When a missionary goes to another country to minister, they learn the language of the culture they are trying to reach. You and I are missionaries to kids and if we want to be effective, it's important that we stay tuned in to kid culture. Just as someone speaking another culture's language would give them an instant connection point, being able to know what the latest kids' lingo means can give you an instant connection point with them.
It's also important to remember that new kids' lingo can emerge in a matter of days and fly under the radar of adults. Some of the sources the lingo can come from are older siblings or teens who they look up to and want to be like, TV shows, viral videos they've seen, pop culture, school teacher jargon and social media. Much of the social media language is an acronym or shorthand because of messaging character restrictions.
Here is some of the latest lingo. See how many of these you know.
Movie Van - a mini-van with a DVD/entertainment package
Jell-O - hair gel
Spicy - hot, minty or carbonated
Old McDonald - the man who owns McDonald's restaurant
Snap - the message / picture / video sent through Snapchat app, the act of contacting someone through the Snapchat app
Streak - 3 or more daily exchanges on Snapchat
Slide into DM - contacting someone through a direct message
Bae - boyfriend, girlfriend or crush
GOAT - greatest of all time
Lit - fun, amazing, cool
Savage - cool, awesome, brave or unexpected
Bruh - short for brother
Square up - get ready to fight
Juke - quickly planting and then sidestepping in football to avoid a tackle, a quick fake out
Meg - dribbling a soccer ball between your opponent's legs
Posterize - dunking a basketball over someone, an embarrassing in your face move
Cross you up - to confuse someone who is guarding you by quickly dribbling the ball from one side of the body to another
Verse - to play against someone or battle someone
Grind - to keep performing a move until you achieve a change in status / points
Catch me on the sticks - inviting someone to find you in a multi-player video game
Come get this work - a challenge to come and chase you or get you
Trigger - to emotionally upset someone
Octoball or Gaga - a game similar to dodgeball but played on the ground in an octagonal ring
Fam - close friends
Finna - going to / fixing to
Gucci - good, cool
High-key - saying something important that you want everyone to know
Low-key - saying something privately that you don't want everyone to know
Kek - to laugh out loud
Peep - take a look at something
RT - to retweet or agree with something someone says
TBH - to be honest
Thirsty - desperate
PAP - post a picture
IDEK - I don't even know
Dime - a 10, on a rating scale of 1 to 10, the very best
Your turn. What is some other kid lingo you have heard? Share with everyone in the comment section below.
It's also important to remember that new kids' lingo can emerge in a matter of days and fly under the radar of adults. Some of the sources the lingo can come from are older siblings or teens who they look up to and want to be like, TV shows, viral videos they've seen, pop culture, school teacher jargon and social media. Much of the social media language is an acronym or shorthand because of messaging character restrictions.
Here is some of the latest lingo. See how many of these you know.
Movie Van - a mini-van with a DVD/entertainment package
Jell-O - hair gel
Spicy - hot, minty or carbonated
Old McDonald - the man who owns McDonald's restaurant
Snap - the message / picture / video sent through Snapchat app, the act of contacting someone through the Snapchat app
Streak - 3 or more daily exchanges on Snapchat
Slide into DM - contacting someone through a direct message
Bae - boyfriend, girlfriend or crush
GOAT - greatest of all time
Lit - fun, amazing, cool
Savage - cool, awesome, brave or unexpected
Bruh - short for brother
Square up - get ready to fight
Juke - quickly planting and then sidestepping in football to avoid a tackle, a quick fake out
Meg - dribbling a soccer ball between your opponent's legs
Posterize - dunking a basketball over someone, an embarrassing in your face move
Cross you up - to confuse someone who is guarding you by quickly dribbling the ball from one side of the body to another
Verse - to play against someone or battle someone
Grind - to keep performing a move until you achieve a change in status / points
Catch me on the sticks - inviting someone to find you in a multi-player video game
Come get this work - a challenge to come and chase you or get you
Trigger - to emotionally upset someone
Octoball or Gaga - a game similar to dodgeball but played on the ground in an octagonal ring
Fam - close friends
Finna - going to / fixing to
Gucci - good, cool
High-key - saying something important that you want everyone to know
Low-key - saying something privately that you don't want everyone to know
Kek - to laugh out loud
Peep - take a look at something
RT - to retweet or agree with something someone says
TBH - to be honest
Thirsty - desperate
PAP - post a picture
IDEK - I don't even know
Dime - a 10, on a rating scale of 1 to 10, the very best
Your turn. What is some other kid lingo you have heard? Share with everyone in the comment section below.