IRL
abbr."In Real Life" — offline, in person, away from a screen.
→"The fan edits are fun, but the IRL watch parties are wild."
A practical, mostly-honest field guide to the slang, shorthand, fandom vocabulary, and brainrot of the very online — translated for everyone else.
The acronyms doing the heavy lifting on every feed, DM, and group chat.
"In Real Life" — offline, in person, away from a screen.
→"The fan edits are fun, but the IRL watch parties are wild."
"For You Page." TikTok's algorithmic main feed — what it thinks you'll like.
→"It's been all over my FYP for weeks."
"Point of View." Used loosely as "imagine you're…" — a framing device for a video or post.
→"POV: it's Friday and a new episode dropped."
"If You Know, You Know." Signals an in-group reference you're not going to explain.
→"The cottage scene. IYKYK."
"Not Gonna Lie." A softener before saying something honest or mildly spicy.
→"NGL the finale wrecked me."
"Too Long; Didn't Read." A summary for those who can't be bothered.
→"TL;DR — it's good, watch it."
"To Be Honest" / "To Be Fair." Both used as conversational hedges.
→"TBH I went in sceptical."
Words for describing how something looks, hits, or fails to hit.
To do something impressively well. Often semi-ironic now.
→"That outfit slays."
Executed flawlessly. Frequently extended to "ate and left no crumbs."
→"He ate that scene."
Projecting a strong, specific look or energy.
→"She's serving CEO today."
In the zone, doing it well. "Let him cook" = don't interrupt.
→"The writers were cooking with episode five."
Mediocre. Underwhelming. Damning by faint description.
→"The third act was kinda mid."
Trying too hard or stuck in a dated millennial aesthetic.
→"That font is so cheugy."
Really good — almost always about food.
→"This ramen is bussin'."
Slightly / very. Often used to soften or amplify a confession.
→"Lowkey obsessed with this show."
The vocabulary of being deeply invested in a show, a band, or a fictional couple.
A fan-made montage of clips set to music — short, emotional, designed to go viral.
→"There's a Heated Rivalry edit with 4M views."
A devoted fan, or to be one. From the Eminem song; now mostly affectionate.
→"I stan the production designer."
To want two characters (or real people) to be together. The "ship name" mashes their names.
→"Hollanov is the ship name for Hollander + Rozanov."
Canon = officially in the story. Fanon = what fans have collectively decided is true.
→"It's not canon but it's heavily fanon."
A self-declared phase of life, named like a Taylor Swift album.
→"In my locked-in era."
Acting like the protagonist of your own life — confidently, cinematically.
→"She walked in with main character energy."
Content (or a fixation) you can't stop consuming, even though you know it's silly.
→"This show is my new brainrot."
The 2025–26 vocabulary that has fully crossed from niche into mainstream.
Charisma or vibe — and now quantified. You can lose or gain "aura points" for an action.
→"Tripped on the stairs. Lost 1,000 aura."
Charm, especially romantic. Short for "charisma." Now fully mainstream.
→"He's got unspoken rizz."
Independent, self-possessed, slightly aloof. Started ironic; now ambiguous.
→"Pure sigma move."
Someone behaving without self-awareness — like a video game side character.
→"Total NPC behaviour."
Log off and go outside. Usually said to someone arguing online.
→"Mate, touch grass."
So deep in internet discourse that you misread normal situations.
→"That's a chronically online take."
Greatest Of All Time, used as an adjective.
→"That episode was goated."
Sentence opener signalling emphatic agreement or disbelief. Not a refusal.
→"No because the chemistry was insane."
Gen Alpha — born roughly 2013 onwards — have inherited most of the vocabulary above, but their own contributions skew weirder. Where Gen Z slang usually has a logic ("delulu" to "delusional"), Alpha terms often resist meaning on purpose. The nonsense is the joke.
Three things distinguish their lexicon: absurdism over wit, gaming and streamer origins (Roblox, Fortnite, Kai Cenat) over music or Twitter, and a strange self-awareness about their own consumption — they have native vocabulary for being too online.
One genuine warning: this set has the shortest half-life of any generation's slang. The minute an adult uses it confidently, it's already cringe.
The flagship Alpha vocabulary — most of it deliberately absurd, much of it from short-form video.
From the Skibidi Toilet YouTube series. Has no fixed meaning — denotes chaos, randomness, or just punctuation. Can be positive, negative, or neither.
