Okay, y'all, real talk — my grandson told me something was “bussin'” the other day, and I just nodded along like I knew exactly what he meant. I did not have a clue. Had to call my daughter later and get the whole thing translated, and she laughed at me the same way I used to laugh at my own mother for calling something “the bee's knees.” That's slang for you. It doesn't ask permission before it leaves you in the dust.
What Happened
Every generation's got its own little dictionary, and honestly, it moves faster than any of us can keep up with. Right now the kids are all about “cap” and “no cap” — cap means a lie, no cap means for real — and that's straight out of Black vernacular English, been part of our culture for years before TikTok grabbed it and ran it worldwide. “Bet” is the new “deal” or “I'm with it.” Same story — deep Black roots, now everybody's teenager is saying it.
And then, of course, we've got “OK Boomer.” Y'all remember that one. Two little words that became shorthand for “I'm not listening to you.” It stung a lot of folks, and honestly, I get why — it wasn't really about the words, it was what they were doing. Waving off a whole life of experience like it didn't count for anything.
Why It Still Matters
But here's the thing, and I want you to really sit with this: none of this is new. Every single generation has pulled this exact move on the one before it. Our parents had no idea why we said “cool” instead of “swell.” We had no clue what our own kids meant by “phat” or “the bomb.” Slang has always been young folks' way of putting a fence around their moment and saying, this one's ours. It was never really about the words. It's about claiming a piece of time as your own.
Look, for us grown folks, not understanding the slang can feel like way more than just missing a word. It can feel like somebody shut a door on you. And a lot of this slang — “cap,” “bet,” “finna,” “lit” — didn't just show up out of nowhere. That's Black vernacular English. Our community has carried that language for generations, and now teenagers of every background across the whole country are saying it, most of them with zero idea where it came from. That's worth sitting with for a second.
"Language splits the generations. But curiosity — real, genuine curiosity — can put them back together."
Around the Kitchen Table
I spent my whole career behind a microphone, which means I spent my whole career listening to how people talk, not how some textbook says they should. What I've landed on is this: slang was never really about confusion. It's about connection — it's just pointed in a different direction depending on who's in the room.
Now, I'm not saying you gotta start throwing “no cap” into every sentence to stay cool with your grandkids. What matters more is just staying curious instead of shutting down when you hear a word you don't know. Ask what it means. Let them teach you something for once — Lord knows we've been teaching them their whole lives.
Today on Grown Folks Bizness
So here's what I'm asking: what's a word or phrase from your generation that nobody younger understands anymore? Maybe it's something from your teenage years, something from around the way, something your mama used to say that you haven't heard in forever. Drop it in the comments or call it in for the podcast — I want to hear it, and honestly, some of these young folks reading along could use the history lesson.
Alright, That's the Business
The words keep changing, but the need to be understood never does. I'll catch y'all next time on Grown Folks Bizness.
Got a story about this? Share it with T. Blackmann →