Do you know what a gyat is? What if someone said you’re a skibidi? And how would you react if you were asked to do something ‘furda’?
Generation Alpha – the children of millennials and the cohort below Gen Z – have a bewildering array of slang terms associated with internet culture.
It makes sense, since these young people, now entering their early teens, grew up in a world full of memes, viral videos, and social media (and they spent much of their childhood during the pandemic).
To get to the bottom of their confusing terms and where they come from, DailyMail.com spoke to 11-year-old Tom.
Scroll down for the full Gen Alpha slang dictionary
Generation Alpha is digitally focused, even beyond the levels seen in Generation Z (Getty)
“We use the slang words in an ironic way,” he said.
‘But we use it all the time. My drama group at school is called the ‘Skibidi Ohio Rizzers’.
Skibidi is a word that young people use to refer to the web series Skibidi Toilet, which means ‘evil’, or just to be strange.
Ohio refers to a meme that suggests the entire state is strange and sinister, while “Rizzer” refers to people with a lot of charisma or “Rizz.”
Technology and being online are the center of their world: Tom uses online gaming terminology for everything: when he was playing chess (another Gen Alpha obsession), he said, “I’m going to grind,” a term for online gaming that means ‘doing’. a certain activity over and over again.
The term Generation Alpha was coined by Australian researcher Mark McCrindle.
McCrindle said he switched to using Alpha (instead of following Z with A) as a sign of how different Generation Alpha is.
He said: ‘It is consistent with the scientific nomenclature of using the Greek alphabet instead of the Latin alphabet and there was no point in going back to A.
“After all, they are the first generation born entirely in the 21st century and therefore they are the beginning of something new, not a return to the old.”
Tom said that Generation Alpha uses emojis completely differently than “the way millennials use them, the way you should.”
He said that (for example) they never use a laughing emoji, only a sad, crying one, for something that’s funny.
Gen Alpha texters would use a skull emoji to show something is funny.”
Tom said, “Yes, there are other inappropriate emojis too. I’m not going to tell you those, because they’re really quite inappropriate.’
GEN ALPHA’S LONG DICTIONARY
Furda
Doing things for the boys, without any benefit to yourself. 3. Self-sacrifice for the sake of your friends
Gyatt
Tom said, “This one means a big bottom. It is measured in levels, so the higher the level, the bigger the bottom.”
Cover
To cover means to lie, Tom explained, and he and his Gen-Alpha friends would rarely say the word lie.
He said, “We could say, ‘Bro, you’re being so loud,’ if we think someone is lying.”
Ohio
“This just doesn’t make sense,” Tom said. “Ohio is meant to be a weird state, so we just say it all the time. I could show you some Ohio memes so you understand it a little better.”
In his chats with friends, everything is a meme, and Gen Alpha often seems to enjoy being as weird and incomprehensible as possible.
Skibidi
“The Skibidi toilet is a bit over,” Tom said. He says his brother, 8, thought it was funny earlier this year, but now he and his friends are using it ironically.
Skibidi Toilet Videos are a web video series that became a hit on YouTube – very strange, horror movie-esque videos of a head popping out of a toilet.
Sigma
Sigma is like being an alpha male, Tom explained.
“When you say you’re sigma, it kind of means you’re the alpha male, or you’re trying to say you are.”
Cracked
Much of Tom’s slang relates to games like the shoot ’em up Fortnite, which he plays online with his friends.
“We could say, ‘Bro, you’re cracked,’” he said.
Rizzer
Gen Alpha uses the word rizz constantly q (meaning “Charisma”) and even variations such as “rizzer” or “rizzler.”
Tom said, “It means charisma, like for dating and stuff.”
Stake
Generation Alpha drops ‘bet’ as a shortened version of ‘You bet’. Tom said.
Clapped
Popped means being surprised in a game, Tom said, especially if you’re playing against a ‘cracked’ opponent.
Cold
Tom said, “When something is really cool, and maybe a little bit sigma, we use the word cold. When we text, we use the freezing emoji for this.
GOAT
Tom said that Gen Alpha uses the term “GOAT,” as in “greatest of all time,” as a verb: “You are GOAT.”
Bussin
Another word Tom and his Gen Alpha friends use for cool is “bussin.”
“We might say, ‘Yo, that’s bussin’ if something’s really cool,” he said.
Lore
Tom and his gaming-obsessed friends often use the word “lore” (used in games to describe background knowledge) for almost any form of knowledge.
Fanum tax
Named after an online streamer known for taking other people’s food, the ‘Fanum Tax’ is supposedly a gen-Alpha term for taking something from someone.
Tom said, “My friends and I don’t really use these.”
Drip
Exceptional style. Tom said, “Baby got that IV,” when his brother got new clothes.
Preppy
Wear pink or pastel.
Sul
A man in a relationship with a woman where he is very submissive.
Like this
Abbreviation of suspicious and often used around the game Among Us, which Tom and his friends loved.
Drip
Exceptional style. Tom said, “Baby got that IV,” when his brother got new clothes.
Preppy
Wear pink or pastel.
Sul
A man in a relationship with a woman where he is very submissive.
Like this
Abbreviation of suspicious and often used around the game Among Us, which Tom and his friends loved.