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by Matt Granfield

on Sep 15

The Gen Y Translator

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Everyone knows the number one rule of social media engagement is to be honest, and everyone knows the number two rule is don't start something you can't finish (as in, don't start a celebrity Twitter account and write in it for two days and then not write anything in it again, because you end up looking like a dick).

In fact, the rules of social media engagement are so well-known these days that pretty much everyone can recite them by heart, even rule number 14a which is:

"Don't try and talk like you're Gen Y because you're not, unless you are, and even then you shouldn't be twittering on behalf of the company yet because you're not responsible enough and if you get access to Twitter you'll want access to Facebook as well and you'll claim it's for work but we know, and you know, and we know you know we know that you'll end up spending most of your day updating your status, playing Mob Wars and LOL'ing with your BFFs".

Well to hell with that rule.

For the first time, ever*, thanks to the vivacious, spacious and audacious wit of LOL-linguist-intern-strategists, @anna_goddard and @AnnabelBrusasco, myself, a list of words Dialogix couldn't define and a little too much time, Marketingmag.com.au is able to bring you the official GenY LOLspeak A-Z Dictionary of the 65 Most Popular Young Person's Colloquialisms. Or, The Gen Y Translator for short. Rule 14a be damned.

Thanks to The LOLspeak Dictionary even the most moronic of marketing managers can now converse with the kewlest of lolcats. Fire up that Facebook chat window, update your MySpace pic and energise your emoticons, let's start totes talkin!

Oh, and if I've left off any LOLisms you feel should be included in the next edition, feel free to add them in the comments below...

*As long as you don't count the Urban Dictionary as ever

The Gen Y Translator
Word Definition Example Usage
!!!!! Words cannot express how much I think this is totally amazing OMG!!!!!
@ At
*action* Right now I am doing whatever is between the asterisks This LOLspeak dictionary is going to be out of date before it's published but that's kewl. *shrugs*
#fail That didn't go very well at all Did you hear she was trying to get around the world, only made it as far as North Straddie and got hit by a tanker! #sailingfail
aiight Alright A: "Sorry I ran over your cat with my car."
B: "That's aiight, it was my sister's cat."
b4 Before
BF, B/F Boyfriend
BFF Best Friend(s) Forever
biatch My dear friend Sup biatch!
boi Boy
brb Be Right Back
BTW By The Way
burn To denigrate At least I wasn't vomiting in the garden! Burn!
CBA Stands for 'Can't Be Arsed', meaning 'I could not be bothered CBA going out tonight. Stayin' at home watchin' Idol.
C-Bomb The worst swear word you can possibly use I accidentally dropped the c-bomb in front of my Mum last night and got grounded for a week.
dats That's
defs/defso Definitely Defs wanna hit the clubs tonight.
DM Direct Message/Direct Mail OMG the boss is coming, have to get off the phone, DM me!
DW Don't worry
everybunny Everybody
FML F--- My Life Today, my first girlfriend of over 3 years left me for another guy. She said she's looking for someone who can financially provide for her in the future. The dude owns a mobile phone kiosk. I'm going to medical school. FML
fo shiz For certain A: "Wanna smoke some weed and listen to Snoop Dogg?"
B: "Fo shiz."
FPP Facebook Profile Picture

You look hot! You should defs make that your FPP!
G2G Got To Go
GF, G/F Girlfriend
Ghost Tweeter Someone who writes or fine-tunes someone else's Twitter updates because the person in question is too busy, dumb or unfunny to do it themselves That's not really Kyle Sandilands on Twitter. It's a ghost tweeter.
Hellz Yeah Yes, yes indeed And so the cop told me that my party was the most epic party they'd ever been called to... Hellz Yeah!
HTFU Harden the F--- Up! A: "Really tired hey, don't know if I'm coming out tonight."
B: "HTFU!"
ish Sort of She was good-looking...ish.
kewl Cool
KK OK, OK A: "Can I borrow your jeans tonight?"
B:"kk"
L8 Late
Laterz Later "Bye", "Yeah, no worries, laterz"
LMAO Laughing My Arse Off
LOL Laugh Out Loud
LOLZ That's so funny
LOLGASM The climax of a particularly effervescent LOL incident
LOLWAT Disbelief to the point of absurdity
Maggot Exceptionally drunk Going to Jake's house tonight. Going to get MAGGOT!
Mofo A term of endearment between mates. Short for motherf---er
n00b Someone who is new to something, usually in an internet forum
OMFG! Oh My F---ing God! A: "She let me sleep with her!"
B: "OMFG!"
OMG Oh My God!
Owned Defeated
Peeps People
PPL People
QFT Quoted For Truth You said that and we all heard it. QFT
Redic Ridiculous
Redonkulous That is seriously ridiculous
ROFL Rolling On the Floor Laughing
ROFLCOPTER Rolling On the Floor Laughing, spinning around like helicopter blades A: "So I was just driving high and I stopped to let a pinecone cross the road because I thought it was a hedgehog."
B: "ROFLCOPTER"
Sick Really, really good
Siff As if, that couldn't possibly be true
STFU Shut The F--- Up!
Sup Hello, how are you? Or, What's wrong?
Tomoz Tomorrow A: "So I think I'm going to break up with her tomoz."
B: "No way!"
Totes Short for totally, as in, most definitely That comment was totes inapprop.
TTYL Talk To You Later
U You
V Very V.Good
Woot Gamer-talk for woo-hoo I got to the last level on Final Fantasy VII, Woot!
WTF What The F---? The doctor took one look and he was, like, WTF?
XXL Someone with a rotund figure
Yeeeewww/ Yeow/ Yiew An expression of great joy
ZOMG A more sarcastic expression than OMG

