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The vocabulary of those younger than most of us

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I recently had the pleasure (and it was a pleasure, don’t get me wrong) of working with a 22 year old guitar player.

He was wonderfully curious about my career, and asked lots of really sensible and apposite questions.

However, I did notice his use of what I have observed/heard are frequent expressions from those of his young vintage.

The main one being –

100%

That is “A Hundred Per Cent”

And the other one these twenty-somethings use is – PERFECT

Others?

(And if by any chance you are a twenty-something person reading this blog, PLEASE contribute. We do love you!)

0

Comments

  2. 100%?

    You won’t get far on one of those godawful reality competition shows that clog up the nightly schedules with an attitude like that!

    Average BGT or XF competitor routinely trots out 1,000 or even 1,000,0000 per cent and throws in a dead granny for free as well

  3. In other ‘old man shouting at the radio’ news, I heard an feature on the wireless earlier this week about food app delivery drivers.

    One young lady, an undergraduate topping up her student grant by doing an occasional shift with Deliveroo.

    “Today I earned £4.42 by cycling 0.7 miles from a neighbourhood bakery to deliver one iced doughnut in a box”.

    Of all the people with more money than sense, you’re the one who should really be walking to the bakery.

    • One of the best labourers we had in our small building business in 1980s Stepney used to say “That’s more betterer”, which has been in our family’s vocabulary ever since.

      Along with “Whaddever” (a very useful addition to the English language).

    • I was going to say that – not gonna lie.

      Another related one is “I’m not even lying!” which means “I know this doesn’t seem likely, but it’s true”.
      Or a shorter “Not. Even.” which is a bit like the above but said negatively e.g.

      Teenager 1 – “The DJ wouldn’t play Shakin’ Stevens at the disco!”
      Teenager 2 – “Nah, true!?”
      Teenager 1 – “Not. Even.”

  7. The over (& incorrect) use of the word genius.

    I have happily worked from home since changing jobs 18 months ago. I no longer work in an office with Andrew Tate obsessed, homophobic 20 somethings & for that I am very grateful. However, the one thing I am glad to no longer endure is the word genius being dropped every 10 minutes.

  8. ‘Passed’. Nobody even ‘passes away’ anymore. Surely somewhere in Britain, statistically, someone will tell their workmates about an impending driving test, only to be killed before they can take it. The next day, a colleague will inform the others that “Steve has passed”, and everyone will look really happy.

    • ‘Passed away’ and ‘passed’ are both mimsy mealy-mouthed nonsense. People die, and remain dead. Although ‘Steve has sadly died’ doesn’t work either – he might have been thrilled, who knows. ‘Sadly, Steve has died’ if you must.

      My Salvation Army grandmother was promoted to glory. That’s classy.

          • Lots of things, depending on how well you know the person and whether you’re in their presence or not. Nothing at all might work. ‘Sorry for your loss’ is up there with ‘thoughts and prayers’ in the off-the-shelf platitude stakes.

            • That’s as maybe, but if you are thinking about the linguistic terminology with which you carry off the exchange, rather than thoughts for the person you are talking to, and hopefully sympathising with, then you’re off on the wrong foot anyway. There were a lot of heartfelt messages to one of our own, when he’d had a sudden and unforeseen terrible bereavement not that long ago.
              And also there were a lot of messages from those not knowing what to say. All were in good faith, and the sentiment was clearly there, even if not expressed in the most original of word combinations. We don’t all need to be wordsmiths – phrases smelted and pre-tested by others are perfectly serviceable.

              Apart from thoughts and prayers after a school massacre – people who say that can get fucked.

              • I think anodyne statements like I’m “sorry for your loss” are more the result of being stuck for something to say and not wanting to come across as being insensitive/uncaring.

                It’s certainly a lot better than what my then cunt of a boss in Asia did the morning I was late for work and had to tell him it was because I’d just learned my dad had died in the UK. He briefly looked up from his desk and said “that’s too bad” before carrying on with what he was doing.

        • Oh God, yes. I have avoided telling certain people at work about recent bereavements just so I can dodge that one. You can almost hear them ticking the box saying ‘Job done’ as they say it. When did it start? I swear I never heard it until about 15 years ago.

