I remember my dad complaining about certain music stars in my youth. He’d say they used alliteration, such as “Ba-ba-ba-baby” because they couldn’t hold a note to save their lives. Other times, he’d ask me to define a slang word. He’d lament that listening to my generation speak was like hearing a foreign language. The fact that I could restate the same argument about the colloquial terms of his own generation never seemed to alleviate his frustration with mine. If you’re the parent of teens, you’ve likely heard words you didn’t understand. At the dinner table, in the car or when passing by your child’s room during his or her vid chat with a friend, you might be confused by lingo. This is especially true concerning teenage dating slang.
Talking doesn’t mean talking anymore
One of the most common words in teenage dating slang is, “talking.” If you’re a baby boomer, you might say you were talking to your friend’s husband the other day. Such a claim might cause your teenage son or daughter to raise an eyebrow. That’s because “talking” no longer means talking. In the teen world, talking refers to sort-of-kind-of-almost-but-not-really dating someone. This would obviously be highly inappropriate in reference to your friend’s hubby. “Mom was talking to so-and-so’s dad!” ::kids show shocked facial expressions::
Teenage dating slang that sounds Halloweenish
If someone “ghosts” your son or daughter, it’s similar to the baby boomer version of, “ditching.” In today’s teenage dating slang, when someone “ghosts” someone, it means he or she suddenly ended a relationship. The problem is: He or she never informed the other person in the relationship. This can obviously cause hurt feelings, especially if your son or daughter had strong feelings for this “ghost.”
“Haunting” is even worse than ghosting. In fact, it can become a serious legal problem. The teenage dating slang that refers to haunting essentially means the same as “stalking” after a break-up. Parents should be highly concerned if a teen has ended a dating relationship and the other party continues to “haunt” him or her.
What do freckles and cuffing have to do with dating?
When brushing up on your teenage dating slang, be aware that the words “freckles” and “cuffing” refer to seasonal relationships. The latter is synonymous to handcuffing. It means that two teens are “clinging” to each other to keep from being lonely during the winter. When warmer weather rolls around, teens might “curve” their cuffs (I.e., Reject, drop,or ditch) in favor of “freckling” over the summer.
Freckling means dating in a carefree manner without implied commitment. It’s a trend that typically occurs on summer break and is called such because, like freckles, these relationships fade away when autumn arrives.
Teenage dating slang includes sexually explicit emojis
You carefully monitor your teenager’s social media activity, right? Do you know that teenage dating slang often includes a secret code of emojis? Many emojis denote sexual terms or activities. If you notice water droplets, peaches or eggplants sprinkled throughout your teen’s text messages, Instagram or Snapchat, beware!
Nowadays, people use these and other emojis as teenage dating slang. I won’t get into what they mean here, but if you read this post, you’ll be brought up to speed. You might even consider yourself fluent in today’s dating language by the time you’re done.
It’s good to know how to decipher teenage dating slang
You’ll undoubtedly encounter many challenges as you navigate your children’s teenage years. You’ll survive. I promise. Just remember that your highest priority is their well-being. Staying updated on teenage dating slang and other cultural terms and activities can be a gateway to valuable communication. It can also help you develop a close relationship with your kids.
Good parenting often involves having to make decisions your teens might not like. For instance, if you start seeing a lot of eggplant and water droplet emojis on their social media accounts, you might be inclined to restrict their electronic device usage. (Read that article I linked earlier and you’ll know why.) With love and support, you can make it through the teenage years. Some day, you’ll look back on it all in a nostalgic way and cry happy/sad tears. You’ll also likely say you’d do it all again if you had to because you love your kids so much.
