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 accumulated a bunch of words these children have said to me, and I either find 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 this new generation of kids. Everything you thought you were up to date on or thought was common knowledge… turns out you’re wrong!
So if you are a young adult thinking of working in a school, this blog is for you. A little guide on what to expect, so you’re welcome.
2025 was a year of expanding vocab. Going into work last year was constant confusion about what my ears were trying to grasp. it was 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 the 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:
- “It’s a song”
- “It’s a TikTok 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 leave 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 of 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 because they’re a bop, but it 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”
This is somewhat straightforward; if you ever 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 I’ve avoided 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”.
This one is a favourite amongst children across all ages. You either hear this being used in a story when one of the children comes up to you explaining how someone has “crashed out” in class, by screaming at the teacher and then leaving the class.
OR
You have the incident where you are in the class, and one kid is being a class clown- but it’s really just annoying- meanwhile, you are holding every ounce of composure you possibly can not to “crash out” yourself. When one kid says to the class clown, “Hey, stop being annoying”, another random kid 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 losing their sh*t. Plain and simple. 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 midpoint 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 game 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 authoritative figure even answer that?
The answer is you find a way to out-rizz them in the cringiest way possible.
RAGEBAIT
Up next, we have “ragebait”. Now with this one, it’s an adult favourite that some Gen Zs 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 one’s all about antagonising someone purely for entertainment purposes. The constant attempts at trying to get a reaction out of me by calling me old? 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. 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.
We are now nearing the end of this laughable list. I hope you are gaining lots of information from this blog, and the things your kids are saying are starting to make sense to you.
AURA
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 are always two definitions, and the kids don’t really take this one TOO much out of context. Sometimes they try to convince themselves and others that 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; or when they walk into a classroom and the whole class looks because they know that’s the class clown and they’re loved.
COOK
In second-to-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 opposite and be given as a compliment.
So an 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 they 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, I hope I did not lose you just yet on this ride of enjoyment (ha). I will leave you 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 far away from each other, chasing our degrees. As the conversation was flowing, I must’ve triggered them, resulting in me getting called “unc”; I have officially reached “unc status”. My initial reaction was to ask 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 I’m quite confused now. So I simply accepted that I have reached unc status. A few months go by, and I find out through TikTok that this word actually stands for “uncool”, 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 
Leave a comment