Asking Eric: I don’t understand my kid’s new slang terms

Dear Eric: My son has recently started using some slang terms that have me scratching my head – namely “gyat,” “skibidi,” and “sigma.”

As a parent, I want to stay connected and understand the language of his world, but I feel a bit lost in translation. It seems like these words pop up in every conversation, and I can’t help but feel like I’m missing out on an inside joke.

I want to be the cool parent (or at least not the completely clueless one), so I’d love your insight into what these terms mean and how they’re used.

Any guidance you can offer would be greatly appreciated. Understanding these phrases could not only help me connect with my son but also save me from some potentially awkward conversations in the future.

– Curious Parent

Dear Parent: I have thought myself pretty well-versed on contemporary slang, but my eyes started crossing when I read the words in your letter. Guess that ship has sailed for me. Don’t it always seem to go that you don’t know what you got ‘til it’s gone? (How’s that for a “contemporary” reference?)

According to my googling, gyat is an exclamation of surprise, usually regarding someone’s body – not offensive per se, but objectifying. Sigma in slang stands for a lone wolf. And skibidi, which originated in a series of TikTok videos, now joins a long line of neologisms that can mean good, bad or dumb depending on the context.

That said, when it comes to vernacular, googling is never going to be your best option, because this is in-community communication. It’s important for teens to have their own way of communicating as they explore the world and develop taste. Perhaps you used slang that puzzled your parents, too.

You can always ask your kid to explain, but the most important thing is clear communication between parent and child, not the parent being in on the joke.

When I do middle and high school visits for my young adult novel “Kings of B’more,” I tell myself “you get one slang word usage to prove you’re ‘with it’ and then you have to go back to talking the way you talk.” Being thought of as cool is a little bit of a fool’s errand for parents and other adults when coolness, like language itself, is a moving target. That’s OK. You don’t have to be skibidi to be trustworthy or interesting or curious about your kid’s life in a way that respects his sometimes-perplexing autonomy.