Admit it. Newsfeeds nowadays are like reading hieroglyphics especially if you’ve already crossed over to the tito/tita realm. Chances are if you were born before 1980, this dictionary is for you. Welcome to the world of Gen Z and the newest generation curiously named Generation Alpha, where shortened sentences, emojis and missing vowels are the communication norm.
So, what are they really saying?
Tip: Let’s start with the basics, try to get your feet wet with the first few text-speak terms to get your mind prepped for 2020 lingo.
Going ol’ school: these have been making the rounds for awhile now so treat this as a short refresher course. (Some of these terms were carried over from slang popularized by preceding generations.)
ATM At The Moment
AYT Are You There. Also pronounced “ay–ht” short for “alright”.
BAE Before Anyone Else. Pertains to a significant other.
BRB Be Right Back
EMO Short for emotional. Used to describe the state of being introspective, emotional,
overly sensitive or full of angst. (“She’s so emo.” Or “This song is making me feel emo.”)
FOMO Fear Of Missing Out
GTG Got To Go
IKR I Know, Right?
IMO In My Opinion
ILY I Love You
IRL In Real Life
LOL Laugh Out Loud (a classic. If you don’t know what this is, you really need this kodigo!)
OMG Oh My Gosh
SOLID Describes something cool, admirable. “Solid, pare.”
SMH Shaking My Head
TBH To Be Honest
YOLO You Only Live Once
Warmed up now? Brace yourselves. Here we go.
Hello, 2020: Currently, on the lips and keyboards of tech-savvy Gen Zers and the up and coming batch of tech natives (pre-teens and teens), the lingo of 2020 is fast becoming integrated into the screens and vocab of netizens the world over, so try to catch up tito/tita and get jiggy wid’ it. (oh, you know what I mean.)
AMP Means to amplify a feeling or emotion. Locally, it’s used as a shortened term for a popular Tagalog curse phrase. (“I’m feeling amped to join this competition” or “I can’t believe I lost that medal, amp!”)
BET Generally used as an excited yes, or okay. Can also be used to challenge somebody. (“You’re asking if I want to watch a movie later? Ok, bet.” Or “Really? You’ll do 15,000 steps today? OK, bet!”)
BOUJEE/BOUGIE Pronounced “boo-ZHEE”. Describes someone with expensive taste or one aspiring to be of a higher class. Comes from the French word bourgeois which historically means from the middle/upper class. (“She bought Yeezys, boujee naman!”)
BSF Best Friend or “Best Sister Friend”. Can also mean, “But, Seriously, Folks”.
BRUH Pronounced “br-AH”. Short for “brother”. Term for a friend. Also used as an expression of excitement or disgust. (“Yo, bruh!”)
CARPS Are you game? (“So, about the trip this weekend. Carps?”)
EXTRA Over the top. (“That outfit is so extra.” Or “She’s travelling to ten countries? She’s so extra.”)
FIRE Means “cool”, “awesome”. Describes something or someone extremely amazing. (“That car is fire.” or “She’s got a fire voice.”)
FLEX To show off something or someone. (“Just want to flex my bro. He won the championship!” or “Flex ko lang leche flan ni mommy, it’s so extra!”)
FR For Real? Asked to emphasize the truth in a statement or situation. (“She’s dating that guy? FR?!”). Also used alternately with “Straight up?”
GG Good Game. Means game over or it’s all over. (“OMG, that test has 100 items, gg!”)
GOALS Something to aspire to. (“Those two were made for each other, couple goals!” or “Paris is on my bucket list, travel goals.”)
GOAT Greatest Of All Time
GUCCI Means good. Also used as a common catch-all phrase to mean, “It’s all good.” (“It’s Gucci.”)
KAREN Used as a derogatory comment to describe a female acting entitled, racist or ignorant. Popularized by various negative online references and pop culture characters. (“Don’t be a Karen.”) (I wish they would pull this out of the pop vernacular, lots of lovely Karens out there who do not deserve the association.)
LIT Used to describe something exciting. Can also mean a person who is intoxicated (“This party’s lit!” or “He looks pretty lit.”)
LOW-KEY Describes thoughts, feelings, situations that are quiet/subtle. (“Let’s keep it low-key.”)
MOOD Means “same here” or used as a caption to express a vibe/feeling. (“Seeing Sarah sleep during breaktime is such a mood.” or as a caption for an image usually on IG.)
NGL Not Gonna Lie
ON FLEEK Perfect. On point. Used mostly to describe beauty applications. (“Your eyebrows are on fleek!”)
SALTY Upset, mildly annoyed. (“Don’t be so salty about what happened.”)
SHADE/SHADY Denotes a sneaky/dishonest person/action. Can also mean, showing somebody up or putting someone down. (“He was throwing shade in that debate” or “He’s so shady.”)
SHIP Short for relationship. Also used to express one’s desire for two people to end up together (“I ship Jennifer Aniston and Brad Pitt!”)
SHOOK/T Shocked, surprised. (“That movie left me pretty shook” or “I saw her cray hair and I was shookt!”)
SIMP A state of being overly enthusiastic about someone, to be a fan of. (“The way he follows her around like that makes him such a simp” or “I’m simping for Blackpink.”)
SLAY To do extremely well at something (“You slayed that song, bae!” Or “That outfit slays!”)
SNATCHED Describes someone/thing that is amazingly good, flawlessly styled. (“That makeup video is going to make you look snatched, believe me” or “Your sneakers are so snatched!”)
STAN An overzealous fan usually of a celebrity or music group. Most likely taken from singer Eminem’s song of the same name. (“I’m a total stan for BTS” or “I stan Hyun Bin. I need to buy that magazine!”)
SUS Suspicious. (“He’s acting kinda sus. I don’t trust him”)
TEA Gossip. (“So, what’s the tea?” or “Spill the tea.”)
THICC Curvy figure. A compliment given to comment on the female form. (“Beyonce be thicc!”)
TRIGGERED State of being upset, angry about something. (“That whole issue about politics got me triggered.”)
WOKE A term used to describe being actively aware or “awake” to important issues and injustices (particularly social or political). “Stay woke” has also been used as a call to action. (“Living in a woke culture, more people are willing to take a stand to change the way things are being done.”)
Still alive? You did it, tito/tita! Granted, there are many more slang terms that didn’t make the list (and are being invented as we speak) but hopefully, these few will help give you a much-needed boost to start that next convo with your teen.
“Don’t be shook, bae. This list is fire, bet.”
If all else fails, don’t worry. “It’s Gucci.”
SOURCES: Business Insider, Dictionary.com, Urban Dictionary and various interviews with local junior-high, high-school and university students. (Thank you Alba, Alexa, Bianca, Hope, Jill, Juli, Majo and Sophia!). Some images courtesy of Wix Media.