      • Sometimes New Zealanders say “Ah, that’s no good!” but said softly with tenderness. In written form it seems over-stoic, but it is a nice way of saying you care without pretending you’re devastated by the death of someone you don’t know.

  11. Legend, as in you are a legend for posting this Mousey, because it’s been too long since we’ve had a good grumble at neologisms. Bonus points for including the qualifier ‘absolute’

    As a compliment, it’s about equivalent to saying ‘ta’, so much has it been devalued.

    I’m saying all this like I’ve actually spoken to a young person in the last decade*. I get my youth speak from Chelsea Horrobin on the Archers, and she gets it from middle aged scriptwriters, so it must be accurate.

    *German speaking children don’t count.

  13. Do young people stkll say “man” in the Americn way? “Man, that song’s dope!”. Always makes me chuckle when extremely English, middle class, white, suit-wearing professionals talk like that. They sound so fabulously unnatural.

    • I have, on occasion, taken their question on face value. “I’m not really sure. I’ve got some acid indigestion, my kidneys are dry, I forgot to take my tablets this morning, my son has split from his partner, her indoors hates me and I’m not ready to retire. But, overall, I’m still here, my teeth still function and I can carry out all my own tasks of daily living. Not my ‘best’ life but not my worst either. Thanks for asking.”

    • What particularly annoys me about that one is that “I was like….” fails to clarify if it’s something that was actually spoken out loud.

      “At the till my card got declined and the guy just threw it back at me. I was like, all right mate, you tell me when your card next gets declined and I’ll turn up and throw it in your face and humiliate you”

      “Wow, what did he say back?”

      “No I never actually said that, just thought it”

  19. I don’t think these are used by young people in particular, or even outside various media, but anyway here they are.

    Women columnists of the Polly Filler school all seem to have female friends who are “amazing” and/or “brilliant”.

    “My superpower is” – something totally inane like making breakfast for the children before they go to school.

    And that old favourite in a newspaper profile of a public figure “fiercely intelligent” (argumentative and self-righteous).

  20. I would put misuse of the reflexive pronoun (“please contact Alan or myself if there’s a problem”) but that’s becoming so common it’s pretty much accepted, and it’s not specific to younger folk.

    When I did English at school 30+ years ago, if you weren’t sure whether to use I or me, you took the other person out of the sentence and read it with just the personal pronoun you had chosen to work out what to use. I think the reflexive works the same:

    Please contact myself

    sounds, well, wrong. I think people are genuinely unsure of using the words “me” or “I”.

    • I think the reflexive pronouns are (or should be) used only when the subject and object of a verb are the same person. Eg. “I offered him a Jaffa Cake and he helped himself to the whole packet, the bastard.”

  21. I hear and read the word “narrative” much more than I used to a few years ago. As in “it doesn’t suit their narrative”. I’m a bit snobbish about it: I think people think it makes them sound more intelligent or educated if they use it. Just like “cognitive dissonance” a couple of years ago. (Thankfully that one seems to be a little less popular these days, but there was a period when it seemed to be used in every discussion.)

  22. The use of ‘Pre order’ instead of ‘order’. Our local bakers has a sign outside stating that you can ‘come in and pre order celebration cakes’. Unless of course they expect you to come back again to actually order it which I suspect they don’t.

    I don’t think it’s restricted to young people but it gives me a chance to grumble about it.

  23. Recent additions to corporate speak I have encountered in the wild:

    “Do you want to drive” – would you like to control the PowerPoint deck.

    “Proximity bias” – I am going to favour those in the office over those at home.

    “Let it rot” – a harder and more directive version of “let it go”.

    “Lit” – meaning fashionable or hot.

    “360 pivot” – the act of assessing your own strategy without the expectation that you will alter it.

    “Choke the swan” – deal with an unexpected or chaotic event in decisive fashion.

    “Parrot aesthetic” – to overcommunicate (eg “I want everyone to go full parrot aesthetic on this project until we get back on track”).

