this post was submitted on 01 Sep 2025
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[–] Vinny_93@lemmy.world 72 points 2 weeks ago

I'm 32 but the original one reads like news from the new Donkey Kong to me

[–] corroded@lemmy.world 53 points 2 weeks ago (10 children)

I honestly don't remember ever having this kind of slang when I was a kid. If anything, our slang was borrowed from previous generations. ("Dude, that's cool.") I'm an old millennial, and I speak the same as Gen X and Boomers, it feels like. I never remember my parents asking "what the hell are you saying?"

Am I just forgetting? Is there a late-90s, early-00s equivalent that I've just purged from memory?

[–] FartMaster69@lemmy.dbzer0.com 63 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)
[–] Klear@quokk.au 30 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)
[–] Deceptichum@quokk.au 17 points 2 weeks ago

j00 1337 h4xx0r5 r00l

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[–] Obi@sopuli.xyz 10 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

But leetspeak was limited to online, you never used it IRL.

[–] piccolo@sh.itjust.works 8 points 2 weeks ago
[–] M137@lemmy.world 5 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Which was mostly used ironically or only specific games or forums, not for news headlines.

[–] funkless_eck@sh.itjust.works 38 points 2 weeks ago (4 children)

Probably because you grew up with it an understand it. Here's some 1950s brainrot slang:

I'm a circled guy to an ex paper shaker when this bird dog tried to bash her ears at this fat city place, not supermurgitroid!

[–] prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone 23 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)
[–] jawa22@lemmy.blahaj.zone 7 points 2 weeks ago

The best part about that scene is that this is Barbara Billingsley, aka June Cleaver.

[–] just_ducky_in_NH@lemmy.world 7 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Haha! . . . Translation, please?

[–] funkless_eck@sh.itjust.works 22 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I'm married to an ex cheerleader and this pick up artist was trying to flirt with her when we went out to a nice restaurant, not cool!

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[–] RoquetteQueen@sh.itjust.works 5 points 2 weeks ago

That is genuinely harder to understand than the tweet

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[–] marzhall@lemmy.world 23 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

Literally any discussion about Pokeyman (or Yugioh, etc.) our parents overheard was complete nonsense noises to them. I've had this brought to my attention by my mother, but only as an adult.

Also, anything we picked up from our era of flash videos - e.g., someone saying "so, this is the ....What a sweet you might say" and someone else reflexively responding "round", or a loop of "badger" and "mushroom" between friends: also nonsense.

In any case, it's an important skill to learn the new slang: as an old, it gives you the power to make it "cringe" by using it. Very fun, on god

[–] WolfLink@sh.itjust.works 11 points 2 weeks ago

My grandma would always say “pokemans” and it took me a while to realize she was doing it intentionally to annoy us

[–] ICastFist@programming.dev 7 points 2 weeks ago

it gives you the power to make it “cringe” by using it.

With great power, comes great responsibility. Said responsibility is to ensure that the kids stop using that nonsense by always seeing old people using it "wrong" 🤭

[–] OpenStars@piefed.social 7 points 2 weeks ago

No cap, no skibidi rizz detected.

[–] 9point6@lemmy.world 22 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

I think due to the internet being less of a thing, slang was a lot more localised.

We definitely got a bit of influence from London slang (I grew up outside London) that never made it up to my cousins in Lancashire, however they had a load of different slang I hadn't heard of.

[–] anonymous111@lemmy.world 10 points 2 weeks ago

I saw a post about slang being linked to platforms shadow blocking and de-monetizing posts with key words i.e. dead, suicide etc. Which lead to "not alive" slang, or something similar.

I'm too old for this.

[–] makyo@lemmy.world 9 points 2 weeks ago

Yeah I'm on the same page as you - I remember we had some little differences here and there but it was nothing like it is today.

They're super proud of it too - the zoomers around me like to talk about it and explain their slang and I have to bit my tongue because I feel like if I was honest and told them 99% of their slang is dumb as shit I would just sound like the old 'get off my lawn' type.

Though that would still be preferable to a dad in my orbit who has gone all in on the slang of his alpha kids and just sounds like the 'hello fellow youth' type.

[–] Damage@feddit.it 7 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Most non-mainstream millenial slang was related to drugs, I think

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[–] Drewmeister@lemmy.world 6 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Nah, you're not wrong. Sure, there was some more obscure stuff, but I'd say most could be figured out by context or from a traceable evolution from previous generations' slang. The difference now is video-based social media has slang spreading and evolving at lightspeed. It's impossible to keep up unless you're immersed in that bubble either directly or by proxy of peers.

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[–] prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone 5 points 2 weeks ago

Gaming slang, for sure. Also, all of the early internet initialisms like LOL

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[–] dissentiate@lemmy.dbzer0.com 25 points 2 weeks ago

I hope Baby Gronk talked to his doctor about that drip.

