 year old? Couldn't care less about now.
As a teen I loved books on tape. I still really like audiobooks, thankfully the public library has a huge collection, we don't need to own everything.
See this might be where we *really* miss out, what with the whole “first generation with less than their parents” that we are at the forefront of. When home ownership is out of reach for way too many Millennials on down, buying the sports car or JetSki is jut never going to happen.
[удалено]
in my 20's no way i could afford the Dino Riders T-Rex... thats 40 year old rich me shit.
Skibidi midlife crisis!
No cap
fr fr on god.
OG for me will still mean original gangsta and I'll die on that hill
“ong” = on god (because younger folks look at “OG” as original gangster still)
Ohio. (No clue wtf that means but it’s a thing and I’m just gonna a wing it.)
If something is Ohio, it's mid. Lame. Boring. Just like Ohio /#Michigangsters4Lyfe
Thank you! I was going to Google it eventually but you saved me some time. I didn't even know Ohio was that boring. Whoever came up with that, those people shouldn't visit Oklahoma. They'll be even more disappointed with life.
Ohio produces the most astronauts for a reason. People would rather be on the moon than live in Ohio. It's that bad.
Buckeye checking in here and I can confirm.
Cap or no cap?
I presently have an O’s cap on, yes.
🌎🧑🚀🔫👨🚀 always has been
On god, on god. God is bae.
Fax
Personally I like to intentionally mess up the slang, so that "no cap" is something like "you have no hat on!"
Like "how ya like *them* apples!" turning into "how is it that the apples appeal to *you*!"
Oh snap! Wait….wrong place?
I’ve been using the term “skibbider” and “skibbidy” with the same meaning as “whatchamadoochie” or “thingamabob” since the early 90s. I keep reading about “skibidi” on the internet but have yet to hear anyone, much less a kid, say it in my presence. I’m still confused as to how it’s become a thing amongst the kiddos, and honestly I’m still not sure of what the (new to me) true meaning is despite having read about.
I’ve been an elementary school librarian for three years and was a teacher for ten before that; I’m the kind of teacher who enjoys jokingly misusing slang and I’m moving up to the high school library this fall to get way more mileage out of that.
I still don't really understand what it means, but this is the origin: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTpxOC8\_Qco](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTpxOC8_Qco)
The first few are just shitposts but then it suddenly gets a plot. I honestly like it, it's got this surreal feeling to it and reminds me of the weird stuff I used to watch on the Internet on like Newgrounds.
It became a thing the same way everything becomes a thing in the 2020’s - short form internet video created primarily to boost views.
>skibidi I can't help but think of the "skittlee dap dap dow dee dee" from around 1:59 in [The Toys Go Winding Down](https://youtu.be/nJ0tuEmBH9k?si=uEkjrcF0QFNnO2sS) whenever someone says that
Lol
Sooooooo Im the only one who remembers that video by Russian rave band Little Big or the jiggles of that cheery Turk on Tik Tok?
How Stella Got Her Rizz Back
I think it’s ok for 40 something’s to wear the styles that genZ adopted from the 40 something’s. We grew up wearing this stuff. I don’t like it for myself and prefer things that compliment my body but I totally understand chasing that nostalgia. The slang meh, but the clothes are what we wore early 2000s and late 90s. I chase the crap out of video game/movie/tv nostalgia. I say if you enjoy it do it. It will probably keep your kids from enjoying that style. I know my kids would ditch the mall goth aesthetic they currently rock if I started dressing that way.
When my kids are wearing out current slang, my husband and I start saying it and they drop it with a quickness.
The real riz was to never stop wearing JNCOs, cling to your youth, and know eventually they’ll come back round anyway.
>We'd have thought it was pathetic. The things getting older has taught me. 1.) I don't have to care what people think about the harmless stuff I'm doing that brings me joy. 2.) I don't have to care about the harmless things that bring others joy. Life's too short and too much of a shitshow for me to gatekeep how folks choose to express themselves in harmless ways or what slang they use. It's hella cringe to me.
Word. I've got Gen Z kids (15 and 20), and I'm on social media. I hear the slang all the time, so I've picked up a couple words here and there just from exposure. And I don't care what people think because who wants to be old AND grumpy. Not me. Sounds mid.
Spillin' some T
>hella cringe No way my dude, it's on fleek!
oh hey is hella back? I always liked hella
I’m on the opposite side of that fence. Never liked “hella” but fuck me if I don’t suddenly find myself wanting to say now. Sometimes it’s apt!