    “Rain god” – the CFO (eg “do we need to take this to the rain god”).

    “Strumming the banjo” – sending out an idea into the exec ranks to check the response.

    “Free solo” – meaning to undertake a task which is high risk (eg “we’re going to need to free solo this product rollout”).

    “Pain disco” – the company AGM.

    “Alternate face scenario” – making a rapid change to a PR position (also known as “going full John Woo”).

    “Swallow the centaur” – try to resolve a problem composed of two component parts that could otherwise be divided.

    “Eat like Henry Rollins” – meaning to cut to the chase on a matter (eg “can I suggest we all just skip forward here and eat like Henry Rollins”).

  25. One particularly grating one I’ve heard the youngsters use is “goals”. For example, “Life goals” or “Relationship goals”, just said as a single statement. Meaning something like, “I really admire that person for the choices they have made in life and I see them as a role model I’d like to aspire to”.

    Another is “flex”. Have you heard that one? If I’ve got a big record collection and I boast about it, I’m “flexing”. (At least I THINK that’s the proper use…. for all I know it might be a big innuendo I’ve not picked up on)

    (I’m getting into my stride now, but I’ll stop after one more before I go into full Grumpy Old Man mode)

    “Imma” – as in “Imma have cereal for breakfast today” = “I’m going to have cereal for breakfast today”. Grrr.

  26. One I quite like and have heard from 20 somethings in the office (they patiently explained to the old guy), as well as my teenage daughter is using “W” and “L” for positive and negative opinions respectively.

  29. I work in marketing for my sins. We endlessly harp on about our products’ stories. ‘Tell it’s story’. They don’t have stories. They’re textbooks. We also harp on about ‘delighters’. Textbooks have rarely been known to delight anyone.

    • I also work in marketing and was surprised and undelighted to recently hear of a promo campaign for long terms clients (ie giving them a book) being described as the ‘surprise and delight strategy’

      • We had surprise and delight at work for a bit. The old ceo said it loads so everyone started repeating it. I got told off for asking in a meeting how we’re meant to maintain the element of surprise if we insist on continually delighting our audience. You’d think the latter would be enough really.

  31. Athletes forming that sick-makingly icky heart-shape with their hands
    after scoring a goal, winning a race. Think Gareth Bale may have started it,
    he certainly made a stab at copyrighting it

  33. I’m a high school teacher so, with some authority I say:

    Can relate. Or just: “Same”.

    Hundred percent. (Notice no “one” or “a” hundred. Just “hundred”.)

    This week at the Year 12 Valedictory Dinner, the young people complimented me on my rizz caused by my nice fit and dripping cut. (Loosely translated as my charisma caused by a new clothing ensemble and a quick trim of the hair.) I looked ‘sick’. (This one may be an Australian thing)

    Why do teenagers always travel in oddly-numbered groups?
    Cos they can’t even.

  34. Did any of them say:
    “‘Sweet Caroline’, hmm… I haven’t heard that for sixty minutes… hey, if I do that that, ‘Thriller’ and ‘Rumours’, I’ve heard the whole of recorded music evvveeerrr… on vinlys.”

    If not, I fear they might be in the minority.

  35. None of the exemples above annoy me in the slightest.
    My generation also came up with expressions and abbreviations that annoyed older generations. I still use some of them, alongside some of the new ones – the ones I like and can get away with saying without sounding like I’m trying to pretend to be young! 🙂
    Language isn’t supposed to be set in stone for ever.

    • Oh I agree – this is classic middle-aged people grumbling about the young ‘uns, or irritating neologisms at work. Two separate things, for the most part. But it’s like, super good to have a safe space to manifest our anxieties, you get me fam?

    • The use (and especially over-use) of some terms can make their user seem stupid and I think that’s what this thread is really about. We humans love nothing more than pointing out the stupidity of other humans.

      I think English (as the world’s second most-spoken language, the most geographically widespread and the one with by far the biggest vocabulary) is more fluid than other languages. As in any constantly evolving field, some of its developments I find fun and interesting (I like “totes” and “obvs”, for example), some I find stupid and unnecessary (the way the tabloids insist on using “rocking” for “wearing”, for example).

