Seven baffling slang terms your kids are using right now

One day, my son Owen was telling me about about a video he’d watched featuring an alien that he called a “scuffed Shrek.”

For whatever reason at the time, Shrek memes were big among the junior high set. I think they may still be. I don’t know.

Anyway, it led me down a path of discovering random slang terms that kids are using on the schoolyard today and what exactly they’re supposed to mean.

Owen’s been looking for ways to earn an allowance since he had to stop flyer delivery due to his competitive sports schedule, so I decided to give him a taste of the freelance life.

His first piece, Top 5 novel series, ranked by my 12-year-old, is a great holiday gift guide for people with voracious young readers in their life!

For his second assignment, I asked him to come up with the top 5–10 random slang terms kids are using today, so parents might understand what their children are actually saying.

So without furhter ado, here are the Top 7 current terms, by Owen.

Seven baffling expressions your kids are using right now

Have your kids ever said something you’re completely baffled by? Did you think, “what the heck does that mean?”

Kids use a lot of slang these days, and most of it makes no sense whatsoever.

So as a middle schooler of this day and age, I will be giving you an inside look at 7 of the common slang words that your kids are using today.

1. Cracked

Cracked is a very common word amongst gamers, but over the years, kids have started to use it more in a wider range of areas.

To be cracked at something is to be very good or skilled at a certain thing.

In the meme ‘My Friend Here Justin’ on TikTok, the last thing the person says is: “And he’s cracked at Fortnite my guy.”

If you didn’t already know, Fortnite was, and still is, a very popular video game.

This line implies that Justin is a good Fortnite player and it can be applied to any other skill.

2. Bodied

Bodied is another word that started in the gaming world and expanded.

It’s basically a synonym for words like “destroyed” and “demolished” in the context of beating someone real bad at something.

Like, they’re not bad at the thing, you just beat them bad.

Well, they could be bad at the thing … you know what I mean. You destroy them.

3. Scuffed

For something to be scuffed is to be kind of like a low quality copy of something.

If you take two very similar products in looks and functionality you could take the more famous one and the other one would be scuffed.

For example, me and my friends like to call the Costco version of Gatorade, Kirkland Sport, “scuffed Gatorade”. If you look up a picture, you’ll see why.

Another example is the cookie Creme Betweens. These can be considered scuffed Oreos due to their similar look.

4. Bussin’

In short, kids use the word bussin’ if they want to speak highly of something or say it’s really good.

For example, if you wanted to compliment someone’s shoes, you’d say “Those shoes are bussin’,” though most of my friends use it jokingly now about something that shouldn’t appeal to a kid our age.

For example, they may say, “No way, Paw Patrol’s bussin’”

5. Salty

You use the word salty to describe someone who is a sore loser. If someone is complaining about losing, somebody might say, “dude, don’t be salty.”

While salty describes how the person is behaving, if you want to call the person themself salty, kids my age like to use the word saltation cracker.

If you are being salty, you are called a saltation cracker.

6. Cap

Something is cap if it is not true or is a lie.

If you tell someone something unbelievable, like “I just bench pressed 115 pounds,” they might say, “that’s cap.”

This means they do not believe that you actually bench pressed 115 pounds and probably bench pressed 20 pounds.

7. Bet

You say bet to say something like “yeah!” or “I’m down!”

If someone dares you to do something, you might say “bet.” or “Alright, bet,” then go do it.

And those are 7 of the common slang words your kids are using today. Hope you found this helpful!

Thank you so much for reading this post all the way to the end! If you enjoyed it, please give it a clap or two so others can find it!

Have you found Medium via this story but aren’t yet a member? Did you know membership starts at just $5 a month (and you can cancel any time)? There’s no risk and you get access to all Medium has to offer. To continue reading stories like this and give me a ‘lil kickback, please consider supporting this publication directly by using my link to sign up! You can also leave a tip using the button below if you enjoyed this article!