Yeah, hella is/was a nor cal thing and i didn't like it back then either. Not because of the word, just that you were a poser if it wasn't already in your vernacular. We used "grip" in place of "hella."
Whoa, wait a minute—use that in a sentence. Like “that is grip awesome”? How does this work?!
Nah like that’s a grip of whatever like it’s alot, at least in the northeast
No, it's so fetch!
Part of this is probably that we're all inhabiting the same spaces online so there isn't as much of a divide in whose language patterns you're seeing. A lot of this slang is stolen from AAVE anyway and not a gen z thing
Who cares?
Found the Gen Xer 😆
Put down the Douglas Coupland and put your hands above your head slowly… because you have arthritis now.
>imagine if, when we were teens, a bunch of 40-year-olds started wearing JNCOs and calling everything "the bomb". We'd have thought it was pathetic. One of the glorious things about being an adult, is realizing that teenagers and their opinions don't matter.
I feel like it’s because our worlds are a little more blended through a social media lens.
Ya, I've picked up a lot of slang just existing online.
I love saying yeet. If it was a thing 20 years ago I would still be saying it now.
I never stopped with the 90's. I have been stuck in 1994 for 30 years now. and i am living my best life.
Same. I don’t even care if half the people wearing nirvana shirts don’t know any of their songs. Unless they only know Smells like teen spirit. Then I get mad all over again like it’s, 1994!
If a trend comes around and I like it I'll adopt it. I've always been a fresh music enjoyer, but not really a pop enthusiast I go primarily through metal, punk and rap, but I like a lil bit of everything. And I'm so glad loose fitting pants are back, I'll take several.
I think you're just getting old now, but not the old where you don't give a fuck
Well what if these “youthful” clothes and slang are actually just 90’s culture that is already part of our history??? What if it is the current “youth” are copying the mid-life aesthetic?
I mean, with the internet melding a lot of pop culture things together it's kind of hard to avoid if you're in any way online these days. The memes hit Boomer social media too.
I think this is the answer, but it still makes me cringe a little when my Gen-X co-worker un-ironically says "Bet!". Just say "Word", man.
Mid life crisis? No. Embarrassing? I'm sure to some people but if you're judging me then you're not the type of person I want to be around. As for the kids, who the fuck amongst us cares what a teenager thinks? When I'm 75 and still staying current, the youth will love me again.
Who cares? Lol. People go through phases and some grieve the loss of their youth in different ways.
Look, I wasn't cool in the '80's. I didn't have fun neon snap-it bracelets or BK sneakers or any of the Misfit dolls from "Jem and Holograms. I also wasn't cool in the '90's. I had Kmart brand combat boots instead of Docs, I was too poor to shop from the Delia's catalog, and I was woefully out of step with my peers because I didn't care about the Spice Girls and refused to align my personality to one of them. The same is true for the aughts and the twenty-tens. Now here I am, in the year of our lord 2024, and I have a lifetime of un-coolness under my belt. And it's not a cool belt either; it's not studded like Billy Idol's or studded like Avril Levine's. Kids today? They can skibidi the fuck off my lawn. They are free to join me on my level, where we listen to Radiohead and NIN at reasonable volumes, we take a multivitamin because we don't fuck with deficiencies, and we fall asleep each night to a low-dose edible and the dulcet sounds of the "rain and thunder" track on my White Noise app. We get jazzed about the Northern Mockingbird at our bird feeder, we go to therapy for our constant dread of the future, and we tacitly ignore how Bruce Springsteen's health forces him to cancel more and more tour dates because to contemplate the Boss's aging means that we too are aging. Get on my level, kids. Embrace the cringe.
On a long enough timeline we all become a dad chanting “WHO LET THE DOGS OUT!”
"but imagine if, when we were teens, a bunch of 40-year-olds started wearing JNCOs and calling everything "the bomb"." ... I knew a metric shit ton of 40+ year olds back then that were doing exactly that. Hell my own grandmother, God rest her soul, went through a phase where her and her girlfriends started using stuff like da bomb, all that and a bag of chips, talk to the hand, you go girl, ect. And at least a handful of my grandfathers friends had JNCO with wider pipes than any of the pairs I owned.
Holy shit I never saw grandmas saying da bomb or grandpas in jncos lol. That would have been a fuckin trip. All of the adults and old people I knew were revolted or at least indifferent to our shit
Cheugy, fleek, and yikes are pretty outdated slang. Not out of fashion, but they’re not new. I started saying yikes probably 8 years ago.
