Would we dare to say that they no longer understand each other?
Parents have always been able to feel helpless in the face of the rapidity with which the language of their children is changing.
They hardly know what a
“real insta” means
when they are already told about
“Tik-tok videos”
.
The same goes for expressions known as
“boomers”
, quickly relegated to the rank of
“has been” language
by the next generation, the
“millennials”
.
When parents criticize the new
"crush"
of their sister-in-law's brother, their offspring speak of
"crush"
.
The editorial staff conducted an overview of these generational expressions, thanks to the language learning application Babbel, which selected a selection of them.
● "To have it bad" and "to have the seum"
It is a characteristic specific to the adolescent age: to be angry,
"yomb"
,
"disappointed"
,
"annoyed"
.
When parents
“have it bad”
, their children have
“the seum”
.
These two expressions have the undeniable advantage of bringing together in two words a set of feelings of disappointment: disgust, hatred, anger ... The
"seum"
comes from the Arabic sem ", which means
" venom "
.
The many American and French rap hits have largely contributed to the popularization of this word among the younger generations.
"Having the seum" has also replaced in the 2010s the expression:
"I hate".
● “Is it booming?”
and "wesh"
Is it booming? It gauze? Does it sparkle? Exit these outdated questions. Any good “millennial” who respects himself will use the word
“wesh” at will
, which serves both as an interjection, a greeting (
“wesh, good or good?”
) And punctuation. Borrowed from the Arabic expression
"wesh rak"
which means
"how are you?"
, it is frequently found in the abbreviated form:
"wsh"
. One thing is certain, "wesh" replaced with overwhelming success (remember rapper JUL's
hit
"Wesh then"
, which was a dizzying success with teenagers) his ancestor
"that farte"
, which succeeded
"that boom "
.
The latter would perhaps have been built after the English
to boom
,
"to growl"
.
When
“it boom”
, it means
“it's thunder”
, in the sense of
“it's going great”
.
● “On the sly” and “in soum-soum”
When we do something
“on the sly”
, we act in hiding
,
avoiding being seen. This expression, which is no longer used so much by the younger generation, is very old. Borrowed from the Greek
katamênia
, “sly” appears in the 16th century in the form:
“to be on the sly”
to say:
“to act in secret”
. According to the Académie française, it might be a Picard word meaning
“cat”
, and confused with
“catamini”
, that is to say
“menses”
. The young people will prefer to say
"in scred"
, verlan of
"discreet"
, or
"in soum-soum"
.
The latter is an abbreviation of
"submarine"
, with the idea of what is happening under the waves of the sea, out of sight.
● "Be raplapla" and "be in PLS"
If the meaning of these two expressions is strictly the same, they are symptomatic of two distinct generations.
"Raplapla"
is, according to Babbel, an evolution of the expression
"to be flat"
, or
"to replati"
, the past tense of the verb
"to replatir"
(to flatten).
Gen'Z prefers to say
“in PLS”
, and here uses the acronym
“in lateral safety
position
”
, the first aid position.
This implies that we are really
"in the wrong"
,
"dead"
,
"tired"
.
● "My girl" and "my gow"
The formula
"my girl"
(who does not think of the singer Renaud and his eponymous song when hearing this word?), Very fashionable for decades, has been dethroned by the millennials. They prefer
"my girl"
or
"my gow" to him
. While the word
"chick"
would be derived from
"chick"
,
"beggar, man"
, according to the Italian
gonzo
, or
"stupid individual"
, some doubts remain about the exact meaning of
"gow"
. Thus, according to Babbel,
"some would say that this term is an abbreviation of the term
chick.
, while others believe that this expression comes from Nouchi, Ivorian slang and means
“girl”
or
“woman”
. ”