      Other languages, I think, tend to be a lot more conservative. I especially notice this when it comes to people’s names. If you stroll round a cemetery in Britain, you’ll see plenty of names on the gravestones that are now quite rare (Albert, Edna, Ronald, Gladys, Gary etc), whereas in some other countries the names on the old gravestones seem pretty much the same as those in common use today.

      I’m interested to see how non-native speakers deal with some of the recent changes in English. I have yet to hear an English-speaking Italian use “like” to report what was said, even though they must have come across it by now.
      I’m also interested to see how foreign languages deal with the contemporary issue of pronouns. I noticed recently that an article in Italian referred to Sam Smith as “lui” (“he”). without mentioning Smith’s preference for “they” (wouldn’t get that in The Guardian, no siree!). In Swedish would “they” be used to talk about Smith? In Italian “loro” (“they”) is sometimes used as an extremely formal way of saying “you”. I think it’d get very confusing in a “are you talking about him or me?” kinda way.

      • Swedish uses the word “hen” (for “they”) in that meaning. For a woman you’d say “hon” and for men it’s “han”. It’s a fairly recent invention but has caught on quickly.

        Swedish is definitely not conservative – we’ve incorporated foreign words into our language in all centuries, early Swedish took plenty from German, then French, and starting in the past century we now use English words so much that many Swedish (or German/French Swedish) words are starting to disappear in use.

        The name thing has also changed a lot, just during my lifetime. First the old-fashioned names fell out of popularity and everyone wanted “unique” names – and names that works internationally – but then there was a wave of nostalgia for those granny names so some of them have returned, but it’s not as uniform as when I was a child, and in earlier generations. The “made-up” names are still very popular. I recently came across a teenage “Tiara”, for exemple!

        I would guess that young people in Sweden, influenced by what they see and hear on social media and streaming content, would be using the popular words and expressions that young people in the UK and US are using.
        In Italy, they use dubbing still, don’t they? In Sweden we’ve always had subtitles, which is why we in general are known for being fairly competent at speaking and understanding English.

        • Glaswegians use “hen” as a non-romantic but friendly term of endearment for a woman, eg, “y’awright, hen?”

          Sorry, Locust, I appreciate this is a bit of a diversion…

          • There are other similarities. In Scotland there are the bairns and in Sweden barn. Then there’s the kirk and in Sweden kyrka. It’s almost as if there was some kind of immigration/migration going on.

            • Not forgetting Yorkshire.
              The north included the kingdom of York,— which we now roughly know as modern-day Yorkshire (also known as Scandinavian York, or Jórvik).

              With them, the Vikings brought a huge amount of vocabulary which still finds a place in the modern day Yorkshire dialect. Any Yorkshireman or woman will be familiar with the word ‘lug’ (Old Norse for ‘ear’). The same goes for words like beck (stream), dale (valley), ings (meadow) and fell (hill). Like York, Grimsby and Whitby are both place names which bear traces of Scandinavian language.

        • Hey @locust, as someone whose command of a foreign language is extremely impressive, I thought you might find this article in today’s Guardian interesting. I did, particularly the idea that which language you are using can influence your decision making:

          https://www.theguardian.com/science/2023/sep/17/how-learning-thinking-in-a-foreign-language-improves-decision-making

          This paragraph in particular resonated with me:
          One of the most intriguing recent studies tested the “bias blind spot” – the expectation that we are less susceptible to error than the average person. “We believe that other people are stupid, and we are not,” explains Michał Białek, an associate professor at the University of Wrocław, Poland. In line with Keysar’s findings, he found that speaking a foreign language punctures this egotistical way of thinking.

          I’ve often thought that many people (especially on Twitter) seem to have an attitude of “other people are so thick!”. It’s a ridiculous attitude that I’ve always considered small-minded and egocentric. Perhaps that’s because I can speak two languages! (Gosh! Go me!)

    • I’m with you. I used to enjoy talking to my partner’s daughter about it when she was a teenager. It’s probably very out of date now but I particularly liked ‘random’ as a noun. ‘Did you have a good time in town?’ ‘Just met but with Danny and Hannah and hung out with some randoms.’ She was useful for other terms I heard in the street as well. ‘If it’s not a rude word, what does hench mean?’