21 Comments

Rolfe
  • Wrote on 15 Sep, at 02:21PM
Bahaha! there is some gold in there guys

ROFLCOPTER = simply brilliant!
My surname is Rolfe, if friends find out about this i am in trouble
Polly
  • Wrote on 15 Sep, at 02:54PM
Hilarious LMAO! I am Gen Y and I didnt know some of these. Totes kewl!
Anon
  • Wrote on 15 Sep, at 03:08PM
hahaha here are some more:
Eff: eg. That's Eff'd = That's F***ed, Eff that: F**k that, Eff off .... you get the picture!
TTFN: ta ta for now
LMFAO: laugh my (BAD WORD FILTERED)ing arse off
Sweet: eg. yep sweet see ya there - Sweet = okay, cool; also: That's Sweet = That's good/awesome
mab397
  • Wrote on 15 Sep, at 05:09PM
Matt next time make sure you use HAHA OMG LOL or !!!!!! as your only punctuation in a post representing Gen Y speak. I get a headache if I try to read more than a paragraph (which is pretty long when they all the sentences run into each other).

Also another definition for you:

Bitch please!
I will have to respectfully disagree with you on this point my dear friend
Hedge
  • Wrote on 16 Sep, at 12:56PM
ROFLCOPTER has got me ROFL('ng?)COPTER. too much? I'm gen Y but this is something else.
Simon T Small
  • Wrote on 16 Sep, at 09:37PM
Great list!, but not to reveal that I'm totally a Gen-Yer but LOL is SOOO old!

LOL is such an overused and severely inaccurate representation of what the person actually thinks/feels. It's now used as a phrase to throw sarcasm at those who try too hard to be 'extraverted/fun/funny' via TXT.

You also missed 'word' which is 'to agree' i.e.
A: "Man, I we should totally build a spaceship and stuff"
B: "Word"
NM
  • Wrote on 17 Sep, at 03:00PM
Can't believe you forgot pwned!!! WTF? *shakes head*
jed
  • Wrote on 22 Sep, at 01:34AM
embarrassing.
Lauren
  • Wrote on 8 Oct, at 02:11PM
(variation) l8ter - later

Kay - OK

Maggot should be maggoted "We are totally gonna get maggoted tonight"

N00b - newbie

bananas - I first heard this on the Rachel Zoe project, tv show on Arena, shes a stylist to the stars and uses this word for everything "this dress is totally bananas" which is good, and then I heard a gay guy on the The Real Housewives of New York use it to describe curtains. So I think this will start to be used alot more.

I think I'm generation Y, I was born in 1980 and I watch Talking About Your Generation and I identify more with the Generation X'ers when they talk more about Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles/Astroboy/Zena Warrior Princess etc not with the Gen Y's, some who are in their late teens, whereas I am 29.
Damian Damjanovski
  • Wrote on 14 Oct, at 11:56AM
Oh matt, you've missed so many classics, but an awesome guide nonetheless.

IMHO you could have at least had the double the amount in here, but hey, a great start for those new to the interwebs.

LMK if you need more for teh inventory.

Cheers,
D
Damian Damjanovski
  • Wrote on 14 Oct, at 12:02PM
Also, why the heck doesn't this site use Gravatar?

Seriously, it's such a basic implementation, and would look better than twenty "Silhouette Question Mark Man" photos.
Michael Wilson
  • Wrote on 14 Oct, at 02:34PM
Important safety tip: Never, EVER use these out loud. At least not the abbreviations. (A couple of the repurposed words are ok. But if I hear some say "O M G", hands are flyin'.)
Bec
  • Wrote on 27 Feb, at 07:03PM
FYI Lauren - TMNT, Astroboy & Xena are also beloved past times of almost all Gen Yers too! I am 22 and my sis is 17 and we love all those shows plus all the oldies, even Roger Ramjet!! =D
Stereolithography
  • Wrote on 16 May, at 12:03PM
LOLGASM was prolly my favorite by the way. I have only heard of about half of these as it stands, but if anyone were to use them on me I could pretty well figure it out. It's all in the context. When you use the excuse, "I'm too old to use Facebook/Twitter." Well, You are actually just too dumb to use it. Face it when you're telling a story, or having a conversation. 90% of the time you know what the reaction of another person is going to be. Same goes when you're talking via IM. You tell someone, "I just got home and turned on my ps3, and my wife tells me we're watching Idol tonight." You would respond LOL. If yo didn't know what LOL meant, you should be able to figure it out, or you're not the most intellectual person. Any-whozzile I thought this was a good post, made me laugh, and I enjoyed. :)
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AML
  • Wrote on 30 Aug, at 05:16AM
Interest post...PMSL when I was reading it ;-)

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