[–] fading_person@lemmy.zip 24 points 2 weeks ago (4 children)

Celebrity news looked like that for me since I was a kid lol. I never understood how people are supposed to know celebrities and be attracted by such headlines.

As a kid, I also liked to do crosswords, but I rarely could complete them, because they always asked things about celebrities. I hated it so much.

[–] Ypsilenna@lemmy.zip 6 points 2 weeks ago

Same. I remember trying to do crossword puzzles, and half of them were like, "Name of the actress who played X in the 90s series title." Me: Hell if I know... name of a purple crystal used for jewelry and home decorations? oh yeah, I know this one!"

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[–] KeavesSharpi@lemmy.ml 21 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (9 children)

40 years ago and before, slang had to travel by... get this... word of mouth. Now one obnoxious tik tok influencer (and the word is valid because they do actually influence others) to say something for a 12 year old to make it the new thing in her school, thereby infecting an entire town/village/planet. it's skibidi if you ask me. And I'm 55.

[–] Samskara@sh.itjust.works 16 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Slang travelled through print magazines, underground zines, radio, musicians, books, etc.

[–] MoonMelon@lemmy.ml 7 points 2 weeks ago

Radio was huge. Some rapper could make slang local to his street corner famous and it would be in car commercials within two years.

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[–] A7thStone@lemmy.world 21 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (5 children)

This one is actually easy to parse. I'm assuming baby gronk is Gronkowski's kid. I'm not big into American football but it was almost impossible to not hear about Gronk a few years ago. Normally drip is fashion or style so drip king in this context would probably mean ability on the field. Rizz is just short for charisma, so they are asking of he's just being hyped by whoever that last person they refer to. I'm not sure who that is and I don't think it's really worth looking up. Baby gronk is still a child, of course this is all manufactured hype.

[–] phar@lemmy.ml 16 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Wait, that was easy to parse?

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I suspect you're making half of this stuff up but I can't prove a thing

[–] boonhet@sopuli.xyz 8 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Livvy is Livvy Dunne the gymnast. And apparently Gronk is trying to hype up his very young son as a future athlete.

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[–] Korhaka@sopuli.xyz 18 points 2 weeks ago (5 children)

No idea, its celebrity news so I don't give a shit about them

[–] BigBananaDealer@lemmy.world 5 points 2 weeks ago

you seriously dont care if Baby Gronk is the new drip king or not? whaaaaat?

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[–] RBWells@lemmy.world 18 points 2 weeks ago (4 children)

Ha! My penultimate daughter said something to me the other day and I was like "huh?" because I thought I'd misheard her, it didn't sound like words. She repeated the exact same string of sounds, and I was like, "ok I didn't mishear you, but that just sounds like nonsense".

Later in the week she showed me a "Needo Nice Squishy Cube" - that was what she had been talking about. The imminent arrival of the blue needo nice.

[–] ZoopZeZoop@lemmy.world 7 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

This is the product in question. Had no idea it was a thing. If it's not sticky, it might be a cool office fidget toy.

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[–] WraithGear@lemmy.world 12 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Is [celebrity noun 1] the new [trendsetter], or is he just getting [influenced with sexual undertones] by [celebrity noun 2]?

[–] zarkanian@sh.itjust.works 11 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

If you hunt down the article they're referring to, it's very self-aware. They made the headline ridiculous on purpose.

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[–] RoquetteQueen@sh.itjust.works 9 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

I never understood slang as a kid but I'm finally starting to figure it out. By the time my kids are teenagers, I'll be a pro. They won't be able to hide anything from me.

A few more years, and I'll finally become cool. Hehe, yes, just a few more years...

[–] ChickenLadyLovesLife@lemmy.world 6 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I'm a school bus driver and my kids act like their slang is some kind of secret language that I can't possibly understand. They apparently aren't aware that google is a thing.

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[–] YiddishMcSquidish@lemmy.today 5 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Just say the words they do. Nothing will make something uncool faster than a parent adopting it.

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[–] arcterus@piefed.blahaj.zone 8 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

I'm ngl I saw baby Gronk and immediately thought of a baby version of Kronk instead. I vaguely think this makes more sense anyway, so I'm just gonna pretend that's what they meant.

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[–] Hikermick@lemmy.world 7 points 2 weeks ago

The older I get the more young people sound like dolphins chattering.

[–] HugeNerd@lemmy.ca 6 points 2 weeks ago

Flipping a grunt is what I call an especially difficult fecal birth.

I'm a big fan of the word 'calc'. It's short for calculator by the way, I'm just using slang. Oh by the way if anyone's new to the stream, calc is short for calculator. I'm just using slang.

[–] Vanilla_PuddinFudge@infosec.pub 5 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Romeo and Juliet with this language would be fucking hilarious, or Titanic.

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