"Internet slang" "Internet talk" No Becky, you just need to stop talking like a Black girl from the South on the Internet.
"Gen Z slang" and whole time they talking about AAVE, LMFAO I have to laugh!
I can’t help but notice that almost everyone on the internet talks as if they’re a Black American……
I hate how normal the consumption, participation, and indulgence of Black culture is.
You never see people wearing kippas for fashion. People don’t mimic Valley girl accents when they’re wanting to sound cool, or aggressive. It seems like everyone wants to infiltrate Black spaces (Rap/ Hip-Hop, R&B). Well, who the hell is going keep Polka alive??
I came across a post on here the other day saying something to the effect of “I just used an online phrase in real conversation” and it puzzled me like?? Honestly, it didn’t puzzle me at all. I knew exactly wtf was going on.
It blows my mind when I read posts like “yall doing too much”, “type shit”, “wild as fuck” or usage of words like “finna/gonna” and I go on the person’s page and it’s a girl from the UK with Middle Eastern parents, or a white person from the valley. Like……. this is not how you talk in real life why do you have an (inaccurate mind you) accent on the internet?
There’s no such thing as internet slang or talk (unless you’re referring to acronyms), there’s also no such thing as “Gen Z” or “Millennial” slang. What you’re referring to is the consumption (and safe to say obsession) of Black Americans.
These terms and phrases that you people the majority and mainstream are just now getting hip too have been in circulation for generations. Terms like “finna”, “gonna” “aint” aren’t internet slang. They’re the phonetic spelling of how Black people (throughout America) actually talk. The majority may not associate with or know of any Black people outside of their phone or TV screens, but yes we do exist in real life.
We (Black people) get on social media and we’re typing how we talk. This is us. This is how we talk in real life. This is how we talk with our family, our friends. This isn’t a costume, a phase or an act we put on whenever we open an app… If you don’t talk like that in real life, why are you trying to type like that? The attempts look quite ridiculous. TikTok is famous for taking a word or phrase that originated (or has origins and been in circulation for generations) within the Black community and running that word/phrase (incorrectly mind you) into the ground within 2 weeks.
Please…..
ENOUGH!
You don’t sound cool, you sound stupid. Just be yourself.
XOXO
As a copywriter who writes for ada in the social space, I honestly refuse to use slang in my work. It’s so cringey and appropriative so I can’t bring myself to do it. I’ll continue to gatekeep our language cause ummm…it ain’t for everybody.