Teen-Speak Translation Thread 2021

[SlightlyJaded]

We haven't had one of these in a while.

I have DC 13 and 15 and we are in a very 'naice' part of London. No matter - they think they are gansta, so I make it my business to try and keep on top of their roadman chat. Some of the ones below have been around for a couple off years and seem to be on the way out but I've tried to include every ridiculous turn of phrase I've heard in the last six months.

PLEASE ADD MORE . We can then collectively become fluent in Teenspeak

Leng: Derivative of ‘Peng’ – same meaning of really attractive/nice/fit

Say Less Understood / Great – you don’t need to say another word. I get it and it’s good.

Drip: Money/Flash/Rich/Expensive. Your trainers are Drip! Check my Drip

Peak: Still very much in evidence – meaning rubbish/awful. Bare Peak is REALLY rubbish.

Lit: On it’s way out I think, but meaning ‘banging/good’. The party was Lit

G-Dot – to do something stupid – esp whilst drunk or high

Link: To get with someone of the opposite sex but not be officially boyfriend/girlfriend ‘Nah blud, we’re just linking” or on social media "Link me!" to someone you like.

Ends: Local area. “Come to my Ends”

Wavey: Drunk or high on drugs

Reh teh teh Blah blah blah or etc

Dench: Derivative of Hench. To describe someone who is bulked out or muscly from gym/training

Piff: On it’s way out I think but to describe someone who is attractive. Gal was a piff ting.

Clapped: Still very much in use to describe something ugly or un-attractive.

Thirsty: Used to describe someone who is desperate for attention

Rents: Parents

Next man Someone irrelevant – said with derision

G/My G Still very much in use. Shortening of the word Gangster. Often used my middle class white kids (as is most of this to be fair)

Lad: Well liked male. A comment saying ‘Lad’ under a post on social media would be a compliment suggesting the male in the photo is popular and well liked.

Motive: A meeting of lots of people/gathering/party

Gath: More informal/smaller gathering of people to get high /drunk

Free Yard Empty House. ‘Come my ends, I got a free yard’

Beef: Ongoing argument. “They’ve been in beef for ages” or "I don't have beef with you"

Finesse: To steal or take advantage. Can be applied to a person. “She finessed my boyfriend”

Ping: To take ecstasy

Bait: VARIOUS MEANINGS 1.to expose someone/reveal a secret/snitch

1. To be clumsy or stupid. “Don’t be bait, my dad will hear us”
2. When something is a bit naff or a cliché. “He’s so bait dressed in head to toe North Face”

Gassed: Still in use to mean happy or excited

Air: Ignore - especially on social. "He's airing me"

Flipping: Selling or dealing anything

Trapping: Selling Drugs. See also ‘Trap House’ – the place where you can buy drugs

Jarring: Annoying

Deep: Serious. Grave. To overthink or be unkind to someone. ‘Don’t deep it, she is ok”. "Don't deep it" meaning - it's not serious

Calm: Nice, relaxed good. Also can be used to describe the state of a friendship or relationship “Don’t worry, we’re calm”.

Allow it On it’s way out but means ‘stop it/let it go’

Motive - more general than you’ve said. You can write ‘give me a motive (to go out)’ on snap (Snapchat) to ask someone to make plans with you.

Prang - it’s drug anxiety, especially on a comedown. You can also use it as a verb, or an adjective.

@sergeilavrov

Ooh you can be thic, but you can also be thicc with two c’s. More c’s implies more bottom - unsure if this pattern is exponential or not. They tell you if there are more c’s. Are there possibly women who are considered ‘thic’ with 5 c’s??

CC looks a little bit like a bottom, so I think you should use two Cs on thicc

I loved using these when I taught and can’t wait for the dc to get old enough to use them so I can see again that amused/horrified grimace that they all do when Miss or Mum uses ‘their’ language..!

Are there possibly women who are considered ‘thic’ with 5 c’s??