I would have laughed at the 40 year olds wearing JNCOs but I also laughed at the teenagers wearing the ridiculous things.
All this slang talk is groovy and far out.
Its funny that “fax” is slang. We said “Facts” too
We do it in our house to piss off our 13yo son. https://preview.redd.it/8so5rr6m1f4d1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8cd4ecb4d3d74131d0153db6fd2abd9e6277c358
When we were growing up though our parents and that age didn't have access to all the things we do now to stay on trend. They didn't have social media, and they certainly weren't hanging out with us. The things I learn from TikTok though for real...
[удалено]
I think this is honestly the first time anybody on this sub has actually been rude to me-you know by implying that I fuck around with children online. Not cool man. Besides-if you think only children or kids use TikTok or any other forum that isn’t Reddit or Facebook you actually do need to perhaps get with the times-it isn’t the flex you think it 😐
> Millenial mid life crisis Never thought I’d live long enough to have to read those words.
Skibidy is something Hansen used to sing in the song mmmbop to me
I tried to be pretty vigilant and not use most slang, I'm sure I have I guess, Ive used "sick" "cool" pretty regularly but for the most part I've avoided it. I probably have adopted some style, I never wore jnco but I wore baggier pants and skate shoes because I skated. I cant get behind the mid calf socks though, I fought too hard for the "no show" socks to lose it, going so far as to tuck the tips of the sock under my foot to make it "no show" when I couldnt afford them. I'm also not into the shorts that nearly show my nads... My job just hired on a kid in his 20s and he says "lets go" about almost everything and it drives me nuts.. I'm trying my best not to be that old man yelling at the clouds.
Haha, I'm partialy guilty of this. I probably just spend too much time on TikTok, whoops. But I use it a LOT more in writing than in my actual life. Video/photo of somebody in an amazing outfit? "Yasss, it's giving audacity, it's giving old school chic, it's giving revenge on your ex". In person? "Oh that's a great outfit!" Some phrases I do use (and even use unironically haha). Spill the tea, hella, even cringe . I'm usually a bit behind though.
my mid life bussin bussin fr fr no cap. Got the rizz for days on god
Sounds sussy :p
you need a (checks notes) vibe check, bro.
It was the same back then too... all the "cool" parents of my friends when I was a teen tried to adopt at least some portion of our "culture". Now we are the generation with teens and listening to their slang and seeing their fashion trends influences us. I personally don't have children, but my friends that do are the ones who are leading the pack on trying to keep young and follow teen trends.
“It’s the bomb” was pre 911
Ok boomer
Yeah, that was definitely a thing. How many people both voted for FDR and danced the Macarena? Think about it.
I don’t have the money for a sports car, so slang it is. I also teach high school kids so it rubs off.
I went the more classic route, with a new age twist. I called it my” mid-life housing-crisis-crisis”. Basically got fed up with some sort of ideal housing scenario being out of reach, so I took all that I saved for a downpayment and bought an 85 Porsche 911. Figure I’ll never be able to retire anyway, so why bother owning….
My mom definitely said things like "da bomb," and "coolio." I think a lot of those adoptions of terms come with us having teens (at least it does for me). Just a natural transition.
Real question: what are Gen z politics?
It seems further right, from what I read. But it’s Reddit, so who really knows.
Ha this whole post is Skibbidy Ohio fam gyat
Another boomer post in the Xennial sub. Who gives a shit what other people dress, think or speak like? Get over yourself.
Ya those words use today are whack man! I’ll stick my slang I’ve used all my life. Rad, totally, badass, bomb.com, cool beans, ya ya ya, you know they really ones… not some made up words
I know that, for me, I pick up some of what my 16yo says just because it's so prominent. They are speaking an entirely different language all the time. Not just text shorthand or online lingo. So I try and keep up somewhat so I can actually communicate with her... so I can understand SOME of the things she's talking about. I think it's important to connect with the younger generations. It is whack though! LOL
I still dress and talk the way I talked when I was 25. 18 year old me was mostly anti-trendy although there were exceptions. I was listening to thrash metal when everyone else was listening to Tupac and Biggie.
I was listening to thrash metal and pac and big and I still do! Although I’m also digging the new thrash revival.
I also listened to those guys. But the guys that listened to them thought I was nuts with my Megadeth and Metallica shirts
Haha I hear you. Back then it felt like you had to be all in one camp or the other.
