From “LOL” to “cooked,” it’s giving language barrier

Lynzy Valles

Scroll through social media such as Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, or X long enough, and you’ll notice something interesting: Gen Z and Gen Alpha aren’t just speaking differently – they’re building an entirely new digital dialect.

Words like “rizz,” “mid,” “cooked,” “based,” “stay based,” “chat,” and “no cap” are everywhere.

“Rizz” means charisma – the Oxford University Press Word of the Year in 2023.
“Mid” means average. “Cooked” means finished, overwhelmed, or doomed.
“Stay based” means keep being yourself; “chat” is a phrase often used by streamers referring to the live audience watching, while “no cap” means no lie.

I recently hopped onto a bus full of high school students and heard them communicating effortlessly in this language. It sounds almost like a second language they all share.

In many ways, it resembles foreign students in Chinese schools who are fluent in Cantonese and often switch between Cantonese, English, and “Chinglish” depending on context.

But here, there is an added layer – digital slang that becomes part of their everyday fluency, blending naturally into how they speak online and offline.

To those fluent in it, it comes naturally.
But to anyone slightly outside the loop (from Boomers to Millennials), it can feel like stepping into a conversation mid-sentence in a foreign language.

Can this be a growing generational barrier in how we communicate online?

Every generation has had its own slang. Boomers had “groovy” and “far out.” Millennials had “lit,” “on fleek,” and the eternal, and most famous, “LOL.”

Even older generations likely had their own shorthand expressions that confused outsiders. So in that sense, Gen Z and Gen Alpha are simply continuing a long tradition of linguistic reinvention.

But what makes today different is the speed and scale of digital amplification.

Slang no longer develops slowly within neighborhoods or schools, but is born, goes viral, and becomes global within days – sometimes within just hours.

A single TikTok creator – even without intention – can coin a phrase that millions adopt overnight.

We’re all aware that this isn’t entirely new.

Every era has had its “code words” that signal belonging.

Hence, Gen Z slang today feels like the equivalent of older generations saying “duh,” “bummer,” “totally,” and “so extra.” Ring a bell?

What we can see is that words are no longer rooted in local context for years before evolving. Rather, they are constantly reshaped in real time by trends, algorithms, and online communities that may never meet in person.

Slang today feels less like a stable cultural expression and more like an ever-changing stream, influenced by what is trending and how influential the creator behind it is.

In a time when the world is more connected than ever, is it not ironic that we may all be online together, but we are not always speaking the same language?

Meaning is not always shared the same way anymore. It depends on when and where you see it, and who you’re talking to online. The same words can feel familiar to some people, but completely confusing to others, even in the same moment.

For now, no cap, language is always evolving, and some of us are just still catching up. That’s the tea.

One day you’re fluent, next day you’re mid in the convo.

Either way, stay based, and don’t get cooked.
Later, chat!