A divide in millennial speak

“SICK.”

That was my younger colleague’s reply to an inane comment I made. 

“Oh no, are you sick? Please go and see a doctor,” I typed back.

My concern was met with an awkward pause on Google Chat. Then the reply came: “Um no, I’m not physically ill... Sick (in this context) just means cool.”

I was flummoxed.

To me, it is harder to keep up with such lingo than with, say, the reality shows that I binge-watch on Netflix.

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On another occasion, when said colleague corrected me by pointing out that LOL (laughing out loud) and LMAO (laughing my ass off) were meant to be pronounced as one word and not read as individual letters, my brain promptly went into shut-down mode. That 30-year-old hipster proceeded to call me a “boomer” – even though we are both millennials. Of all the nerve, um, LOL!

But after that incident, I reflected on my relative ignorance, and wondered if I should consult Google more often on “Gen Y and Gen Z speak” – or, as a last resort, ask her to come up with a glossary for these code words.

When I told some of my older co-workers about my plan, they laughed. Perhaps in a bid to be reassuring, one of them commented that she did not know the meaning of “mothered it” – that is, “slaying it”, or in even plainer English, doing something very well. Presumably she assumed that I did, just because I belong to Gen Y.

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But of course, such lingo – as with any language – is constantly evolving.

Even if I did catch up with the current slang, who’s to say that something new wouldn’t pop up the next day? And the cycle goes on.

Some may be doubtful about the existence of this supposed generation gap among millennials – which results in my misunderstanding of some of the terms used. But I do believe that there is such a divide, even within this group to which I supposedly belong.

After all, millennials are often defined as having been born between 1981 and 1996. With such a wide age range, and as ever-advancing technology has given rise to rapid changes – think TikTok and Snapchat – is it any wonder that the lexicon of this group varies even from year to year?

In any case, I ditched the idea of familiarising myself – let alone trying to keep up – with the lingo that the “younger generation” uses.

And just as I tolerate their use of it, they too, should empathise with millennials such as myself who are bewildered by such terminology. After my initial “struggle”, I have found it easier to give up trying and just lean into being a millennial-boomer – a term coined by a friend who commiserated with me.

When I suggested that we could create a “style guide” for such words and phrases, her response was a resolute “Don’t even go there”.

“But sometimes I really do not understand them!” I said in exasperation.

“Well, the only way is to admit that we are boomer-like and ask them what it means,” she suggested. “It is just too much effort to go down that rabbit hole.”

In a way, I guess that makes sense. After all, what fun would there be if everyone spoke in the same manner?

For example, when I mentioned that I would be buying Muthu’s Curry for dinner, the reply from my in-the-know co-worker was just: “Tight.”

My response: “Do you mean eating Muthu’s Curry will make your pants tight?”

“LMAO.”