Much of the time, language evolves in subtle ways. New words and phrases enter our collective vocabulary through pop culture and current events—like “wardrobe malfunction” or “masking.”
At the same time, terms that have been around for decades or longer can fall out of regular use because they are disrespectful of a particular culture, for example, or describe technology no longer in use (e.g. mimeograph and ditto).
Slang, however, moves at a much faster pace. These casual words and phrases are constantly falling in and out of fashion, with each generation leaving their mark.
Using data from Google Trends and surveying more than 1,000 Americans of varying ages, the team at Preply learned how Baby Boomers, Gen Xers, Millennials, and members of Gen Z used and responded to slang. Here’s what they found.
The most popular slang words for each generation
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According to the Preply survey, these are the slang words that each generation uses the most:
Baby Boomers
Gen X
Millennials
Gen Z
Meanwhile, these are the slang terms each generation would most like to see come back in style:
Baby Boomers
Gen X
Millennials
- Cool cat
- Cowabunga
- Talk to the hand
Gen Z
And these are the slang words they’d most like to adopt into their own vocabulary, along with their where they learn most of these terms:
Baby Boomers
Top source for learning new slang: Younger family members
Gen X
Top source for learning new slang: Younger family members
Millennials
Top source for learning new slang: YouTube
Gen Z
Top source for learning new slang: TikTok
The least popular slang words for each generation
According to the Preply survey, these are the slang words each generation would most like to see to go out of style:
Baby Boomers
Gen X
Millennials
Gen Z
You can read the full survey report here.