As a bit of a word nerd, I like to think that I’m hip to the current trends in slang. Aside from the odd pet peeve, I’m mostly fine with, and even fascinated by, how language evolves and changes over time.
That said, I am definitely starting to get the sense that I’m being left behind by the current generation.
While I’m an older Millennial, I am into internet culture enough that I’ve kept up with the trends naturally.
But in the last few years, I feel like I’ve had to turn to places like Urban Dictionary or Know Your Meme a lot more just to get the context to understand a viral tweet.
Suddenly, I’m more understanding of why my parents’ generation was so annoyed by the slang of mine.
They didn’t even have the kind of resources I have to look up what the heck we meant, so they were stuck smiling and nodding along. Best case, we bought it, but worst case, they were agreeing to something really awkward.
Now, they’re expected to know that ending a text with a period means your mad at the recipient.
When to the olds like me, that’s just proper punctuation!
No wonder they’ve just decided to give up and rage against “kids these days.”
Thankfully, I’m not quite to the point of throwing my hands up in horror.
I’m still the one whose older relatives will comment on Facebook posts to ask what “FML” means.
Give me another ten years, though, and I’ll probably be that older relative.
Last Updated on September 11, 2020 by Amy Pilkington