EVERY generation has it’s own slang words, and let’s face it, most of us don’t bother to keep up with the latest ones.
But Angela Santalo has no choice but to know all of the new words and what they really mean, no matter how strange they might be.
After hearing her students constantly repeating certain words Angela decided to create a list of banned words and phrases in her classroom.
Speaking to Fabulous the Florida based educator said: “What prompted me to create the list of banned words was the constant repetition I heard from my students in class.
“We’d be lining up for lunch, and I’d hear students saying, ‘you’re so skibidi’, or ‘that’s so sigma’.
“I don’t get how those terms fit into a regular conversation.”
The teacher recently went viral on TikTok after she shared a video were she told her classroom the newly banned words, so far the clip has amassed over 2.2 million views and has thousands of equally confused older generations trying to work out the meaning of the slang in the comments.
In the video, Angela shared the first banned word, much the her young students’ shock.
“The first word is ‘pookie’,” she said as the class gasped.
“The reason I added ‘pookie’ is because I am nobody’s pookie, do not call me pookie. Stop addressing people as pookie,” she said.
The term pookie became is a term of endearment and can be used to refer to someone cute, so maybe not the best thing to call your teacher.
Although it’s been used this for years, it might have gained popularity after popular TikTok couple Campbell and Jett Puckett began sharing videos lovingly using the term.
“Honestly, I tell them that saying it so frequently makes them sound like glitching robots,” Angela explained.
The next banned slang word on the teachers is ‘bro’.
This one got a huge reaction out of the class, who couldn’t believe they were banned from saying it.
“Don’t ever call me bro,” she warned the students in the viral clip.
‘Aura’ is another word on the banned list, but it’s used a little differently than you might realise.
For Gen Alpha, the term is used to describe how cool or embarrassing something or someone is or even how many ‘aura points’ someone had.
Someone might say they’ve got ‘negative aura points’ after tripping up and falling over in public, for example.
The last phrase Angela shared in the video was ‘womp womp’, which some students even said was their “favourite”.
It’s used sarcastically when something sad or bad has happened and is meant to sound like a sad trombone sound.
If you didn’t know the meaning of the words, you’re not the only one.
One person commented on the clip: “Honestly I didn’t know what most of these meant!”
And a second said: “You know you’re getting old when you’ve never heard of some of these.”
But others praised Angela for banning the slang words, as one said: “I agree, there are places you can be casual, there are places you should be a bit more formal.”
“I love he boundaries but also the kids being goofy and dramatic, so nice to see kids being kids,” another said.
Since sharing the list with her class Angela said “some [students] have slipped up and used them, but they catch themselves very quickly.
“I like that I have implemented this because it teaches them restraint and how to speak more properly. As a teacher, it’s my job to help them be better, and that’s what I’m trying to do.”
Who are Gen Alpha?
Generation Alpha are born after 2010 and before 2025. They’re the children of Generation Y and the younger siblings of Generation Z.