Starting Wednesday, the youth word of the year will be voted on. But you don’t remember the word safe that won in 2008.
The “Youth word of the year” ranking was created in 2008 by the Langenscheidt publishing house and was actually used to market the book “100 percent youth language”. Since then, with the exception of 2019, a winning word has been chosen every year. But even before the Langenscheidt marketing campaign, there were funny, youth-specific expressions. We have collected the best from the 60’s.
Is the youth word representative of youth?
The youth word of the year often causes a discussion, because it is questionable whether it actually depicts the language of young people. So reported Vice in 2015 about the accusation that Langenscheidt was trying to “press the phenomenon of youth language in book form” without being in touch with the times.
Since 2020, the title has no longer been awarded by the publisher’s internal jury, but after an online vote that is freely accessible to everyone. However, only votes from young people between the ages of 10 and 20 will be counted. Nevertheless, our author thinks: “Smash,” the 2022 winner, is superficial and doesn’t suit Gen Z.”
“Zwambo” – youth word of the year 2023?
An alternative name for a twenty-euro note has been spreading on Twitter and TikTok since May 2023. The “Zwambo” is therefore a hot candidate for the youth word of the year 2023 for many. Next Wednesday will show whether the word has a chance.
On August 9th, Langenscheidt will present the top 10 suggestions collected. On September 20, voting for the three most popular words will enter the final round. The winning word will be presented on October 22 at the Frankfurt Book Fair.
7 teenage words, some of which are just plain cringe
To get in the mood, it’s worth taking a look at the winners of previous years. Some of them make us nostalgic, others are just cringe.
1. 2009: “Hartzen”
“Hartzen” has remained the term for meaningless hanging around to this day. However, the word is not entirely unproblematic, since it is derived from “Hartz IV” and thus being unemployed is indirectly equated with doing nothing.
2. 2013: “Babo”
The line from the rapper’s arrest warrant “Chabos know who Babo is” has not been forgotten to this day. Supposedly, “Babo” is derived from the Turkish “Baba” (German: father) and means something like chief, boss or leader.
3. 2017: “I poop”
The internet was full of the slang version of “It’s me”. This network jargon was inspired by the Austrian rapper Money Boy.
4. 2016: “to be fly”
“Fly” is a person when they’re pretty cool, they go crazy at a party, or they’re really good at something.
5. 2015: “Smombie”
A particularly cringe combination of smartphone and zombie. This refers to people who are constantly on their cell phones and therefore look more like zombies than people.
6. 2021: cringe
We’ve had it a few times now. Cringe is just super funny, uncomfortable or embarrassing, sometimes even with the shame of others.
7. 2008: “rotten meat party”
Shoutout to everyone who still remembers the German rotten meat scandal! In some cases, spoiled meat has been revealed to have been re-labeled and thus found its way back into trade. Yes, also in numerous kebab shops. Young people are said to have used to describe parties over 30 with a rotten meat party… Pretty wack.
More on the subject: Gen Z or Boomer: Do you know what these 10 youth words mean?
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