Michael Knowles is a master of both no words and words, but how does he stack up when it comes to new words? There are so many new ZOOMER words, from "yeet" to "shook", can Michael guess what these new words mean? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
| Time | Text |
|---|---|
| I care a lot about language. | |
| I think language is the main way that the left has upended our culture. | |
| I think we've got to be very careful. | |
| Do we call a man a he or a she or a this or a that? | |
| So I want to focus in on a subset of language right now that is bringing up a lot of confusion. | |
| That would be Zoomer lingo. | |
| So lingo of the generation just below mine, Gen Z, the Zoomers. | |
| My producers have compiled a list of Zoomer terms. | |
| They want to see if I can define those terms, if I know what they are, if I know how to use them in a sentence. | |
| Let's analyze some Zoomer speech. | |
| First word. | |
| Yeet. | |
| Hey, Tara, you want some? | |
| What the f***? | |
| I've heard this word. | |
| I've heard yeet. | |
| I imagine that yeet is just a sort of primal cry, like the scream of some pre-civilized savage. | |
| Yeet! | |
| Yeet! | |
| But I, so, I don't, like, I think it has the same meaning as like, uh, or like, boo, you know, or something like that. | |
| I think it is an expression of irrational will and desire. | |
| Am I right? | |
| Oh, yeah, kid. | |
| Nice. | |
| Yeet is an exclamation of excitement, approval, surprise, or all-around energy, often as issued when doing a dance move or throwing something. | |
| Amazing. | |
| Alright, we're off to a good start here. | |
| This is great. | |
| Simp. | |
| Oh, a simp is a pathetic guy who's just trying to get a woman to like him by being like really weak and like a big wuss. | |
| Simp! | |
| When instead what he should do is be a big Chad, like a cool Chad confident guy who just doesn't try to suck up to the woman all the time and then paradoxically or counterintuitively perhaps that actually will get the woman to like him. | |
| Simp is a slang insult for men who are seen as too attentive and submissive to women, especially out of a failed hope of winning some entitled sexual attraction or activity from them. | |
| Nice. | |
| Man, this is... | |
| I'm such a zoomer. | |
| I'm so hip to the jive. | |
| Oh, Stuartis, I speak jive. | |
| Steez. | |
| Steez. | |
| I've never even heard this one. | |
| Steez. | |
| Uh... | |
| Steez. | |
| Like... | |
| Like, uh... | |
| I don't know. | |
| It's a unique personal style pulled off with ease. | |
| For example, you seeing this steeze? | |
| I'm gonna start using that. | |
| Yo, you seeing this steeze right now? | |
| No cap. | |
| No cap. | |
| Is it like, you know, back when I was a youth, you'd like bust a cap. | |
| That would be something that we would often do roaming the streets at night. | |
| Good gracious! | |
| I should bust a cap in your ass. | |
| So I don't know if this cap would refer to that cap. | |
| Or like no capitalism? | |
| Because they are kind of commies, right? | |
| A lot of those Zoomers are commies. | |
| Like an ANCAP is an anarcho-capitalist. | |
| No cap, like there's no top, like there's no limit to whatever activity is going on. | |
| I'm going to say that. | |
| I'm going to say no cap is like limitless. | |
| The limit does not exist. | |
| The expression no-cap is slang for no lie or for real, often used to emphasize someone is not exaggerating about something hard to believe. | |
| So, I guess I don't get this one right. | |
| No s***! | |
| Okay, alright, fine. | |
| I don't have the producers say that I don't. | |
| Stan. | |
| Oh, a stan is like a supporter of something or a fan of something or someone that will stand by someone or something else. | |
| Yes, I wrote you, but you still ain't calling me. | |
| Stan is slang for someone who's a very zealous fan, especially of a celebrity or music group. | |
| Stan can also be a verb for liking something a great deal. | |
| Right, like we stan this or that. | |
| Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's skincare routine has arrived! | |
| So, what am I? I'm three and two right now? | |
| I've still gotten most of these right. | |
| This is good. | |
| Pull up. | |
| This is a trick question. | |
| Is this that... | |
| You know, pull-ups, that was the only thing I could do in gym class because I was thin. | |
| So it's like, you know, but I couldn't do, you know, I'd always be picked last for various sorts of athletic endeavors. | |
| Pull-up. | |
| Is it when you lift your body using your arms on a bar? | |
| It's an invitation to come over. | |
| Pull-up like, huh, well, I've never heard that. | |
| Maybe it's because I've never been invited to come over. | |
| Okay, I'm... | |
| Sus. | |
| Sus, I imagine, is short for suspect. | |
| I have seen this. | |
| I think it's an expression of skepticism or, you know, that some sort of endeavor or person is of a dubious nature. | |
| Boy, this is worse than a time I was sus. | |
| Giving the impression that something is questionable or dishonest and suspicious. | |
| Okay, all right. | |
| Still doing pretty well here. | |
| I'm feeling pretty safe in my ability to understand the majority of Zoomer lingo. | |
| Addy. | |
| An Addy. | |
| Give me your Addy. | |
| So I think it refers to an address, but I think it's more a virtual address than a mailing address. | |
| I don't think it's like, give me your Addy. | |
| It's like 523 Smith Street or whatever. | |
| I think it's like, give me your profile or your email address. | |
| There it is, yeah, an address, especially an email address, okay? | |
| Next up, snatched. | |
| Is this like a sex thing? | |
| Snatched. | |
| I assume, like, taken? | |
| Like, I snatched your lady? | |
