A parent’s complaint about her Gen Alpha daughter’s use of modern slang has started a huge online discussion about how different generations talk. The frustrated mother went to Reddit’s U.K. version to share her confusion over phrases like “my bad chat” and “so mid,” asking if her child’s words mean she is getting less smart or if language is just changing naturally.
The Reddit post got 6,600 upvotes and 2,300 comments before the mom deleted it. The post showed how parents and their internet-loving children are having trouble understanding each other. The parent wrote that she has “absolutely no idea” what her daughter is saying half the time. She gave examples like when her daughter sends messages that start with “chat I need a bus ticket.” The mother said her daughter told her “it’s because we are chatting,” but the parent said it feels like “walking up to someone and saying Talk before you start your sentence.”
In the now-deleted post titled “Do anyone else’s kids talk like morons?” the upset parent shared how confused she was about words that Gen Alpha kids use all the time. The word “chat” comes from streaming, where people making videos talk to their viewers in chat rooms. Gen Z started using it as a funny way to talk to others even when they were not streaming, and Gen Alpha picked it up fast. The word “mid” is used to say something is average or bad and did not meet what people expected.
Every generation makes its own language, and this time is no different
Reddit users were quick to tell the parent that every generation goes through this same thing. One person quoted The Simpsons character Abraham Simpson, writing “I used to be with it, but then they changed what it is.” Another person pointed out that without these language changes over time, “we wouldde stille speke like yonne,” showing how language always changes. This is not the first time people have been confused by how different generations use words differently, and it shows this happens a lot.
Gen Alpha includes people born between 2010 and 2024. They have grown up totally in the digital world. Their slang comes mostly from apps like TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, and games like Roblox. Research shows that social media has made language change much faster than before, leaving older people more confused than ever. Words that sound like nonsense to parents often have real meanings for young people. For example, “rizz” means charm and “skibidi” is a silly word that can mean almost anything based on how you use it.
The idea has even gotten serious attention. Oxford University Press named “brain rot” as their 2024 Word of the Year. The term talks about what happens when people watch too much low-quality internet content and the slang that comes from it.
Mark McCrindle, who created the name “Gen Alpha,” said in a 2015 talk with The New York Times that this generation has been raised as “screenagers” since they were born, with technology changing how they talk from day one. These fast changes in language have become normal parts of internet culture and things that go viral, where new phrases can spread around the world in just days.
Some people who commented gave helpful tips for dealing with the problem. One person said to use the slang in a funny way to make it uncool, saying “I walk into his room and say ‘good morning ballerina cappucina’ it’s suddenly not cool anymore.”
Another person said to repeat the phrases back “with a mild hint of menace,” which is something moms have done for years. The person who made the original post even said she made up a fake slang word, telling her daughter that “Yak Yak” means “yeah ah know” to see if other kids would start using it.
