The British public is perplexed by Generation Z’s abbreviated messaging style, with many people in the United Kingdom wondering what the hell they’re talking about.
In 2024, the search for “Gen Z slang” saw a 900% increase, demonstrating that most of the UK doesn’t understand the messaging culture associated with this generation.
Gen Z hasn’t necessarily created this messaging style themselves, as they have been widely influenced by social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram.
Nonetheless, this “slang” has been attributed to Gen Z and has become commonplace in everyday language.
The phenomenon sparked Vera’s curiosity, and the business administration company sought to identify which abbreviations Brits found most baffling. Using an online analytics tool, Vera extracted UK search volume data to decipher what abbreviations Brits struggled with the most.
The top abbreviation with over 61,000 average monthly searches was “smh,” translated to “shake my head.” This is often used when a situation or conversation is ridiculous, obvious, or straight-up stupid.
The second abbreviation that bamboozled the British public was “POV,” which means “point of view.” This was searched over 40,000 times and has been popularized due to online content that intends to immerse viewers from a specific perspective.
The third abbreviation most commonly searched was “NSFW” or “not safe for work.” This term was searched over 20,000 times and indicates that a social media post or message might be inappropriate and, therefore, “not safe for work.”
Among the 114 abbreviations Vera identified, 20 abbreviations came on top, with an average of 8,000 to 60,000 average monthly searches.
Some abbreviations include common terms like “FOMO,” which means “fear of missing out,” and “OFC,” which means “of course.”
However, other ones are slightly more obscure, like “AFK” (away from keyboard) and IIRC (if I recall correctly).
Despite being almost obsolete, YOLO, or “you only live once,” still manages to place in the top 20, with almost 10,000 monthly searches.
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