- High school teacher Larry Lexicon showed his class his "Gen Z term dictionary."
- It included words and phrases such as "baddie," "no cap," and "slaps."
- Lexicon also pointed out the origin of many of these words was African-American Vernacular English.
A high school teacher made a "Gen Z term dictionary" for his class in a series of recent TikToks, including phrases such as "no cap," "baddie," and "getting sturdy."
"All year long I've been listening to you and making a list, which I've compiled here for you — the Gen Z term dictionary," said the teacher, who uses the pseudonym Larry Lexicon.
Lexicon doesn't give his real name, but teaches somewhere in Vacaville, California.
He showed his class his work in a PowerPoint presentation.
"You guys can let me know if they're accurate or if I need to revise them, or maybe you can help me to use them in a sentence," he said.
Lexicon has grown a following of 1.8 million on TikTok for his relatable and educational videos that show his close relationship with his students. His Gen Z dictionary was delivered in three TikToks that got a combined 4.6 million views.
Another of his viral videos was an explanation of why many US classrooms now had buckets in them — they are full of supplies needed to survive for an extended period of time if there's a lockdown due to a school shooting.
The first word, "bruh," Lexicon said was "obvious" and a "staple" of the generation. He described it as an alternative for "bro," or that it "can be used as an exclamation."
The next word, "rizz," Lexicon said was fairly new to him, and had learned it meant "to have charisma."
He said he thought "bussin'" meant good, specifically when talking about food, and "bussin' bussin'" meant really good, also in regards to food. "Delulu," he thought, was an adjective to describe someone who was delusional.
In a second TikTok, Lexicon said he had compiled more words, and would be using them every day until the end of the school year.
Here are some examples:
- "Baddie" — "A pretty girl, typically very curvy and independent."
- "Gyatt" — An exclamation which is a "substitute for 'gosh darn'; typically used in response to seeing a baddie."
- "Getting sturdy" — A dance usually used "when winning."
- "Bet" — Another way of saying "OK" or "alright."
- "Slaps" — Something that's good, "typically in regards to music."
- "Cap" — A lie.
- "No cap" — The truth.
"And if it's really, really no cap, it's 'on God,'" Lexicon said.
In a third TikTok, Lexicon responed to comments, saying he wanted to make some revisions to the title slide of his dictionary.
He said a lot of people pointed out that many of the terms have roots in African-American Vernacular English.
"I know you think you came up with a lot of these words, but you didn't, and they've been around for a long time," Lexicon said. "They kind of make their way into society, and into your lexicon, through pop culture and things like hip hop music and stuff. And they sneak their way into your daily vocab."
Traditionally, these terms and the language associated with them are "looked down upon by society as uneducated or something like that," Lexicon said.
"But then what happens is it makes its way into like, white suburbia, and you get a middle-aged dorky white dude mislabeling it just for a whole generation as a term dictionary," he said. "And it ends up erasing the importance of it, and the impact that it has on culture."
Lexicon said he would re-title the guide as "The AAVE-inspired Gen Z term dictionary."
"The mistake was just simply due to ignorance on my part," he said. "But that's OK, because all you've got to do is learn. I just write the feedback that I got, studied a little bit and learned and now I'm not so ignorant anymore."
Being ignorant was OK, he said, "but being willfully ignorant and not doing anything about it — not so OK."
No comments:
Post a Comment