What are you talking about? A whistle-stop guide to communicating with teenagers

It goes without saying, but a large percentage of a patient consultation is spent simply in the act of communication, rather than medical care. It’s a vital part of the job, and miscommunication has been the reason for many a complaint and misunderstanding.

According to the Government’s State of the Nation’s Children report from 2023, some 23.2 per cent of the nation’s population are aged under 18. So it might help to understand some of the lingo used by our younger generations.

Teenagers of every generation tend to develop what is almost a language of their own. Social media, as always, plays its part in perpetuating the spread of these phrases.

So, for those readers middle-aged or older, I have compiled a list of some of the more commonly used phrases you might hear from your younger patients (or indeed family members).

Most of us know some of the more common modern terminology, such as GOAT (‘Greatest of all Time’) or OMG (‘Oh my gosh’ or ‘Oh my God’), or Bro (short for brother, term of affection), but some of the others may surprise you.

I hope this rough guide will be of some help. It’s by no means exhaustive, but may be useful in some future interactions, and please note that some of these may be abbreviated in text messages.

• Cap: Something that is untrue; a lie. Example: ‘That nurse told me I would probably be out in a week, no cap.’
• Sick or sic: Cool, excellent, very agreeable. Example: ‘OMG, that new car you got is sick.’
• Lit: Cool, amazing, impressive. Can alsobe used to describe a state of drug-induced stupor. Example: ‘Bro, I was so lit, I didn’t know what the doctor was saying to me.’
• Sleep on: To be ignorant to the value of someone or something. Example: ‘The merits of a needs-based health system are totally slept on by the government, no cap.’
• Basic: Unoriginal, boring, bland; applied to people. Example: ‘That guy I met earlier is a basic idiot.’
• Noob: New to something, a beginner. Short for the older term ‘Newbie’. Example: ‘I’ve been in hospital three times already, I’m not a noob.’
• Spill the tea: An invitation to share gossip. Example: ‘I heard about you and him — come on, spill the tea.’
• Pop off: Used to describe an angry reaction. Example: ‘That nurse popped off at me just cos I asked her if I could bring a beer in.’
• Tight: Together, organised, positive. Sometimes pronounced ‘toight’.

On a more serious note, it also behoves us to be aware of some slang that might indicate risky sexual or drug-related behaviour. A few of the more common examples of coded communication in this area are below:

• Body count: The number of individuals a person has slept with.
• Molly: Ecstasy, MDMA.
• Netflix and chill: Can be used as an invitation to somebody to get together romantically.
• Smash: Casual sex.
• WTTP: ‘Want to trade photos?’
• CU46: ‘See you for sex.’
• 53X: Sex.

To compound matters further, new slang words are often created by combining two already-existing slang words. A few examples of compound slang are listed below:

• Hangry: Angry, primarily because one is hungry. Example: ‘That guy was popping off at me, maybe he was just hangry.’
• Crashy: An amalgamation of ‘Crazy’ and ‘Trashy’.
• Requestion: A request and a question combined, or to question someone again.
• Crunk: Getting high and drunk at the same time, a combination of ‘crazy’ and ‘drunk’. Alarm bells might go off if you see this one on your teenager’s phone.

A word of warning to conclude: Pretty much nobody over the age of 25 looks cool using these terms, either verbally or in a text message. However, if you want to irritate your teenager at home, using some of these terms is highly recommended. Sometimes, we have to let our teens know that we’re not some kind of a basic noob.