      Younger groups will always create a vocabulary to distinguish their tribe which will in turn be replaced as it either gets forgotten or becomes mainstream.

    • OK, what about if someone keeps on saying ‘early doors’ instead of just ‘early on’? You might think that this is just the cricketing community, but they might be coming to get you nonetheless.

      • I thought “early doors” came from getting to the pub as soon as it opened.
        Turns out this is partly true, but comes from theatres and music halls opening earlier to get the crowds in before the performance.
        Is “late windows” the opposite of “early doors”?

  36. I like these Grumping Threads. Even though I pay them very little attention.
    I think it’s good that The Disgrunted Ones have an outlet here on the AW and don’t need to go out buying machetes* and going on rampages.

    *Much cheaper nowadays, but you get funny looks at the checkout.

  38. The ick is a new one I’ve seen a lot. Think it’s used to describe the feeling when you’re put off someone when they have a habit or just do something that bothers you. Not sure I would use it, but it’s quite succinct.

    Another thing is the phrase “let’s goooooo!” posted on the socials just before any sports fixture. Not sure where it came from, but all I can think of is Gwyneth Paltrow’s range of interesting products (which might give you the ick, I guess).

    • In the early 1980s, Beyond the Fringe producer, Willie Donaldson invented a very funny prototype Niger Farage character called Henry Root. HR wrote spoof letters to the great and good and not so good that often included a pound note and ended with the imprecation “here’s a pound, let’s go!”

      Having used “ick(y)” up the page I looked it up. it’s an Americanism with its origins in the 1940s.

      Odd how old many of the supposed neologisms quoted in this thread actually are

      • When I was working at Bloomsbury I had a meeting with Willie Donaldson and his agent to talk about a book post Henry Root. I wheeled the sales director in to do a spiel about what we could do for him, all our great successes etc. When he’d finished WD stood up and said to his agent, “Well Mark, I can see we’ll never be good enough for these chaps, we’d better look elsewhere.”

        • Entitled “Wykehamist pimp, crack fiend and adulterer who created Henry Root and Beyond the Fringe” WD’s obit in the Torygraph was one of the best I’ve ever read

          He can’t have been all bad as he famously had a dalliance with Carly Simon

          • If you haven’t read it, I can recommend his autobiography. It has the compelling title: “You Cannot Live as I Have and Not End Up Like This” and is absolutely compelling and decadent. Incidentally, I think his Henry Root schtick was pretty much a carbon copy of Don Novello’s Lazlo Toth books, which came out in the US in the late 70s.

            • It’s a biography by his friend Terence Blacker, and it’s an eye p-opening book. For me, Donaldson’s masterpiece is Brewer’s Rogues, Villains and Eccentrics. The slighter later I’m Leaving You Simon, You Disgust Me: A Dictionary of Received Ideas sits atop the cistern in my bathroom right now as it has been my recent loo reading.

  39. Don’t know if it’s a bit of local slang oenig it’s more widespread, however my son uses bare (or it bear?) as a synonym for extremely.

    I’m bare hungry.
    I’m bare tired.
    There were bare many people at the party.

    Or of course, as you cinephiles will know…
    I’m bear in need of a line of cocaine.

  40. ‘Dropped’ as a synonym of ‘released’. When I hear that a band has dropped a new album, I still instinctively think it’s because they’ve realised – at the last minute – that it’s rubbish.

    ‘To be fair’. I’ve heard this one a few times on the trams of Manchester. Today, I heard it in the following context:

    Bloke: “Yeah, I’ve just been to the gym. Where are you off to?”
    Lady: “Just going home, to be fair.”

    I had no idea the simple act of returning home after work could ever be laced with injustice.

  42. To paraphrase Samuel Goldwyn, what we need is a stock of new neologisms-

    In describing alternative transport arrangements (i.e. buses) for cancelled services
    as “road trains”, the announcer at Crewe Railway Station has come up with an
    absolute corker

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