My Parents Tried To Guess The Meaning Of These Gen Z And Millennial Terms, And The Results Were...Mixed

Bless their hearts.

Meet my parents. They are old.

Becky Marder

But they're very cute!! Just look at them!

Like many Old People™, they know very little about the youths — specifically Gen Z (although my dad does have a TikTok). So I decided to ask them about some Gen Z and millennial slang and see what they thought. Here are some of their best responses!

Note: Most of these and other Gen Z and millennial slang words are rooted in African-American Vernacular English.

1. Bomboclaat

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MOM: (complete and utter silence...and then she whispers to herself) Like...Obama?

DAD: A really wild party.

2. sksksksksksksks

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MOM: (said very quickly) Sick sick sick sick sick...so cool!

DAD: It's when you're telling someone to shut up.

3. Thirst trap

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MOM: A bar? I guess there's that old expression, "he's a long cool glass of water" or something like that, like a really hot guy?

DAD: Definitely a bar.

4. Cottagecore

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MOM: Oh, it's like your party or posse... You know, your family and all your friends are like your cottage. So cottagecore is like the core group.

DAD: Um...an exercise routine involving dumbbells?

5. Clap back

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MOM: It means "Right back at ya!" or "Good job!" It's like patting somebody on the back.

DAD: I think it's a kind of tank top.

6. Drag

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MOM: To hold somebody back? Like, "He's a drag! He's dragging me down!"

DAD: This is when you meet someone on an online darting site and you talk a lot, but you never actually meet in person.

7. Leaving someone on read

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MOM: This means you cut them off, like you left a guy "on the red"...You said no and you're not changing your mind!

DAD: You don't breakup with someone because you still want them as a backup. You leave them on the back burner.

8. Finsta

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MOM: Is it an amount of money? Like...10 bucks or something?

DAD: It's when a girl is friends with another girl and they're so close they're almost like sisters.

9. Simp

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MOM: Something is super easy. Like, it's simple.

DAD: It means you're trying to date them...you're "simping" for them.

10. Cancelled

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MOM: If someone is cancelled, it means you don't want to talk to them anymore, you want to break with them.

DAD: It means "to break up."

11. Woke

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MOM: Oh I know I've heard this before! I think you guys have tried to explain it to me. Is it something to do with being very aware? I want to tie it to something like Black Lives Matter. Like, if you're woke, you believe in BLM.

DAD: It means they're very liberal.

12. rt

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MOM: Really true?

DAD: Round trip.

13. Thicc

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MOM: In our day, it would be somebody who was not very bright. But I think now you use it to describe a guy, usually?

DAD: It means someone is super nice.

14. Periodt

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MOM: It means no, but like, REALLY no. Completely no.

DAD: It's a name for period clothing, like from the '60s...like, vintage clothing.

15. Catch these hands

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MOM: To start dating. You're holding hands with them.

DAD: To hook up.

16. Take the L

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MOM: It means, "Take a hike! Get away from me."

DAD: It's what you call smoking marijuana.

17. Doing the most

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MOM: An overachiever? A kiss-ass. Excuse the language!

DAD: Dancing really strangely, like doing a weird dance.

18. AF

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MOM: As....f (I don't think she has ever said the word "fuck" in her life).

DAD: As...f...u-c-k. It means a lot.

19. Fuckboy

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MOM: Isn't that like a playa?

DAD: A playa!

*Let the record show I asked them separately but they pronounced "playa" the exact same way.*

20. Sending me

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MOM: I've seen it before. I would've sent it to you if you hadn't sent it to me first!

DAD: It means you're really mad about it.

21. Slaps

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MOM: (She got frustrated at this one) Where do they come up with these? They're not words! Are they abbreviations or combos of words? I don't get it! (I felt bad and prompted her by saying it often describes a song.) That song slaps..like it rocks?

DAD: It means something is really funny.

22. Bop

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MOM: Big ol' pig? Sex?

DAD: A bop...a bop is a dance...you're going to a dance?

23. And finally, CEO of...

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MOM: It can't be something as simple as "in charge"...Does it mean "living my own life"?

DAD: It means they know everything about it. They're really good at it. (My dad spends too much time on TikTok.)