If you are reading this you are either a tired parent or an even more tired teacher -or any sort of educator at a school- who has had enough of feeling:
- confused by what on earth these kids are saying
- annoyed because you do not know what they’re saying
- both annoyed and confused
Being a young (not according to these teenagers apparently 23 is old now) TA, week by week I have gathered an accumulation of words these children have said to me and me either finding out by how many times they are being repeated so I naturally put the pieces together, or by making the mistake of asking them myself.
Nothing will humble you more than working in a school with the new generation of kids. Everything you thought you were up to date with or thought was common knowledge to you…. It absolutely is not to the kids who are between 7-10 years younger than you.
So if you are a young adult thinking of working in a school, this blog is just for you. A little guide into what to expect, so you’re welcome.
2025 was a year for expanded vocab, going into work last year was constant confusion on what my ears were trying to grasp and very hard to keep up with, but i did.
I’ve been able to add the top 10 words your kids might be saying and what they mean.
67
Starting off at number one, we had “67” or as this kids say “ SIXSEVEEEEEN”
now this one is by far the worst one yet the funniest. Why the funniest you may ask? Well because when you ask a kid what that even means you will get MULTIPLE responses like
- its a song
- its a tik tok sound
- i don’t know
Now we are just saying things for the sake of saying them? At least when I was a kid and we were all saying “1738” it was a song and had relevance and background to it !
hoping we keep 67 in 2025
BOP
At number two is “bop”
now I have not yet figured out if this is just targeted towards girls (misogyny is still very much alive!) but this word is the equivalent to calling someone a sl*t in this new generation. Yep so from what the kids constantly tell me is that they cannot like said girl bc they’re a bop, but doesn’t matter if the boy and 10 of his friends have liked the same girl the girl is a bop.
CHOPPED
At third place we have “chopped”
now this is somewhat straightforward, if you hear a kid using this word they are calling someone flat out ugly. No matter who you are, boy or girl, if you are called chopped you are ugly. Now, when they say it they say it with such passion like that person actually makes them sick and so far so good with being called chopped myself – to my face at least because I actually would cry- with this one its a funny case of the kids teasing each other about who their crushes could be and them calling everyone under the sun straight up ugly.
CRASH OUT
Now this next one is actually one that has sadly adapted into my vocab -as it naturally would hearing it after every minor argument- is “crash out”
See this one is a favorite amongst all the children across all ages. Now you either hear this being used in a story when one the children will come up to you explaining how someone has “crashed out” in class, by screaming at the teacher and then proceeding to leave the class after all while thinking they have nothing wrong at all.
OR
you have the incident where you are in the class and one kid is being what they like to think is a class clown- but it’s simply just annoying- meanwhile, you are holding every ounce of composure you possibly can not to “crash out” yourself, and soon as one kid says to the said annoying class clown “hey stop being annoying” another random kid who has no business involving themselves will scream “CRASH OUT” which encourages screaming, crying, and violence.
Now if you didn’t get what it could mean, it’s just someone basically loosing their sh*t. Plain and simply. I have adapted it into my own sentences because even though these kids have yet to see a real adult crash out in their future, I think that phrase is iconic.
RIZZ
in fifth place, marking the mid point of the list is “rizz”
For starters I believe this word is not just used by teens and kids, but boy do they abuse it like they invented it. Now if you are unfamiliar with this word, imagine the smoothest talker you can think of just flirting and spitting bars as us oldies would say or spitting lots of games for older oldies. You would say that person has a lot of rizz.
This one is as annoying to hear as the other ones, but it is interesting to see kids tell you that other kids have rizz, or even funnier ask you yourself if you have rizz. Like how does the authorities figure even answer that?
The answer is u find a way to out rizz them in the cringiest way possible.
RAGEBAIT
Up next we have “ragebait”, now with this one its an adult favorite that some Gen Z’s also may know like myself as this word may also be used in our day to day. Personally I hate this word because I get “ragebaited” quite easily.
This ones all about how one antagonises someone for the sole purpose of increasing annoyance. The constant want for a reaction of calling me old and wanting me to get angry? Ragebait was unsuccessful there wasn’t it kids.
GLAZING
Sixth place title goes to “glazing” or ‘glazing it” depending on how you want to use it in a sentence. Now with the kids (especially the boys) If you dare give a compliment because apparently you can’t do that anymore with it being weird, you would be glazing it. Now with glazing, it’s a term used when you are overly hyping someone or something up. Like I didn’t know saying your haircut was clean meant I was intensely hyping you up so never again I guess.
AURA
Nearing the end of this laughable list, hope you are gaining lots of info throughout this blog besides the headaches and words your kids are saying are now aligning. We have “aura” coming in at number seven which by my understanding is taken as just being someone’s vibe and energy that they radiate. Now of course there’s always two definitions, and the kids don’t really take this one TOO much out of context but they just try and convince themselves and everyone else around them they have “too much aura” because everyone knows them, or because the teachers may giggle at their behaviour- who’s gonna tell them we are actually laughing at them and not with them- when they walk into a classroom and the whole class may glare at them because they know that’s the class clown and they’re loved.
COOK
At second last place, we have let them “cook” or you’re “cooked”. with cooked, I find it comedic how this can be taken as an insult or it could be the whole opposite and be taken as a compliment.
So insult would sound something like “oooo you’re so cooked” which could translate to you are getting into lots of trouble for doing something you were not supposed to do. Kids also have a funny way of knowing when them themselves are cooked so instead of saying they are getting into trouble for not doing their homework they are just cooked. Now the other side of this word, if you are “cooking” there could be a list of things you have done to be cooking, for example you could be cooking with your outfit, you could have said something really impressive so you have cooked in their eyes like you have cheffed up something so verbally amazing?
So as you can see this can be taken in many different ways which I guess makes it more fun to use yourself.
UNC
As we come to the end, hoping I did not lose you just yet on this ride of enjoyment (ha) I will leave you off with one that hit me close to home because it came from students who also happen to be my brothers. It all happened when we were on FaceTime just catching up as we all live away from each other chasing our degrees, as the conversation was flowing I must’ve triggered them to be called “unc” and that I have reached “unc status”. My initial reaction was asking if I was just called an uncle? Surely this was not yet a new ridiculous word that I have missed. They did not proceed to explain further than I am just getting old- i am four years older than them, so im quite confused now- so i took it upon myself to just accept that I have reached this status, a few months go by and I have found out scrolling on tik tok that this word actually stands for “uncool” which now I am officially offended. Being called unc and mistaking it for being called an oldie is one thing, now being called UNCOOL by your own siblings… I was not happy.
I do hope this was helpful and shifted the confusion and annoyance to laughter after hearing how most of these silly words are just nonsense.
Bring on 2026
Chaotic Female Lead 
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