Once you finally discover what Gen Zers mean when they exclaim “Slay!” every third sentence, Gen Alpha has arrived to make you feel even older. Gen Alpha is the official title for those born between 2010 and 2023, and the most senior have just become teenagers.
In a new TikTok video seen over 5.4 million times, Nicole Pellegrino, a Millennial-aged director of TikTok strategy for a media company, attempts to communicate with her Gen Alpha sister Simone, and bestie, using slang that she has no idea is “out.”
“I can’t say, like, ‘That’s a slay’?” Pellegrino asks.
“It’s not even funny how ‘out’ slay is,” Simone replies.
WARNING: Video has adult language.
@nicolepellegrin0 Why did noone tell me slay is out #genalpha #genalphatok #genalphaslang
In the video, Pellegrino is most confused by the term GYAT (which not everyone agrees is an acronym). “What on Earth is a GYAT? A yacht?” Pellegrino asked. The Gen Alpha girls couldn’t believe that she had no idea what the acronym meant.
According to the girls, GYAT is a way to compliment someone who has a nice butt. It stands for Girl Your A** Is Thick. “If you have a BBL or if your butt shakes when you walk, that’s when you would yell GYAT at somebody,” Simone clarified.
The language lesson caught many older people off guard who weren’t ready for another generation to crop up and confuse them. “I’m still trying to learn all the Gen Z slang and now there’s Gen Alpha slang too. Man, I am so old!” Jwoo991 wrote in the comments. “Why are Gen Alpha like fully formed beings? I thought they were still babies,” India added.
@nicolepellegrin0 Replying to @hollymadison Gen Alpha’s out here using Siri to write essays 😹 #genalpha #genalphaslang