Speak Like A Y: The Latest, Youngest Lingo

Each generation has its own language. The Baby Boomers introduced the concept of cool and numerous variations of the word including fab, far out, groovy, hangin’, hip, keen-o, nifty, and neat.

Each generation has its own language.The Baby Boomers introduced the concept of cool and numerous variations of the word including fab, far out, groovy, hangin’, hip, keen-o, nifty, and neat. The Boomers also introduced several lifestyle terms as the first generation to wear shades and flip flops, get flat tops, scarf food, go cruising, ride shotgun, refer to their parents as the Old Lady and Old Man, and hang out at the passion pit (drive-in).Generation X became enthralled with their own linguistic creativity, introducing phrases like eat my shorts, gag me with a spoon, party hardy, whatever, and don’t have a cow, and popularizing the terms airhead, rad, spazz, cheezy, couch potato, dink (double income no kids), and yuppie.Baby Boomer or Generation X mangers often complain that they just don’t understand the 20-something workers these days with their constant need for praise and their fascination with posting snippets of their lives on YouTube.Perhaps they simply aren’t speaking the same language.Advertising agency Cramer-Krasselt has compiled a 2008 Cultural Dictionary of new words and phrases culled from magazines, Web sites, blogs and conversations. The next time you encounter a member of Generation Y, try incorporating these:Bacn: impersonal e-mails (as annoying as spam) that you have chosen to receive, such as alerts and newsletters.Bershon: that angry/bored/too-cool-to-care look that 12- to 18-year-olds sport in every family photo.Compunicate: to chat with a co-worker when you are in the same room using Instant Messenger instead of speaking to them in person.Cougar: Term that a younger man might use to describe an older female companion or attractive older woman.Defriend: to remove somebody from your established list of contacts, considered the ultimate snub on a social network.Googleganger: A person who shares your name. You find your googleganger by self-googling.Lifestreaming: posting an online record of a person’s daily activities, such as blogs.Meatspace: referring to real life or the physical world and conceived as the opposite of cyberspace or virtual reality.Moofer: derived from the acronym for “mobile out of office.” Someone who abandons their workplace between meetings, taking laptop and Blackberry to the local Starbucks or anyplace else where they can escape the interruption of talkative co-workers.Mouse potato: Someone who spends all their time on the computer surfing the net or playing games. Similar to couch potato.Passion bucket: a metaphor for a job or endeavor that can fulfill one’s sense of mission and ambition.Peachfuzz billionaires: when someone launches their first startup in middle school and ends up a budding teeny mogul on the cover of a magazine.Porntastic: something great, but slightly edgy and racy.Palm Beach niece: Term that an older man might use to introduce or describe a much younger female companion.