This Teacher Revealed 24 Middle School Slang Words For All Of Us Clueless Parents
It's like another language.
Slang has been around for generations. From “wicked” to “groovy” to “tubular” and “far out,” there have always been phrases used by young people that older generations just don’t seem to understand.
I remember trying to tell a story for my parents when I was a teen and constantly having to pause to explain what “YOLO” and “scrub” meant, and now, we’re the parents scratching our heads at the slang that Generation Z spews out.
Thankfully, here comes Philip Lindsay of Payson, Arizona — a middle school teacher who went viral sharing all the slang secrets he's learned to help us clueless parents out. He’s made it his duty to learn all the slang the kids are using to be the best teacher he can be.
“I wrote down every slang word that I heard just this week as a middle school teacher. Now one of the jobs as a teacher is to stay on top of the middle school slang because if you don't know what they're saying, how will you know they're like, being inappropriate or not, right?” he begins.
He then listed out 24 different slang terms that he has heard his middle schoolers use daily.
- On God
- She ate that
- Left no crumbs
- Rizz
- GYAT
- Fanum tax
- Cap
- Bet
- Bruh
- Gassing you up
- It's giving
- For real, for real
- This goes dummy hard
- Simpin’
- You're not him
- Yeet
- Snatched
- Pick me energy
- Slay
- Deadass
- Drippy
- Bussin’
Some of these terms might be very familiar to you if you have a tween or teen, like “bruh” and “rizz.” However, some of these terms may be new to you like GYAT, which according to Insider, is an acronym for saying someone has a nice butt AKA "Girl Your A** Is Thick.”
Another that might be new is “fanum tax,” which is a more Generation Alpha slang term. The phrase “fanum tax” comes from the comedy creator Fanum, who is a member of streamer Kai Cenat's influencer crew, AMP. The phrase refers to the way Fanum would jokingly "tax" other members of AMP in 2022 by taking bits of their food when they were eating, according to the digital culture database KnowYourMeme.
Lindsay’s comment section was filled with parents and fellow teachers who were either totally lost or patting themselves on the back for knowing most of the jargon.
“I need a list with definitions next to it. Please post it,” one user asked.
“I’m 45 and I know all those words. Millennials are lacking. Dead a*s,” one user joked.
“Middle School teacher here, I knew every one! The best part is if you use the slang words they become not cool anymore. 😅,” another joked.
One mom confessed, “I'm Gen X. I have 6 kids. 1 millennial, 3 gen z's and 2 alphas. All I've been doing for the last 15 years is keeping up on slang. 🥺”
“OK it's sad that I'm in my mid 40s and know these 😂,” another wrote.
The OP replied, “TikTok has closed the gap!”
It’s only a matter of time before millennial and Generation X parents are using these phrases too and they all become totally cringe.
