Trying to decipher the slang that my teenage son and his friends speak lately is like learning a whole new language! Where do these phrases even come from? I mean, I know when I was younger (back in my day), we had our own overused words and phrases. But, like, they weren’t as crazy as they are today! Were they?!
If You Can’t Beat Them, Join Them
Whenever I hear my son on the phone with his friends or playing a video game online, and he busts out something new, I try and tuck it away in my brain and bring it up in casual conversation later. Partly so that he thinks I’m a cool mom for knowing the lingo, and partly just to make him cringe, ha! Here’s a quick course in teen slang today.
(I can’t promise these will still be valid by the time you are reading this. Everything turns into something old so quickly these days!)
“Pull up”
When I was a teen, this used to be a way kids threatened to fight! The first time I heard my sweet boy say this on the phone, my jaw dropped! I quickly learned that it is now just a phrase used to invite a friend to come hang out. “Yeah, you should pull up!”
“Sty”
Pretty simple. Just a shortened version of saying someone has Style. “Yo, I’m going to be so sty”. I have often hit him with “Boy, you are looking so sty in your new shoes today”. CRINGE worthy for sure coming from your mama.
“Skibidy”
This one drives me insane. It actually has no defining meaning. I think they use this word for 100 different uses. It can be something cool, or it can be something bad. I guess you’d have to listen for context clues to decipher that one. “That was so skibidy”.
“Sigma”
Another one that is one word with different uses. Sigma can mean awesome, cool, or better than. “Dude, our team is so Sigma”. Used in a different context, Sigma can take the place of a more foul word. “What the Sigma!?”
“Flex”
This means to show off. “He’s trying to flex because he made the team”.
There you have it. A few of the top words I hear all day, every day. Think of this as a new “Slang word a day” game.
Try and drop these “Fire” phrases in your conversations with your kids.
It will be “Lit,” I promise.
“It’s giving – I’m your mom, but I’m a cool mom – ya know?
Alright, “Fam,” that’s all I have for now.
