Wapo express typo4/2/2023 ![]() They’re just new slang words I never learned.Society of Illustrators NY Gold Medalist Victo Ngai 倪傳婧 is a Los Angeles based illustrator from Hong Kong, graduated from Rhode Island School of Design. So, I am regularly DMing people who put things in our Slack channel because I literally am like, “Is that a typo?” I’ve learned so many words that are like not typos. So, the misunderstanding of what something means could cause some problems if people aren’t asking the right questions.Īdams: What about you when you’re communicating in the workplace? Have you ever had any generational faux pas?Ībril: Unfortunately, for me, even though I am also a millennial, I tend to be on the side that doesn’t understand things. And you can imagine, in a workplace, if that emoji gets sent to somebody in a judgmental fashion and the coworker receiving the emoji sees it as a kiss, that could raise some HR concerns. But to a lot of Gen Zers, several we spoke to said that specifically the one with the eyes open, who’s pursuing the lips, that’s sort of like a cheeky, judgmental pursing of the lips, like “I told you so,” versus a kiss. To me, no matter which pursed lips emoji you’re using, if it has a pursed lips, to me, that means it’s a kiss. So this one was interesting to me too because I didn’t actually know this interpretation until doing the story. ![]() ![]() One of the examples I came across was of the different interpretations of the pursed lips emoji.Ībril: Right. So, it’s actually a positive emoji.Īdams: And I mean, we’re having this lighthearted conversation, but it really can, you know, potentially cause some problems in the workplace. Gen Z sees it as, “I’m dead.” I died of laughter. Versus, this is awful, this is death or destruction, or any kind of negative connotation we might think of it as. So, using maybe less of those terms in the workplace so that they don’t have to explain themselves, or - if they use those terms - being aware that they may have to do a little explaining on why they’re reacting with a skull.Īdams: And just to be clear, the skull means someone is laughing so hard, they’re dead.Ībril: Exactly. For some Gen Zers, what it’s looked like is code-switching. So, for the older generations, that might look like asking questions when you get that “slay.” Sure, there may be a little bit of poking fun, a little laughter, but it helps open the communication and helps people understand each other. So, somebody might say, “Hey, we landed a big account today.” And a Gen Z person might react with “slay,” as in “great job.” But to people who aren’t used to seeing it just as a one-word reaction, they’re not really sure what that means.Īdams: To steal some Gen Z terminology, this whole conversation of even dissecting the way that Gen Z speaks in the workplace feels a little “cringe.” And I wonder where the onus is to adapt to language in the workplace? Whose responsibility is it to cross this verbal and textual divide?Ībril: The truth of the matter is the onus is on everyone. Arguably, this goes back to Black communities and LGBTQ+ communities, but the way that Gen Z uses it is in a way to express, “good job.” They’ll just use it in one word. So, Gen Z regularly uses the word “slay.” Now, they didn’t come up with this term. Kimberly Adams: Can you give a couple of examples of slang terms or emojis that Gen Zers are using that maybe confuses the rest of us?ĭanielle Abril: Absolutely. The following is an edited transcript of their conversation. Abril spoke with “Marketplace” host Kimberly Adams about how the generational language can cause confusion and sometimes discomfort. Thankfully, Danielle Abril of The Washington Post reported on how Gen Z communicates and what those words and emojis actually mean. ![]() Or worse yet, their meaning might be misinterpreted. But for older colleagues not keeping up with the latest trends, those phrases might just fly over their heads. ‘Slay,’ ‘I’m dead’ and ‘yass queen’ are just a few phrases that Gen Z have snuck into the workplace. ![]()
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