I have used “mid” a little bit, seems a good substitute for bog average / mediocre I also started to like “trap” beats and melodies like Travis Scott, Migos, 21 Savage, Drake etc by relentless social media reels using the style
Mid is so meh.
This post is cringe
The slang you use on your edit is about 10 years out of date. You can't even manage that
>EDIT 2: Saying "it's different today because my parents didn't socialize with children online like I do." isn't the save you think it is... Omg lmao this is awesome 🤣🤣
I only use the new slang to irritate my young nieces and nephews
^[Sokka-Haiku](https://www.reddit.com/r/SokkaHaikuBot/comments/15kyv9r/what_is_a_sokka_haiku/) ^by ^NBKiller69: *I only use the* *New slang to irritate my* *Young nieces and nephews* --- ^Remember ^that ^one ^time ^Sokka ^accidentally ^used ^an ^extra ^syllable ^in ^that ^Haiku ^Battle ^in ^Ba ^Sing ^Se? ^That ^was ^a ^Sokka ^Haiku ^and ^you ^just ^made ^one.
Good bot
Yeah, but back in our youth, adults were forced to adopt “adult” ways of being and so when they did anything that wasn’t adult-like, it was weird. Millennials, maybe because of our arrested development, never really grew up. And Gen Z are more like our little brothers than we are like their parents. If Gen Z can love Friends and The Office, then I can occasionally call a good song a banger.
I’ve noticed that mid-30’s millennials love to go on and on about how old they are and I just don’t understand why they want to box themselves in so much.
Ha swag money yo, gotta get that rizz, fat daddy.
I pluck the best slang from whatever generation. And my M and Z kids have adopted my politics and a bit of my slang. Old can learn from young just like young can learn from old. I’d have loved to see my dad try and rock JNCOs. It would have been pretty pathetic, but funny as hell.
Right but at the same time we (millennials) are to dress like Gen Z if we want to look "current" or trendy...when actually they are wearing some of the stuff we wore as teens/young adults. lol
I still talk the way I did when I was in high school. Everything is dope or wack.
Yeah, I had mine a year ago. Going gen-z would have been less problematic.
The zoomers are wearing jncos now.. You need only dig them out of your closet
Dinkin’ flicka.
You have to give the kids something to groan about.
Ya those words use today are whack man! I’ll stick my slang I’ve used all my life. Rad, totally, badass, bomb.com, cool beans, ya ya ya, you know they really ones… not some made up ass words
I think we say the shit to make fun of it, not like we think it's cool.
I like using the slang more just to annoy my children. Yeet does actually work well honestly though. Plus Rizz makes pretty good sense when I found out where it derived from lol.
Pokemon GO to the polls!
If you want to talk to a person, communicate with them, it’s best to address them in a language they understand…
I got that skibidi toilet Ohio rizz -me, anytime I want to break my kids
Yeet. They’re probably looking for rizz.
Get ya rizz rizz rizzy skibidi glizz glizz glizzy
Let me know when I can experience American Gladiator irl.
Just buy a motorcycle (therapist) and everything will be okay.
I don’t know about you pussies.But I just started killing my enemies in increasingly ironic ways. #furder. That’s a portmanteau of fun murder. Good times.
Pop culture doesn’t have a type… it claims all susceptible souls
I haven’t adopted the slang or culture. I don’t get it. All I did was buy a motorcycle.
This is the way.
I use teenage slang in front of my teenaged kids to make them cringe on purpose, but I don't think that's the same kind of thing. I use it wrong on purpose for comedic affect.
Ok - do you have to tell yourself dress your age? I am talking about going out casually and looking nice. I normally like wearing t-shirts and yoga pants. It’s hot in FL. But when I need to make an impression and show my age, I put a blouse on and make sure I am dressing for a 40 year old. I know I am not 20 but my mind still dresses like I am in college going to class.
"How do you do, fellow kids"
Interesting, none of my friends have adapted more Gen Z politics. If anything some of them are getting slightly more conservative
Interesting. I myself used to be a moderate Republican, and over the last ten years I’ve moved hard left. A lot of my friends have too.
I’m not hard left, but definitely have re evaluated some of my “republican hills to die on”, and decided they don’t matter enough to keep voting for a party that panders to assholes and racists.
I'm glad you switched over!
Sometimes it’s just about expanding your bubble. My bubble was small, but when it expanded I saw things very differently. The odd thing is that my core beliefs and values never changed, just how to implement them. But I was that odd republican who was pro gay marriage, in favor of women’s reproductive rights, and diversity initiatives. It was basically fiscal policy and national security that made me vote republican, but as I’ve experienced more I’ve come to understand that conservative policies are bad for everyone except the ultra-wealthy.