| In drag slang, snat, drag like a transvestite? | |
| Yep. | |
| Okay, so in sort of transvestite slang, snatched is fierce or on point. | |
| That is to say excellent, especially when it comes to personal appearance. | |
| So I got that one wrong. | |
| I guess it is a weird sex thing, like I said. | |
| You really snatched my weave? | |
| A wig. | |
| So this could be, is it like, is it a slur for white people referring to a slur for black people? | |
| Because that was one when I was a kid. | |
| Or is it just like a fake hair that you put on your head? | |
| I'm going to say either of those two things. | |
| Either one, I'm right. | |
| Wig is a slang term that means amazing. | |
| Okay. | |
| Incredible or awesome. | |
| It is typically reserved for when someone is surprised by something in a really good way. | |
| So like, wig! | |
| Oh, that's wig. | |
| Did you just say wig? | |
| Yes. | |
| I know. | |
| Wig. | |
| I feel that already. | |
| Bet? | |
| Bet is now a slang term? | |
| Well, it obviously isn't to gamble, because if it were to gamble, it wouldn't be Zoomer slang. | |
| That's just what the word means. | |
| Like, bet like better? | |
| Like you better? | |
| I'm going to say it's sort of, in some way, an abbreviation or an allusion to betterment. | |
| Bet is a slang term of affirmation, agreement, or approval along the lines of cool or I'm down. | |
| It can also suggest doubt... | |
| Okay, hold on. | |
| So I think I, like, I thought I kind of was in the ballpark on the first one, but then it says it can also suggest doubt or disbelief. | |
| Like, yeah, sure. | |
| So it expresses affirmation and doubt. | |
| And I guess it relates both to betterment, like, yes, this is better, this is okay, sure. | |
| But also to bet, like, you bet, right? | |
| Okay. | |
| So it just means, it's just one of those words that means everything. | |
| Bet. | |
| Bet. | |
| I knew that. | |
| Slow it down. | |
| I'm going to take, I want to take that one as a winner. | |
| Fine. | |
| Shook. | |
| Shook or shooketh. | |
| Shook means I'm... | |
| I have heard this before. | |
| I believe it means I'm really taken aback. | |
| I am befuddled. | |
| My beliefs have been shaken. | |
| The fundament of my very person has been upset and has been unsettled. | |
| That's what I'm going to say. | |
| Shook is the past tense of the form shake, used a slang term to describe feelings ranging from discapopulation and fear to rage and delation, kind of like I'm all shaken up. | |
| Yeah, great. | |
| TFW, that feel when. | |
| It's that feel when. | |
| You know that Zoomer lingo real good. | |
| TFW or that feel when. | |
| Yeah, that's right. | |
| That feel. | |
| Man, I'm such a zoomer. | |
| I'm so keen. | |
| I'm so keen and hip and cool and jive. | |
| It's like he's trying to speak to me. | |
| I know it! | |
| That feel when is an expression that people use to frame their statement and express their emotions. | |
| These can range from relatable to not-so-relatable situations. | |
| It places an emphasis on the emotional content of the sentence. | |
| Typically, it can be used to highlight awkward, ridiculous, uncomfortable, annoying, or odd things that happen to someone. | |
| That feel when you find out Knowles is just a total cool hip jive zoomer. | |
| Okay, that's the next one. | |
| Is that how I... I guess they have a pronunciation guide. | |
| Like, I suppose it's an expression of disapproval. | |
| Like, no, I'm crestfallen. | |
| That's what I'm going to say. | |
| It's an expression of disapproval. | |
| Is an interjection used to convey surprise, happiness, and other intense emotions. | |
| It's stereotyped as an overused expression of VSCO girls on social media. | |
| I need a further Zoomer dictionary to know what a VSCO girl. | |
| Maybe I don't want it now. | |
| It's a photo editing app, apparently, my producers tell me. | |
| Okay. | |
| I'm like a BMP boy. | |
| You know, bitmap. | |
| That's what us millennials are like. | |
| So do I get credit for that? | |
| Because it says surprise, happiness, or other intense emotions, one of which presumably could be disapproval. | |
| Do I get credit? | |
| Nope. | |
| Alright, the judges say no. | |
| That's fine. | |
| Okay, which of these terms will be here to stay, and which term should never be used again? | |
| Well, sk-sk-sk-sk should not be used again, because it's very hard to pronounce in English. | |
| So that one's out forever. | |
| Which one is going to be around to stay? | |
| The thing about... | |
| What's the point of slang is that the entire point of slang is to be obscure and not able to be understood by older people. | |
| It's specifically in language, in group language. | |
| So the whole point is that I shouldn't know Zoomer slang. | |
| Actually, the fact that I do means that some of the slang is not very effective to keep out the millennials such as myself. | |
| Which is more likely to be around forever, though? | |
| I guess shook. | |
| Shook is probably going to be around for a little longer because it derives from an actual word, like shaken up. | |
| Whereas, you know, yeet, I don't think that one's long for this world. | |
| Or like, simp is... | |
| But simp is confusing because it's like you're a simpleton, it could be. | |
| You know, he's a bit simple or something. | |
| So it doesn't... | |
| Like the... | |
| Obviously, the phenomena that all of these words describe, those are going to be around forever. | |
| But in order to subvert the culture and in order to evade being understood, the lingo is going to change. | |
| I think with the exception of Shook. | |
| You dig? | |
| You dig jive turkeys? | |
| Let me know some of your cool hip lingo in the... | |
| You hip cats. | |
| How do you do, fellow kids? | |
| Hey, man. |