Your Teenage Dictionary

For many of us, including me, it can be hard to put our finger on when we stopped being the "it" generation and started being considered "out of touch" by young people. But if you're a parent of teenagers or work with them, you're probably reminded of this fact pretty frequently!

We want to connect with the teenagers in our lives, but sometimes if they're speaking in modern-day slang, we can't even understand them! Whether you choose to adopt some of this lingo or just want to understand it, here's a few definitions for words you may be hearing around teenagers.

Bae: It's hard to escape this one! It's a term of endearment that is the result of the progression from calling someone "baby" to "babe" and now "bae" (e.g. "I'm going to the movies with bae").

Basic: Common, ordinary or mainstream, "basic" is usually an insult about another person (e.g. "I thought she might be interesting, but she's just basic").

Fam: Closest friends, derived for "family" (e.g. "Hey fam, what's going on today?").

Low-key: The new version of "keeping something on DL". Saying something you don't want everyone to know about (e.g. "This is totally low-key, ok?").

Finna: About to do something, short version of "fixing to" (e.g. "Want anything? I'm finna going to the store").

Woke: Aware of social justice issues and current events (e.g. "Does he even know about the recent shootings?" "Yea, he's woke.").

On fleek: That something is "on point", nailed it. (e.g., "That game yesterday? He was on fleek!").

Salty: Bitter about something (e.g. "She hasn't forgotten how that teacher singled her out. She's salty."

SMH: When texting or using social media, this acronym is for "shake my head" or "shaking my head." It's usually reserved for situations that are considered so ridiculous, annoying or "stupid" that words cannot give it justice. It also addresses situations that the user doesn't approve of (e.g., "SMH, I can't believe he thought he could get away with it!)

I can't even: Overwhelmed by something to the point you can't quite understand it, or you don't want to deal with it (e.g. "I'm so mad at the way she was acting; I can't even").

GOAT: Greatest of all time (e.g. "That movie? It's GOAT").

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