In the age of fast fashion and technology, where trends are as transitory as the battery life on your phone, staying up to date with the changing tides of the internet lingo can be quite challenging.
Being a Gen Z-er myself, I think I speak for the majority of us when I say that there is a new term coined on Tiktok or X every single day.
Let this concise list be your GPS for navigating the linguistic labyrinth of the Internet.
By the end of it, even if you are not fluent in Gen Z lingo, you will have successfully picked up some phrases that are actually pretty “bougie”.
‘Left no crumbs’
This phrase is a continuation of the word “ate” and you may often hear someone saying “He/she ate and left no crumbs.”
This has absolutely nothing to do with eating but rather how well someone did something.
The addition of this phrase to the previous term creates an emphasis on how perfectly they executed the task but can be used singularly as well.
Next time you see someone looking stunning in an outfit, you can call out to them and say “You left no crumbs.”
‘Mid’
When describing something that simply falls short of your expectations or is below average, you can call it mid.
From a new cheesecake recipe that went viral on Tiktok and a celebrity’s outfit on a red carpet, to a freshly released movie at the theatres, anything that is mid is basically mediocre at best.
‘Rizz’
Rizz is basically a shortened version of the word charisma and when you say that a person “has got rizz” you are referring to the skills they have while flirting or having a romantic interaction.
It is what “game” meant a decade ago and can also be used as a verb in the form of “getting rizzed up”.
‘Beige flag’
Another term on the internet that has garnered much attention. It’s not similar to a red flag which refers to your negative aspects that may set off alarm bells in a relationship, or a green flag which are your positive or “wifey/hubby material” traits.
If you have a beige flag, you simply possess a trait worth noting that cannot be directly categorized as good or bad.
‘Roman Empire’
Another variation of “living rent free”. When you say that something is your Roman Empire, you are basically saying that it perpetually lives in your mind and may even keep you up at night pondering over it.
It originated from a theory that Tiktok users came up with, about men constantly thinking about the Roman Empire.
‘Let him cook’
If you are particularly active on the sports sections of X or Reddit, you may have seen this phrase a couple times already.
To let someone cook is not literally to let them cook but to allow that person to focus on what they are good at and do their thing.
It first originated from a rap song by Lil B and somehow transformed into a widely used catchphrase.
‘Ghosting’
An infamous saying on the internet that does not literally indicate a person’s demise or turning into a zombie.
Instead, it actually refers to when you are texting someone and they stop replying to you out of the blue or without any prior warning. When someone is a no-show at your date, that could also count as you “being ghosted”.
‘Face card’
A term initially coined on Twitter or X, a face card is simply a credit card that has no limit.
Scratch off the traditional words gorgeous and beautiful. When you see a person who has the most striking facial features, a good bone structure and a sharp jawline that can cut through glass, tell them that they have “a face card that never declines.”
‘Girl math’
Tiktokers have been adding the word “girl” in front of several words to feminize the terms. You can often see someone using terms like girl math or girl dinner.
While girl dinner refers to an assortment of food that may not exactly count as a conventional meal, girl math refers to using a logic that does not make sense but still feels right.
It is largely dependent on context but say you have to start working on something but do not want to do that unless the clock is exactly pointing to a specific hour such as 3pm. This is girl math.
‘Delulu’
Lastly, the word delulu is simply a shortened version of the word delusional.
Originally stemming from the phrase “delulu is the solulu” this term is used in a more positive aspect than what the traditional implies.
When you are delulu, you may choose to ignore reality but invest in the power of positive thinking.
You may be manifesting for something good to happen and instead of taking it as an insult, being called delulu is more of a silly acknowledgement of your overall positive attitude.
