If you feel like Gen Z is speaking a completely different language, you’re certainly not alone.
Luckily for all the bewildered parents out there, a new update to Alexa means you can avoid offending your kids with your own Gen Z slang.
Starting today, Amazon users can ask Alexa to “Let Gen Z talk to me” and reveal one of 20 phrases featuring Gen Z’s favorite words.
For example, these could be sentences like “the math is wrong,” which Alexa defines as “something is wrong, doesn’t make sense, or doesn’t add up.”
An Amazon survey of 2,385 Britons found that 83 percent of Gen Zers say their older generation doesn’t understand them, so a little extra help would be welcome.
Gen Z slang may be baffling, but Amazon customers can now ask their Alexa to reveal the definitions of the most popular terms
According to Amazon, the update is intended to help older people keep up with the ever-changing slang of the younger generation.
By surveying 1,097 members of Generation Z, the tech giant revealed the 20 most popular terms.
According to their research, the most used term among Generation Z is ‘lowkey’.
If you ask Alexa, you’ll be told that this means, “A sense of understatement, or to describe something that is not overly intense or dramatic.”
The most misunderstood word among respondents was ‘genny lex’.
Although this slang word sounds like someone’s name, it is actually a playful abbreviation of “general election.”
In second place was the term “rizz,” which a third of respondents admitted they did not understand.
‘Rizz’, which loosely means romantic charisma or charm, has been popularized in recent times by a number of major celebrities.
For example, Ryan Gosling said on the Barbie red carpet that Rizz had a certain “je ne sais quoi” quality.
The phrase also became popular after Spider-Man star Tom Holland used it in June this year.
However, according to Dictionary.com, the term originated with social media personality Kai Cenat, who coined the term in 2021.
Kai Centat has since attempted to monetize his invention of the term by hosting rizz competitions and even a live ‘Rizz Academy’ on Twitch.
The term Rizz appears to have originated with internet personality Kai Cenat (pictured), who used the term to describe a confident romantic charisma
Another piece of Gen Z slang spread by celebrities is the phrase “in your XXX age.”
As Alexa will now happily tell you, this expression is used to mean “a period marked by characteristic events.”
For example, you sometimes hear someone from Generation Z say: ‘I’m in the phase of quietly quitting my job’, indicating that he or she is slowly but surely stopping working.
This phrase originated from Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour, in which the singer performs songs from each of her “eras.”
With hundreds of thousands of visitors attending Swift’s shows around the world, the accompanying phrase has steadily taken over social media platforms like TikTok.
The research also found that a third of Generation Z said they would be “horrified” if someone from an older generation used slang incorrectly.
Another 56 percent of 27-year-olds surveyed said they would like help understanding Gen Z vocabulary.
However, the older generations are not the only ones who find it difficult to understand the slang of Generation Z.
A survey earlier this year found that 71 percent of international students wanted help learning British slang. This list contains the most frequently asked questions
As early as 2015, researchers discovered that the English language was evolving faster than ever before because social media was shortening the shelf life of slang.
And because TikTok allows expressions to emerge and spread even faster, many people are feeling left out.
A survey from January of this year found that 71 percent of international students learning English ask teachers and professors to explain slang they encounter on social media, TV or elsewhere.
The most frequently asked expressions are terms used by Generation Z, such as ‘no cap’, ‘beef’ and ‘salty’.
Meryem Tom, Country Manager for Amazon Alexa in the UK, said: ‘Our research shows that there are many Brits who don’t fully understand Gen Z jargon. We hope Alexa’s new feature will be a trusted source of knowledge for people who want to brush up on their Gen Z vocabulary.