As with any generation, Gen Alpha has its own lexicon of what’s cool and what’s not, and they’re letting everyone older than 13 know. You might think you’re hip, but Gen Alpha says certain outdated slang words make you sound old.
Social media influencer Nicole Pelligrino interviewed her Gen Alpha sister, Simone, and Simone’s bestie, Georgia, to discover which words are in and which are out, and these 5 words that you probably use more than you realize are letting everyone know that your cool card has been revoked.
Trying to figure out where you fall on the social ladder was hard enough once, let alone repeating the endeavor. So how about this: Stop trying to keep up with the times. Sure, you roll your eyes at “6-7,” but you’re not a kid anymore, and that’s OK! It’s time for Gen Alpha to have its moment.
Gen Alpha says these outdated slang words make you sound old:
1. Slay
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If you assumed that “slay” has something to do with saving princesses and disposing of fire-breathing dragons, your official old status was cemented before you started reading this. The more modern take, as defined by Urban Dictionary, is a replacement for the word “awesome.” An outfit can “slay” if you look good in it, for example.
However, “It’s not even funny how out ‘slay’ is,” Simone proclaimed. Nicole pushed the slay agenda, wondering if she could still say, “That’s a slay,” but Simone and Georgia’s emphatic response of “Oh my god, no,” put the word to rest, buried in a grave, where apparently it belongs.
2. ‘Bet’
Nicole then asked if “bet” was still the right way to say “okay,” and it turns out, it’s not.
Thinking that a bet was something you placed at a blackjack table in a casino, well, you’re definitely not a Gen Zer. It’s just a shortened version of “You bet.” It’s a way to agree to something. Or as Gabb noted, a way to say “challenge accepted.”
3. Period(t)
“Period(t)’s okay,” Simone answered half-heartedly. Nicole asked for reassurance, only to hear it’s pretty much out, as far as Gen Alpha is concerned.
“Period(t)” as a slang word essentially takes a literal meaning: It’s used as the end of a statement, with nothing after.
“When somebody says something, and it’s like, so true, it was facts,” was one Gen Alpha’s explanation. Someone else explained, “It just means ‘stop,’ there’s nothing else to it.”
4. ‘Swag’
Nicole posted a follow-up TikTok continuing her conversation with Simone and Georgia, and she immediately discovered that the word “swag” is “so out.”
So swag is one of these slang terms that keeps popping up from Shakespeare to now, and although the definition has changed, it just won’t seem to leave our lingo. You probably assume it has something to do with a bag filled with goodies, which harks back to the 14th century, when it was traced to a Scandinavian word meaning “bag.”
In its now-uncool iteration, “swag” was a shortened form of “swagger,” which is all about self-confidence and style. It was the Hip Hop Word of the Year in 2011, which means it’s definitely too old to be considered cool by Gen Alpha.
5. ‘Simp’
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“What about ‘simp?’” Nicole asked, only to be told that the word is also “so out” in the world of Gen Alpha.
As Georgia explained, “That was like a 2020 thing,” a statement I’d assume makes even the fresh-faced kids in Gen Z feel like they should move into a cemetery and never leave.
Language is always evolving, and Gen Alpha slang is no exception.
Gen Alpha is more likely to use slang words like “Fanum tax” (someone who steals your food) and “skibidi” (a person who is not nice). These words that make me feel like I’m a thousand years old apparently originated from Twitch streamers and a YouTube song. What’s notable is that they highlight just how malleable language is, as words and the meanings they hold are always evolving.
It’s also important to note that a huge amount of Gen Alpha’s slang is rooted in AAVE, African American Vernacular English. As noted by a man who goes by @human1011 on TikTok, “There’s a long history of African American Vernacular English being used to create new ‘slang’ words in general English.”
He listed off various words that originated from AAVE, including slang like bruh, bae, fam, and vibe, along with other words, like jazz, dude, soul, banjo, and the word “cool” itself.
As someone who lands firmly in the category of Elder Millennial, I can promise Gen Alpha that someday, they, too, will be pushing 40, panicking on an existential level about words they don’t understand while slathering serum on their wrinkling skin, waxing philosophical on the relentless and enduring passage of time.
Alexandra Blogier, MFA, is a writer who covers psychology, social issues, relationships, self-help topics, and human interest stories.
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