‘Ate and left no crumbs’: Fran Whiting deciphers Gen Z vocab
A Gen X mum shares her love for Gen Z's creative vocabulary, from 'bussin' to 'slay', after eavesdropping on her children's conversations.
Say what you will about gen Z – and plenty of people have plenty to say, not all of it positive – but personally, I think they are amazing.
I am the mother of two gen Zers, so I know those two particular representatives well, but I also know their friends, for whom I am a part-time Uber driver.
And as I eavesdrop on their many, many conversations – either from the front of the car/glass against my daughter’s bedroom door – I am always impressed by what I hear. And one thing I really love about this generation is their language.
Every generation has their own way of speaking, but I have to say that I think gen Z’s is the most creative of all.
Here follows a small sample of how gen Zs – just like gen Xs, millennials and Boomers before them – have created their own language which is magnificent both in its originality and quirkiness.
It’s giving: This describes the vibe of what someone is wearing or how they are presenting themselves. A gen Zer might look at an outfit and say: “It’s giving first day of the summer holidays”, or in my case they might say: “It’s giving menopausal woman on the edge of a nervous breakdown, who really just does not care anymore.”
Ate and left no crumbs: This means someone has done really, really well at something. It can be applied to just about any situation from putting together an outfit, calling someone out for bad behaviour, or absolutely killing it in an exam. As in “How did Kate go in her gymnastics competition?” “She ate and left no crumbs”. Or in my case, it could refer to actually eating an entire cake, and leaving no crumbs.
Basic: A person/outfit/way of dressing that is very mainstream. There’s nothing actually wrong with it, but nothing about it stands out either. Basic means someone who wears very conventional looks like jeans and a nice top whenever they go out. It’s me. Basic is me.
Let them cook/let me cook: This refers to just letting someone do their thing, or asking them to leave you alone. Not giving them “helpful” suggestions or butting in, but just giving people space and trusting in the person’s abilities to pull this thing off. I told you Gen Z is creative. In our day, we would have just said “f —k off”.
Slay/slay the house down boots: My favourite. It combines “slay” which means someone did extremely well at something (i.e. killing it), while “the house down” is a derivative of someone “bringing the house down” in a performance, and you can throw in a “boots” at the end for extra emphasis. It’s probably easiest if I just give you a modern day example. “Did you read Frances Whiting’s latest article?” “Yes, and slay the house down, boots!”
Bussin’: Something that is just really, really good. Now I just rang two friends – and you can tell I’m gen X because I actually did ring them. On the phone. With my actual voice. And I asked them to give me an example of something they thought was bussin’. One said “Jumping into the pool on a really hot day”, but the other one thought for a while, then said “firemen”.
SLAY THE HOUSE DOWN, BOOTS.
