Believe it or not, your baby will be a tween one day. Oh, it’s coming. My son, yes, my first born child, my baby, is 11. He’s a sweetheart, but growing up fast. And I’m stuck in mommy denial. For starters, we don’t exactly speak the same language. I grew up in Texas spouting Valley Girl 80’s lingo. If you grew up in the 80’s or even 90’s, these phrases are probably familiar to you. (Like totally familiar.)
Awesome
Whatever
Like TOTALLY
Oh my G*d
Chill out
Crackin’ up
Not even
So familiar, you probably, like totally still use them every day, to your kids’ dismay. These less popular slang phrases have faded away thankfully, like acid wash mom jeans:
Radical
Barf me out
Eat my shorts
Gnarly
Tubular
According to my tween son, I’ve been told that I’m a great mom, but it’s evident (especially when I’m dancing in the kitchen to a Bananarama song, that I’m uncool). It is what it is. And to make it worse, there are new versions of slang words kids use now, just in case we need justification for our perpetual un-coolness level.
So, like a typical mom of a tween, I’ve started jotting down “cool phrases” and have a short list of translations. This is something I created for my own mommy sanity level. Be careful not to incorporate these words into your everyday vocabulary when talking to your tween, which can make it even worse. It makes it look like you’re trying too hard. (Think Amy Poehler in Mean Girls.) Just use it as a reference guide and please, by all means, add your own phrases in the comments section. We can use all the help we can get!
(Just to clarify, the phrases to the left are OUT!)
Whatever – Whatevs
Chill out – Chillax
Crackin’ up – Lol
Oh my G*d – OMG
Weird – Wack
Awesome – Sick
Cool – Phat
Adorable – Adorbs
Dude – Dawg
All right – Aiight
Bu-bye – Peace out
Rock it – Own it
Psyched – Stoked
Fabulous – Fashizzle
Done – O-v-e-r
Peace out, dawgs!
hagerclan said:
Gah! I’ve been dating myself with “Awesome” and “Whatever” all these years? And here I thought I was a hip chick… Ugh, did it again.
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Jackie said:
I know, I hear ya. I do it EVERY DAY. XO
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Kristin Wheeler (@MamaLuvsBooks) said:
Ha-ha!! AWESOME list! I love this post!!! Totally a phat post for sure! LOL!
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Heather @ Kraus House Mom said:
When I taught in South Providence, they had their own slang and it changed frequently. I used to joke with the kids about not being able to learn English, but they can learn and properly use new slang every other day.
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Dodging Acorns said:
this is awesome…. I sometimes feel like a conversation with my 16yo niece is happening in another language.
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Jackie said:
You dawgs are the fashizzle! I’m STOKED about your sick comments. Peace out. 😉
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Liz {Learning to Juggle} said:
Oh how I dread the day my kids hit the tween stage….I know it inevitable, but I’m still not looking forward to it!! I haven’t heard any of these yet, my kids all still say awesome because that’s what they hear their grandfather say all the time. And they still think I’m the coolest…lol
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melissa weintraub (@dentistmel) said:
Haha- I can totally hear Hayley saying this down the line. This is so funny!!! LOL!
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martinkadelux said:
I can’t handle all the acronyms out there. THAT’S when I knew I was getting old… I had NO idea what my younger cousins were texting me!
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wildflowerstudiophoto.com/blog said:
No way! This is too funny! My boys are really young, so I am in the dark about the new lingo! This was funny!
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Jennifer (Savor) said:
Um, I use all of those words and phrases. Word out!
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tqote said:
I hear a lot of whatevs and adorbs. Syd has started to sound like she’s from the Valley, which is quite funny with her smokers voice. Now, there’s a sick visual. 🙂
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Jane - MomGenerations.com said:
You are too funny!! I need to keep this list handy so I can properly converse with my older nieces and nephews (the younger ones, thankfully, still think I’m cool regardless of my lingo). And I think you are VERY cool, BTW. 🙂
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Melissa G. said:
So wait…I say a lot of those things on the right (whatevs, adorbs, OMG, wack…) does this mean I AM a cool mom?! YESSSSSSSSSSS!
Also, I refuse to believe you aren’t a cool mom Jackie! 😉
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eileen said:
like, oh mi gawd, u are so funny! I actually used the word ‘gnarly’ today when i was getting on the bus ride to MOFA in Boston. – the kids all looked at me like ‘what the heck does that mean u crazy lady?’…. totally awesome blog! 🙂
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Katy said:
Ha ha ha!
You can learn the slang Barrington kids will be using three years in advance from Joe’s students. Beat young C at his own game!
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When the Kids Go To Bed said:
This is hysterical. And Ah-maz-ing!
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Jessica said:
You crack me up! My oldest will be hitting the tweens in about 5 years … I wonder what they’ll be saying by then?? And yes, I am totally guilty of saying pretty much every 80s and 90s phrase that you listed.
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