Kim Kardashian must be thicccccccccc surely?

My 17yrold says "shush now, allow it fam" every time I tell him he can't do something. I just 🙄

We are in Suffolk

I did spend some time with a teen who said 'man' after every sentence. Urgh.

These are great.
Mine are a bit younger but we get a lot of ‘fam’ and ‘lit’
My 8 year old does a particularly good impression of the Jamaican/cockney accent mentioned above which is pretty funny because we live in a rural village in the north. I think he’s heard it from his football friends.

Tea: “share the tea/spill the tea” the act of gossiping.

AHH that's makes sense now. I overheard my son say "T me" the other day and wondered what he meant.

Ooh I was just going to add Tea. I’m not sure if it is Tea, though, or just T.

I’ve heard a few of these as I have a (white, middle class) teenager. I can also add “That’s long, fam”, which translates as “That is an effort I am unwilling to make.”.

Very useful translation OP, thanks. I might start using these myself to wind them up.

Dos seems to say Get in there lad when one of his friends does something good.

Dd “ships” people or characters from comics/TV series.

They can’t cope when you use them though
You tilt their world upside down

Peng is no longer cool according to my Year 11s. It shows you is old innit.

West is a word here that has started to be used as in 'that's West' meaning a bit crazy (from Kanye West).

Not quite the same but I was speaking in a professional context to a 20 y o woman the other day about something that had happened and couldn’t be changed: I said ‘it is what it is’. She then fell about laughing and said that she couldn’t believe someone of my age would say that, it’s a young person’s expression and asked if I lived with any young people.

I was flummoxed (bare flummoxed probably)

@PastMyBestBeforeDate mine all say Pog!

I love learning these new words then embarrassing the kids by using them in the totally wrong context 🤣

They especially love it when I say “yeet” 🤣

@TigerDroveAgain

Not quite the same but I was speaking in a professional context to a 20 y o woman the other day about something that had happened and couldn’t be changed: I said ‘it is what it is’. She then fell about laughing and said that she couldn’t believe someone of my age would say that, it’s a young person’s expression and asked if I lived with any young people.

I was flummoxed (bare flummoxed probably)

I’m 46 and have always said that.

@BaublesAndBawbags

Love this. The weird correlation is that the more I hear this sort of language, the more compelled I feel to use words like 'snazzy' and 'with it', even though they're the kind of thing my mum would have said...

I love snazzy I’m going to resurrect it for 2021 and refer to as many things as possible in my kids presence. See also With it and funky

@makemyweek

Yes to 'pog' too and it's derivatives 'poggers' and 'poggies', all meaning good.

Mine say "poggers" all the time. It drives me crazy!

I have heard the following (from teenage DC):

Peng
Leng
Beef
Pog (indeed one of my DC's nickname is Poggers)
BTEC (meaning second rate) but that might just be used by my DC.

I know 'my bad' isn't the same but it's an annoying phrase that suddenly seems to have become mainstream.

"Dench: Derivative of Hench. To describe someone who is bulked out or muscly from gym/training"

@DuckonaBike

Ooh I was just going to add Tea. I’m not sure if it is Tea, though, or just T.

I’ve heard a few of these as I have a (white, middle class) teenager. I can also add “That’s long, fam”, which translates as “That is an effort I am unwilling to make.”.

Very useful translation OP, thanks. I might start using these myself to wind them up.

T - I think it's just T. Short for 'talk'. So share the T. Share what everyone is talking about

@NewModelArmyMayhem18. Mine say BTec for second rate as well. The Nike Puffa was like a BTec North Face.

I heard ‘ends’ for the first time yesterday. I thought he had said ‘Ns’ and took it to mean north london. Thank his I didn’t say what I was thinking which was ‘why just north London?’

Mine use BTEC to mean second rate too.

My dd uses "That's an L" a lot. L is for loss so the phrase means "that sucks"