→"That's so skibidi."
Dictionary.com's 2025 word of the year — and it's not even a word. The meaninglessness is the entire point. Genuinely impossible to decode even with explanation.
→"Why did he say 67? No one knows."
Originally an exclamation of surprise or admiration; now also a noun for a notable backside. Crude, ubiquitous in school playgrounds.
→"Gyatt — did you see that?"
Stealing food from a friend. From streamer Kai Cenat's friend Fanum, who would "tax" people by taking off their plate.
→"Hey, no fanum tax on my chips."
Anything weird, cringe, or wrong. Ohio is meme-shorthand for "off." See also: "Ohio-coded."
→"That haircut is only-in-Ohio behaviour."
A jaw-strengthening pseudoscience that became a meme. The "mewing pose" — finger to lips — is now used as a non-verbal "be quiet."
→"[finger to lips] "I'm mewing, can't talk.""
Optimising your appearance. Spawned a vocabulary: jawmaxxing, gymmaxxing, etc. Roots in concerning corners of the internet but mostly used ironically.
→"He's gymmaxxing this summer."
Yes, also Gen Z — but Alpha use it self-aware-ly as a label for the content they consume. They know it's bad for them. That's the joke.
→"Pure brainrot. I love it."
Vocabulary that escaped from Twitch chat, Roblox lobbies, and Fortnite into everyday speech.
Used to address any group as if streaming to an audience. The speaker becomes the streamer, the room becomes Twitch.
→"Chat, is this real?"
"Non-Player Character." Someone behaving without self-awareness, like a video game side character on a script.
→"Total NPC behaviour."
A diversion from your main task. Frames daily life as an open-world RPG.
→"Stopped for a coffee side quest."
Win or Loss. Used as instant verdicts on anything: "W rizz," "L take," "huge W." Sharp, fast, perfect for snap judgments.
→"Massive W for you, mate."
On a post: when replies vastly outnumber likes — a public pile-on. Used as a verb: "you got ratioed."
→"He got absolutely ratioed."
Different from "cooking." To be cooked is to be in trouble or done for. The meal metaphor flips depending on tense.
→"Forgot the homework. I'm cooked."
Performing brilliantly under pressure, gaming-derived. Long-standing but now mainstream-everyday.
→"That last-minute fix was clutch."
"Away From Keyboard." Used IRL too — to mean briefly absent from anything.
→"I'm AFK for ten minutes."
Native vocabulary for being too online — a Gen Alpha specialty older generations rarely had words for.
A child raised on tablet content from infancy. Originally a critique from older Gen Z; now self-applied semi-ironically.
→"Classic iPad kid behaviour."
The cardinal sin. Gen Alpha wields cringe like a laser pointer for awkward humour, outdated trends, and especially adults trying too hard.
→"That's so cringe, please stop."
Same as Gen Z usage but deployed constantly as a put-down. Excessive, embarrassing flattery.
→"Stop glazing the teacher."
"Greatest Of All Time." Of all the Alpha terms, the linguists reckon this one has the best chance of sticking.
→"He's the GOAT."
The all-purpose word for the energy of anything. A "vibe check" is an instant assessment of mood or trustworthiness.
→"This room failed the vibe check."
"You got it" / "okay" / agreement. Said sharply, often as a single-word reply.
→""Meet at six?" — "Bet.""
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Social & Emotional
Vocabulary for feelings, friendships, and the texture of being a person online.
Delulu
adj.Delusional, usually affectionately. "Delulu is the solulu" = manifesting through denial.
→"I'm delulu but I think they'll get back together."
Yapping
verbTalking too much, often endearingly. A "yapper" is your chatty friend.
→"Sorry for yapping, anyway —"
Glazing
verbExcessive praise; sucking up. Implies the praise is unearned.
→"Stop glazing him, the film was fine."
Sending me
phr.Making me laugh hard. As if the laughter physically launches you.
→"That clip is sending me."
Crashing out
verbLosing composure. Melting down — emotionally, publicly, or both.
→"I'm crashing out over this finale."
Locked in
adj.Fully focused. The opposite of distracted.
→"Deadline tomorrow — I'm locked in."
The ick
nounA sudden, irrational revulsion at someone you previously fancied.
→"He chewed weirdly and I caught the ick."
Pookie / Bestie
nounAffectionate, slightly ironic terms used for almost anyone.
→"Pookie, you have to watch this."