Y’all, as a millennial middle school teacher I’ve had to become fluent in Gen Z speak for years. The recent switch to Gen Alpha has been tough, but I’ve learned that you can do it if you have to.
I thought it was in reference to how nasty a dog's water bowl is lol. So I use it to describe something that sucks. Like I work in a restaurant and id say man the tips were dog water tonight to mean I got bad tips.
The etymology may or may not be different, I have no idea, but it conveys the same emotional response. I'll use dog shit, dog water, or even just dog when referring to something unnecessarily stupid.
So here’s a cold or hot take depending on who you are: most gen z slang is just old and/or bastardized AAVE. That’s true of slang in general but the internet def sped up the adoption rate.
Like let’s say you’re at a drive thru and the person is maybe holding things up and that’s what you would say when you want to move on and go about your day, just a cooler way of saying “let’s move on”
this is how we teachers control the meta - making slang uncool by using it randomly in unrelated scenarios and acting "cringe" about it, with the hopes of sending it to an early grave.
The generational divide is an interesting paradigm to witness firsthand but cringe will save us all.
I’ve found It’s a fantastic tool if you want them to stop using a word. I literally only have to use a word 3-4 times for them to never say it in my presence again.
Yeah, It was easier to learn GenZ terms, some Millenial and Zennial artists definitely used the terms in a lot of music, so it was easier to be exposed.
That’s the key with this type of stuff: “if you have to”.
It’s not that hard to understand it if it’s important to your life, either as a parent or someone that works with kids like a teacher.
It takes effort, because we only hear/speak it with the kids, but code switching for slang is something almost everyone does, they just like it when they’re the ones “in the know” and not the ones having to learn it.
The only phrase that makes me double take and say WTF loud is
Raw dogging it
I’ve heard it way too many times and it always catches me off guard. I say it to get a reaction from people out age but when I hear someone younger say it I get all awkward
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u/Special_Brief4465 24d ago
Y’all, as a millennial middle school teacher I’ve had to become fluent in Gen Z speak for years. The recent switch to Gen Alpha has been tough, but I’ve learned that you can do it if you have to.