Who’s Speaking Please?

I have been in the work force for over 25 years, and I can feel retirement coming along any day now. (One can only hope.) Over those 25 years I have seen many technological changes, but perhaps the biggest change is in the workforce itself. I am now a “Boomer” surrounded by “Millennials”, and to say the least, they bring a unique vision to the work place.

Please note: the co-worker I refer to below in no way resembles the above character

Attitude aside, I understand that every generation before me, and there have been a few, have had their own distinctive fashion, music, and in particular their own language or lingo. For example, popular expressions in the ’60’s included “Groovy man”, “Dig it Man”, and everybody’s favorite, “Far out.” The ’70’ s had “Keep on Trucking”, “Good night John Boy”, and “Let me give you the Skinny.” The’80’s had “Gnarly,” “Gag me with a “Spoon”, and “Tubular.” The ’90’s had “All that and a Bag of Chips”, “Eat my Shorts”, and “Da Bomb.”It’s no surprise then that the Millennial generation too has their own exclusive vocabulary.

Like everyone else these days, most of the people at my current place of employ are working from home, so we have to communicate via email, text or the occasional phone call rather than face to face. Because many of my co workers are Millennials, in order to survive I have had to adapt to their mysterious language. In fact, I find myself in the midst of a classic case of survival of the fittest….. a kind of “do or die” situation.

This became glaringly obvious during a recent conversation with my Millennial co worker (on our break of course). She casually dropped terms like “bougie”, and “spill the tea” into our chat. I had no idea what she was talking about and frankly, it sounded like Klingon. Apparently, bougie was like being rich and looking good, and spill the tea was like, well spilling the beans, but you are spilling tea instead. It was on the tip of my tongue to end the conversation with “Catch you on the rebound,” but fortunately, I caught myself at the last minute.

Suddenly reality was staring me in the face. I needed to upgrade my Millennial conversational skills or I was in very real danger of heaven forbid, being labelled “old”……Wait, do Millennials have a word for that?

Fortunately, my co worker agreed to be my mentor for this exciting adventure and we began slowly with one of the more common Millennial phrases. I learned that when you agree with someone there are three ways you can express this. The first is to say “periodtee”, the second is to say “purr”, which apparently is a short form of “periodtee” and lastly, which makes no sense to me, is ” facts no printer.” I am still trying to figure that one out.

Once I was comfortable with this basic terminology we moved on to a list of more commonly used words in the Millennial world. Frankly I find them bewildering and difficult to drop into conversations, so I simply take heart in the knowledge that I now understand the meaning of many common terms and can at least reply in a manner that makes sense. Here then, is a sampling of typical Millennial phrases and their meaning:

Adulting – Doing adult things like, your taxes, and booking your appointments.

Keeping it 100 – Being real, honest

Extra – When one is being too much

Feels– When your emotions get too much

Cap – That is a lie, or you are lying.

Glow up – When you go from looking meh to looking great

IFYKYK – If you know you know.

Salty– Acting upset or bitter

Shook– Confused or utter disbelief

Low Key– Want to emphasize something but don’t want to come off as too much

Passing the vibe check– When you are a down to earth person, you automatically pass the vibe check.

Hopefully, if you have a Millennial in your life, this summary will be of some assistance. But wait….. there’s more! These are word communication tools, useful in a conversation, text or email. Unfortunately, Millennials have also mastered the art of picture communication with their use of emojis, but that is a story for another day….one thing at time please. Believe me, the struggle is real, so for now, it is enough that I feel I am no longer in immediate danger of being labelled old and have hopefully “passed the vibe check.”

In closing, I would like to express my sincere appreciation to my co worker for her patience and expert guidance in this learning experience. I’m not “cap” when I say it has been truly “feels.” I’m sure you will “facts no printer” 🙂

We plan on publishing a new post every Monday so stay tuned for our next one entitled “Write On.”