HALLIE EPHRON: Welcome, once again, to WHAT WE'RE WRITING (OR NOT) WEEK on Jungle Red...
Awhile back I started writing a story about three generations of women living in a Brooklyn brownstone. The oldest (a psychic who is in her 70s) lives on the top floor. Her daughter (in her late 40s, a psychologist) is one floor down on the parlor floor. And on the garden level and in her 20s, the granddaughter who is an influencer on social media.
Generational combat ensues.
I opened with writing with the oldest woman narrating. Easy peasy. Next chapter, her daughter, a research psychologist, takes over as narrator. And we were rolling along nicely ...
But when it came to writing the youngest, I hit a wall. What would she sound like? What would she notice, admire, find annoying? What would be her blind spots? Sources of irritation. And what words and phrases would she use to think about that?
The "voice" wouldn't come to me.
So I put the work aside. Realizing I needed to rethink the premise... maybe the two older women live above a cat cafe and a whole host of weirdos, animal and otherwise, live on the garden floor? That, or talk to a whole lot more Gen Z influencers.
The wisdom of this was validated recently as I read the many articles that have been coming out as we approach the new year, cataloguing recently coined turns of phrase and vocabulary of Generation Z. I am... to use a phrase from some past generation... clueless.
So would you be as lost as I am, trying the write convincing Gen-Z-speak?
Here's your quiz... What terms in PART A go with the descriptions in PART B? (Answers are below.)
PART A - Terms
1. CHOPPED
2. SHREK - SHREKKING
3. AURA FARMING
4. 6-7
5. BALLERINA CAPUCCINA
6. GEN Z STARE
7. RAGE BAIT
8. LOCKING IN
PART B - Definitions
A. Rude slang term for dating people who are perceived not to be on par with their mates
B. An intense-focus state of someone bent on reaching a goal.
C. Gen Alpha's favorite series of numbers
D. You would not want someone using this term to describe your appearance.
E. A member of the Italian brain rot crew, an absurd group of A.I.-generated characters (in a meme that flooded TikTok)
F. A condescending blank stare that GEN Zers give to comments that they deem unworthy of responding to
G. Someone who does something repetitive to look cool
H. Attention seeking online behavior
For the answers scroll down...
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ANSWERS
1. CHOPPED (D)
2. SHREK - SHREKKING (A)
3. AURA FARMING (G)
4. 6-7 (C)
5. BALLERINA CAPUCCINA (E)
6. GEN Z STARE (F)
7. RAGE BAIT (H)
8. LOCKING IN (B)
So how'd you do?
And what weird expressions did you grow up with that would baffle today's twenty-somethings?
ANSWERS
1. CHOPPED (D)
2. SHREK - SHREKKING (A)
3. AURA FARMING (G)
4. 6-7 (C)
5. BALLERINA CAPUCCINA (E)
6. GEN Z STARE (F)
7. RAGE BAIT (H)
8. LOCKING IN (B)
So how'd you do?
And what weird expressions did you grow up with that would baffle today's twenty-somethings?
I can't think of a single "weird" expression that I grew up with that would baffle anyone . . . .
ReplyDeleteI did fairly well on the quiz; the first three stumped me but I knew [or guessed correctly] 4-5-6-7-8 . . .
Got them all right, mostly because of a quiz I just took the other day. My own Gen Zer grandson has never used any of them in my hearing.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was in high school we described the cutest, hottest boys as "tough". My mother was horrified, thinking, I later realized, of the kind of "hoods" portrayed in West Side Story, with leather jackets, skinny pants, and duck's butt hairstyles. Of course, hood was her generation's slang term.
I’m pretty sure I am not the same generation as your mother and we used the term hood when I was growing up. I am 63.
DeleteWe still used it, too. But it originated with her generation, in the 1930s, or thereabouts. It was short for hoodlum. And since we both grew up in Hamilton, Ohio, where it took at least 10 years for trends to show up, she probably never heard it until the '40s.
DeleteSurprisingly, I got them all correct even though the only one I have ever heard is 6-7.
ReplyDeleteI don’t know about slang from my era baffling Gen Zers but they are baffled by everyday things like 8 track tapes, cassette tapes, VHS tapes and the players that play them all, analog clocks, Landline telephones, cursive writing, typewriters, and making change.
Brenda, our 11 and 14 year old grandsons spent the night with us last weekend on their way to Vermont. They were fascinated by the landline phone. The younger one had never heard a dial tone. He played with the silly device, called his brother's cell phone and generally messing around. He had us all in stitches. He's our family comedian anyway, but he was so cute. (We see them every few months but we drive to them. First time he'd been here in ages.)
Delete3My daughter made the mistake of mentioning in front of the thirteen-year-old that she had read 66 books this far this year and wished to complete one more.
ReplyDeleteI am zipping in while the two-year old is in the other room, so I didn't try to match things up. I think we should bring back "groovy" and "outta sight!"
ReplyDeleteThe two I remember from high school (class of '65) were "far out!" and calling someone a "maroon" when we meant moron. Teachers and parents were also waging an unsuccessful war against saying yeah whe we meant yes.
ReplyDeleteI have not heard any of these expressions before so am totally “ clueless”.
ReplyDeleteDianne Mahoney