With each new generation comes a brand-new vocabulary of slang words. Right now, it's the Gen Z slang and Gen Alpha slang that rules schools, social media, and pop culture. And for parents/folks of a certain age, the slinging of "no cap," "bruh," and "rizz" can feel like young people are speaking a completely different language.
Sam Salem, a teacher in Los Angeles who also performs stand-up comedy, recently shared how he turns around the slew of slang on his Gen Z students. On his TikTok account, Sam shared how he "gaslights" his students into believing slang terms he made up are real and used widely. His additions are hilariously catchy.
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Sam declared on TikTok that he enjoys 'gaslighting' his students with made-up Gen Z slang words.
"My new favorite thing to do is make up Gen-Z-sounding slang words and then gaslighting my students into thinking they’re real," Sam declared recently on TikTok.
He later explained, "Any time a student is like, ‘What are you saying? Like, this isn’t real,’ I’m like, 'Oh, you don’t know these?! It’s like all over TikTok. I don’t know how you’re missing it.'"
One of the made-up slang words is 'clip.'
The first word Sam uses as slang is "clip/clipped," which he said has a positive connotation. "Think like, if you have a long video but you just want to show someone the highlights. You’d just show the clips, right?" he explained.
Sam continued, "So, for example,: ‘Oh, it’s chicken nugget day at the cafeteria. That’s a clip!’ Or maybe you find $5 on the ground. You’d be like, ‘$5! Clip it up!’”
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Another one is 'mute.'
To Sam, the phrases "low key" and "on the low" are overdone. Instead, he likes to use "mute" when speaking with students.
"So I’ll always say, like, ‘Hey guys you can use your phones but on the mute or low key," he explained. "Or maybe with your friends, you’d say something like, ‘Hey, we’re having a kickback at my parents’ house this weekend, but keep that muted.”
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He's also trying to make 'feta' work.
Contrary to the first two slang words, "feta" has a negative connotation.
"Feta cheese is very crumbly. It falls apart easily. So you’d say something like, ‘Oh, you did great on the multiple-choice section of the test and then you go to the essay. Total feta,'" Sam explained. "Or in a sports setting, it’d maybe go something like, ‘Yeah, dude was having a great game, and then when it came to the game-winning shot, bro went feta mode.’”
TikTok users reacted to the amusing fake slang words in the comments.
The commenters had a field day with Sam's slang words and the meanings behind them.
One person declared, "You ARE the trend setter now."
Another person quipped, "OK but… 'Keep that muted…' clips," while another agreed, "Nah muted goes hard."
"I LOVE feta as gen z slang but it is so painfully millennial coded," another person chimed in.
"Feta is next level," someone else commented.
Yet another TikTok user summed it up perfectly, writing, "These all are a clip tho fr no cap."
