Parenting Teens: Culture and Slang

Words of Todays Teens

KIDGUARD EDITOR

Understanding your teenager is never an easy task. Teenagers are never

easy to handle, and with the slang among them constantly changing, it can be
difficult to keep up. The cultural aspect of teenagers has a lot to do with their
slang, so knowing which slang means what will help you get a better insight
into what theyre saying and to whom theyre saying it to.

Weve got a lot of ground to cover here, so get a drink, get comfortable, and
lets get to it!

The Latest Teen Slang in 2017

To make this easier to read for you, were going to lay it all out in bullet points
with their names, descriptions, etc.

The Plug Whether it be for the latest clothing store or a pot dealer, The
Plug is where teens are going for certain things and using this term to avoid
using the name. If you hear or see your teenager using this slang, ask them
to elaborate on where exactly it is. Its also used for social media products,
such as FitTea, for example. However, keep in mind that this term is not a
new one, its, in fact, an old one, but has become increasingly popular to use
these days.

Finessed If you hear your teenager saying something along the lines of,
yeah, I totally finessed it off of her, then what he or she is really saying is,
yeah, I totally stole it off of her. This term is used for a few other things, but
its mostly used for stealing, so be careful and talk to your teenager if you
ever hear or see them say it.

Extra While this may sound like something youll understand right off the
bat, youd be surprised how many parents are misunderstanding the meaning
when their teens are saying it. For example, she was being so extra today,
translates into, she was being so intense today.

Ratchet If your child ever calls you this, take offense to it. Why? Because
this term is used to describe something or someone that is gross, ghetto, you
name it. While this is an old term as well, its used popularly today, so we had
to include it.

Memes Funny pictures (see left for example) are no longer called funny
pictures. Instead, theyre called memes, which is pronounced me-m-s, not
mee-mee-s. If youve seen a picture about Harambe the gorilla then youve
seen a meme.
Respek It means exactly what it looks like, as in respect. This came from
a rapper who demanded that somebody put respek on his name and now
teenagers are all over it. We dont understand, either!

Dead No, nobodys died, its just teenagers saying that something was
incredibly hilarious. This one is harmless. For example, yeah, I saw the
picture, I was dead.

Lowkey Heres a favorite of teenagers! Remember the slang on the down

low? Well, lowkey is the new that, so if you hear your teenager saying
something like, yeah, Im going there later, but be lowkey, or, when is it
lowkey coming? I have to go there, then you should really ask them to
elaborate on it.

Sus Another incredibly stupid one, but were going to include it anyway.
Sus basically means suspicious. For example, why is he acting so sus?,
or the more popular, why is he sussing so much?. Its practically fussing
but switched around. Once again, we dont understand either.

Why You Need to Understand All of This

While some of these terms and slang are old, theyre circulating once again
and coming back into play alongside the newer ones. Because social media
is a big part of our lives today, especially your teenagers, their speech and
behavior is very much influenced and affected by interactions between online
friends.

When it comes to understanding why your teens are acting the way that they
do, you as the parent need to realize that its because of online influences.
For example, your daughter is following Kylie Jenner on Instagram, and then
a week later she wants bigger lips. See how fast things escalate?

So What Can You Do?

The bottom line here is that keeping on eye on the most recent slang,
whether it was used 5 years or 5 minutes ago, and understanding what they
all mean is a great way to monitor your teen without being too invasive. They
seem to assume that adults have no idea what theyre saying. Remember,
online influences are generally where this stems from.

About Us

KidGuard's sole mission is to protect your children online. Our team spends every
waking hour thinking about how to bring awareness and inspire solutions on issues
of cyber bullying, online predators, teen suicide, and childhood depression in the age
of technology. KidGuard employs a team of researchers and writers to educate
parents on solutions to digital parenting problems and also runs a popular child cell
phone monitoring software to allow parents to stay involved in their child's life
online.

Visit us at https://www.kidguard.com/cell-phone-monitoring-and-gps-tracking/ for

more ways you can understand the online world of your child.