By Dr. A.R. Khan
The Unspoken Truth of the Classroom
For decades, my career—from the esteemed halls of Delhi University to the intense coaching rooms for the UPSC Civil Services Examination—has been dedicated to the power of language.
As an instructor guiding aspirants through General Studies and Essay writing, I focus on precision, nuance, and the commanding rhetoric of formal English. I teach the language of diplomacy, governance, and history.
Yet, lately, I’ve encountered a linguistic challenge far more complex than a constitutional amendment or a global economic trend: the rapidly evolving dialect of my own students. The moment these brilliant Millennials and Gen Z aspirants open their mouths, I often find myself searching for a linguistic foothold. They speak a constantly updating lexicon forged in the digital age, a speed of evolution that makes the study of Old English seem straightforward. It is, to put it mildly, quite a struggle.
Decoding the Digital Dialect: Moments of Ignorance
I maintain that the English language is a living entity, constantly adapting. But my practical knowledge of its current evolutionary phase has been tested severely in recent coaching sessions. The problem isn't their intelligence; it's their efficiency. They use single terms to convey complex ideas that would take a traditional essay paragraph to articulate.
I recall a particularly humbling moment while reviewing a practice essay on judicial appointments. One student wrote a beautifully structured argument but concluded a paragraph with a casual comment to me: "Sir, honestly, the old system was just straight up cheugy."
Cheugy? I frowned, my professorial authority momentarily punctured. I immediately thought of an obscure legal term or perhaps a typo. I asked him to clarify the foreign term. He looked at me with genuine bewilderment, as if I had just failed a basic comprehension test. Later, I discovered cheugy meant something akin to basic, outdated, or trying too hard—a Millennial aesthetic flaw now critiqued by Gen Z. The struggle was real: my formal vocabulary had no equivalent for that single, loaded word.
The Case of the Recursive Short Form
The rise of instant messaging has introduced an entirely new challenge: the language of pure abbreviation. I often receive WhatsApp messages from students, which I treat with the same seriousness as formal communication. One morning, a student messaged me with an urgent query that read: "SRY, TTYS, OOMF said the deadline is TBA. SMH."
I sat there, staring at the screen, feeling utterly defeated. My trusted, leather-bound dictionary—the one that guided me through my PhD and the last four decades of teaching—was entirely useless. I could deduce "SRY" meant sorry, but the rest was gibberish. I had to text a younger colleague for translation: Talk To You Soon, One Of My Followers, To Be Announced, Shaking My Head.
I decided to address this with the student directly, urging him to use clear English, especially when dealing with critical UPSC deadlines. He listened respectfully and replied immediately with a text that perfectly illustrated the generational gap: "AFAIK, my writing is LMAO. TTYL, HRU?"
The entire group of aspirants laughed when I recounted the exchange, realizing I had just been told: As Far As I Know, my writing is Laughing My A** Off. Talk To You Later, How Are You? My stern academic warning had been met with a cheerful, recursive flurry of abbreviations. It became clear that in the digital domain, efficiency trumps clarity for this generation, and the speed of their slang is designed to resist traditional translation.
The Portmanteau: Efficiency in Evolution
This linguistic phenomenon is not arbitrary; it’s following established rules of word creation, particularly the portmanteau, or the blending of two distinct words. We know smog (smoke + fog); they master the modern blends: hangry (hungry + angry), frenemy (friend + enemy), or glamping (glamorous + camping). These are words of necessity and efficiency.
User Manual for the Practicing Teacher: Gen Z & Millennial Lexicon
The core challenge lies in the sheer volume of single-word or short-phrase abstractions that demand immediate contextual comprehension. This glossary is my personal survival kit—a decoding manual for colleagues and parents alike.
| Modern Word/Phrase | Generation | Meaning and Context |
| Slay | Gen Z | To succeed impressively; to look stunning or be excellent. |
| No Cap / Cap | Gen Z | No Cap = No lie; seriously; truth. Cap = A lie |
| Bet | Gen Z | Agreement or affirmation; "Yes," or "I accept that challenge." |
| Cringe | Gen Z | Embarrassing or awkward behavior. Used as an adjective or verb. |
| Cheugy | Gen Z | Outdated, basic, or trying too hard (usually applied to Millennial trends). |
| The Goat | Gen Z | Acronym for Greatest Of All Time. |
| Vibe Check | Gen Z | A test of someone's mood or general feeling; a quick reality assessment. |
| Rizz | Gen Z | Short for charisma; romantic appeal or charm. |
| It's Giving | Gen Z | An expression describing the general feeling, impression, or aesthetic. Example: "It's giving 19th-century academic." |
| Periodt | Gen Z | Used to emphasize the end of a statement; a definitive final word. |
| Main Character | Gen Z | A person who acts like their life is the focus of attention. |
| Sus | Gen Z | Short for suspect or suspicious. |
| Spill the Tea | Millennial | To share gossip or important information. |
| I can't | Millennial | An expression of being overwhelmed, often by laughter or disbelief. |
| Ghosting | Millennial | Suddenly ending all communication without explanation. |
| A whole mood | Millennial | Something that perfectly describes a particular feeling or situation. |
| Finesse | Millennial | To handle a situation smoothly or skillfully, often involving a subtle manipulation. |
| Extra | Millennial | Overly dramatic or excessive behavior. |
| Woke | Millennial | Alert to injustice in society (often used ironically or critically by Gen Z). |
| Simp | Gen Z | A person who is overly eager to please someone they are romantically interested in. |
| Sending Me | Gen Z | An expression that means something is hilarious or shocking. Example: "That meme is sending me." |
| Fire | General | Excellent, amazing, or impressive. |
Millennial Abbreviations and Acronyms
Millennials paved the way with efficient initialisms, many of which still persist, particularly in casual professional communication.
- FOMO: Fear Of Missing Out.
- YOLO: You Only Live Once.
- TBT: ThrowBack Thursday (Used for nostalgic social media posts).
- IDC: I Don't Care.
- SMH: Shaking My Head (Expressing disapproval or disbelief).
- FTW: For The Win (Expressing enthusiasm or success).
- IMHO/IMO: In My Humble Opinion / In My Opinion.
A Final Thought on Contact Metamorphosis
The linguistic struggle is real, but it is ultimately a beneficial one. These young minds are compressing complex thoughts into highly efficient linguistic units, creating a language of speed and immediate impact essential for the digital domain. While my essay students must master the stately pace of formal English to pass the Civil Services Examination, their spontaneous language reveals a powerful, creative mastery of communication.
I confess that after spending years immersed in their language, I am undergoing a slow contact metamorphosis. I may never achieve peak rizz, and I probably still look cheugy when I wear my reading glasses, but my vocabulary is expanding. My perspective is shifting. I now understand that their language is not a dismantling of English; it’s a hyper-efficient upgrade. Honestly, their ability to coin a term like "vibe check" is fire. They are constantly slaying the linguistic game, and their efficiency is next-level. I see it now: the future of communication is here, and it's sending me. This whole experience is a whole mood, no cap.