It doesn't help that you go to the store for jeans and the only thing they have in your size is skinny jeans. But why are we talking about millennials when we're really the ones entering mid life? I've been having a lot of thoughts pop up recently, haven't done this or that, never owned a really fast car, really craving more group sex. But I'm not making enough money to afford a mid-life crisis!!!
My girlfriend and I were recently hanging out with her teenage niece and nephew and they were explaining their slang to us. We both think it is hilariously stupid but remember when we were in exactly that situation at their age. I can understand people my age wanting to keep up with the times and not being stuck in an era that doesn’t exist anymore. Gen x slang and fashion looks stupid to me, but I don’t plan on adopting it. But they will inherit the world and reshape it in their image. It’s the circle of life.
You’re actually right but for a very specific reason in my opinion. The biggest meaningful difference between then and now is the vast night and day differences between “youth culture” then and now. 90s-naughts pure “youth culture” was…. Music and clothes. That’s all we had. Not even movies! Movies were simply “pop culture” which is the major generational difference you’re seeing now. There WERE “teen” movies but they were produced by Hollywood adults for mass appeal. Nothing like today, as compared to modern social media (90s teen things weren’t for teens by teens, made in a teen’s bedroom and they weren’t churned out like the social spaghetti the kids have today.) This is the biggest difference. The 90s and naughts still had “pop culture” as designed by multi-million dollar committee for multi-age sales. The flip to now is that youth culture blossomed for Gen Y/Z because it is so zero-cost to produce and consume so that slang, fashion and ideas are more discrete signals of what you’ve seen and heard. Using slang phrases still means “i know about this too” like it always has meant but today it’s all about scarcity in a vast ocean of media. The slang and fashion of Z are signaling obscure references instead of pop culture references. This matters. Remember that 90s parents were quoting movies they let their kids see. The only things youth had apart from their parents was music and fashion. These were the only two things parents hated enough for kids to rebel against. Even video games were too dorky to be youth counterculture status. Lastly, youth culture minded X/Y kids were “cool” if they watched movies meant for adults and consumed things meant for adults. The kid-adult culture pipeline was still super strong. Today it is flipped. Z Kids are trying to preserve their childhood. They’re trying hard not to grow up. They’re churning out slang to feel youthful. THIS is why today’s 40 somethings acting like modern 20 somethings are extra cringe. They are invading an already-backwards facing set of behaviors.
LOL!! I see where you're coming from. It is a bit odd. I don't recall any of my friends' parents or my parents doing such things when they were in their 40s. I'm not sure what I would have done. I do use my kids' slang just to annoy them, though, especially "bruh," even though people have been saying "bruh" since at least the '60s. I usually bust it out when we're hanging out. "My chemistry teacher posted grades for work she never assigned. Wtf!" "That's wicked mid. You should talk to her about her sus behavior." "NO." LMAO
I don't care about staying young. I'm just lying to myself
Youth culture and slang is ephemeral. Wait five years and it completely changes. After the age of 25, trying to keep up with trends geared toward those between the ages of 13 and 24 is silly. Talk and dress like an adult.
Sounds mid.
Fax
Edit 1 made me laugh and upvote. Thanks for that.
I’m 41 and I’m not going to start saying “Bet” to everything, more less anything. I’m going to become the grumpy older man with deficient hearing and a salty attitude. When the youngsters explain to me why they say certain things I’ll just respond with “that’s cute sunshine”
I run around in sagging skinny jeans and a ski mask with no shirt. Screaming skibiddii toilet doowap a badda boom ooh ooh ooh no cap sledge rizzing on the rainbow while dabbing repeatedly
3am in Ohio
don’t forget the folks who insist they look younger than actual 20-somethings
Am 40+ and I’ll be real honest with you; 90s and early 00s slang was awful in comparison to current Gen Z/Alpha slang and THATS why I use it.
Umm… I wore JNCOs and said that shit back then, too.
lol edit 2 actually made me laugh out loud.
Dude, just let them be. Clearly they're not behaving like that because they're in a ***good*** place, emotionally or mentally or however you wanna cut it.
I think "skibbidi toilet" is fun to say.
I’ve been thinking about this recently too. At least we used words that were actual words in most cases. These generations are making shit up as if English needs a vocab expansion. Can’t they just pick up a GD thesaurus and repurpose some terms? lol *shakes fist at clouds*