By Daniela Palatchi

The classes of 2024, 2025, 2026 and 2027 are all a part of the generational demographic known as Generation Z born from the mid-to-late 1990s, up to the late 2000s. Gen Z are the first generation to have grown up with access to the internet and are nicknamed “digital natives.” Gen Z by far spends more time on the internet than reading books, which attributes to our lax vocabulary and short attention spans, with the rise of social media dominating our free time. But you can read the Wikipedia article about Gen Z for yourself.

Like every generation of teenagers, we as Gen Z have come up with our own slang that our Millennial, Gen X and Boomer teachers might be unaware of, or unaware of the meaning of. Today, that changes, with the 2023-2024 edition of the Gen Z Cheat Sheet, featuring some of the most popular jargon of today. Just as all trends come and go, words go out of style, so if you are a teacher, please double check with your students to make sure the words are still relevant. If you happen to slip up and use an outdated term, you just might get yourself laughed at.

Message for teachers:

If you thought Gen Z slang didn’t affect your lives, you thought wrong. The Oxford English Dictionary Word of the Year is “rizz.” This shows that new slang is prevalent in daily life and is encouraged to be used.

• Rizz: short for charisma, it refers to a person’s charm or seduction skills. Could be W rizz (good and successful) or L rizz (poor and unsuccessful).
  • “I saw the Hoco poster that Bill gave you. I call that W rizz.”
  • “He used the Tennessee pickup line? That’s some L rizz right there.”
• Slay: In place of saying great job; to do something well.
  • “You are slaying this Harkness discussion.”
  • “You absolutely slayed that last test.”
• Cooking: currently developing, improving or achieving a task.
  • “Keep on cooking on your Odyssey essay; the intro needs work.”
  • “Teacher, will you please give me an extension on this project? I need some time to cook.”
• Glazing: The act of kissing up to someone; trying to win someone’s affection over by praising them.
  • “Today during tutorial my student was glazing me for extra points.”
  • “Kevin, I can tell you are glazing me right now, and I still won’t buy you a big cookie from the lounge.”
• Dub: Short for Double-U (W), representing a win.
  • “Congratulations to Henry for the dub on today’s Kahoot.”
  • “Dubs go out to the entire class for completing last night’s homework. You all slayed.”
• L: A loss or to take a loss.
  • “You forgot your book at home? Dang. That’s a serious L.”
  • “You will end up taking an L if you don’t study for the upcoming test.”
• Mid: Somewhere in the middle; average
  • “The spring rolls are overhyped. I think they’re mid.”
  • “I did so mid on the AP stat quiz. I swear I’m about to drop the class.”
• Cap/capping/No cap: lie/lying/no lie.
  • “I have a girl at another school.” “That is so cap. You are straight capping right now.”
  • “I did my homework, no cap. The dog ate it!”
• Simp: Being overly affectionate in pursuit of a relationship.
  • “She is acting like such a simp by doing your homework for you.”
  • “That whole group is just a bunch of desperate simps.”
• In your “blank” era: used to label your current interests, priorities, or pursuits.
  • “I see you in the library everyday cooking. You must be in your studious era.”
  • Congrats for making the 700 Pound Club! That’s such a slay for your bodybuilder era.”
• NPC: Originating from video games, a Non-Playable Character; predictable and unoriginal, acting robotic and cannot think for themselves.
  • “I like the school pizza.” “Really? You’re an NPC for that.”
  • “If you use Chat GPT you are an NPC.”
• The Ick/getting the ick: Catching a sudden, repulsive and out-of-nowhere feeling by a person you were once attracted to.
  • “I got the ick from Joey after I saw him running to the cafeteria on wing day.”
  • “It’s such an ick when people don’t wear deodorant to school.”
• Opp: Opponent or opposition. Someone who is viewed as an enemy.
  • “You tattled on me for skipping class. You are such an opp.”
  • “She’s a real opp for not sharing a computer charger.”