The Dummy’s Guide to Australian Youth Slang 2021 – A Comprehensive Glossary of Terms

So, last night I was chatting with my fourteen-year-old daughter and I shamefully misused an expression to describe a cute handbag one of her friends was holding in an Instagram pic. I told my child that I “shipped” her bag, and was promptly schooled on my apparent lack of understanding and utter daggy-ness in general.

Her good-natured scorn was both swift and confident. The kid knew what she was talking about, and I, a fool, did not. Her twelve-year-old brother confirmed her diagnosis that I knew nothing by chiming in with a few lifestyle suggestions of his own.

Realising that I stood before a couple of geniuses in the field, I decided to harness their knowledge for my own personal gain. I had my daughter write a comprehensive list of adolescent colloquialisms, which she typed quickly and gleefully on her phone using only her thumbs and lowercase letters.

Thus, I share with my fellow daggy parents the official dummy’s guide to youth slang. A glossary of terms, if you will, complete with examples of context.

Use them wisely.

bussin – good, but only used in the context of food “this burger is bussin”

drip – jewellery (also known as ice) ?

ship – when you want 2 people to be in a relationship because they’d be cute together

banger – a really good song

slaps – also means a good song “this song slaps”

cap or ? – saying something that’s not true “mans is cappin”

goated – means you’re talented at something “he’s goated at maths”

straight fire – another way to describe a song

sus/sussy – short for suspicious, stems from among us

lit– fun “that sounds lit”

cheugy – out of style, no longer fashionable “those uggs are lowkey cheugy”

lowkey – keep it on the down low

high key – something everyone knows “my hair is high key amazing”

bae – used ironically to a friend “thanks bae” often said quickly

ceo of… – when someone is good at a task “she’s the ceo of falling over”

g – context: “you a real one for that g” short for gangster

fit/fit check– short for outfit, outfit check

glow up – makeover, transformation “they had a total glow up over the holidays”

tea – gossip

bet – challenging someone, short for bet you won’t

heather – perfect girl, popularised by conan grays song entitled heather “shes such a heather”

main character – they’re unique, march to the beat of their own drum “i’m the main character”

pick me girl – a girl who acts different around guys and is often annoying

pick me boy – a boy who tries to make girls feel bad for him and is also annoying

simp – a verb and noun that describes someone that would do anything for their crush “he’s simping for her”

dn – fake disease; means deez nuts “oh he’s sick, he has dn.” “what’s dn?” “deez nuts”

SUBSECTION: ESHAY TERMS

eetswa – sweet or good

adlay – lad used to refer to an acquaintance or friend “oi adlay”

choof – smoke or vape “you got a choof?”

bah – brother or bro

There, now. We’re all goated for having read that list. It will probably be cheugy within a week and a half, but it will be lowkey lit to use in day to day interactions with our main characters while it lasts.

Source: Tenor