Why are tweens and teens saying ‘skibidi’?

Has your teen been adding words like “skibidi” to your conversations? What does the word mean, and why are younger generations creating so much new slang?

Skibidi is difficult to define. It is often described as a nonsense word, without one specific definition.

The word stems from a series of YouTube videos published by Alexey Gerasimov, where disembodied heads appear out of toilets and sing songs. Most notable of these songs is “Dom Dom Yes Yes” by Biser King, a Bulgarian singer. King’s song was later remixed and used in Gerasimov’s series.

This song would directly lead to the development of the new phrase, as the lyrics “Shtib, shtibidid” would be repeated throughout Gerasimov’s series, thus evolving into the phrase skibidi. The term now has taken on several meanings and can be used in many contexts.

“I’ve used the word skibidi to express something that’s good, and also just because,” said Aaron Christensen, a 14-year-old from Rio Rancho.

“I feel like it’s a word that had an original meaning, but like a lot of other internet terms, it got thrown around a lot, until it sort of took on a new meaning of being something that people just say,” said Mi Young Mushen, an Albuquerque middle schooler. “It doesn’t really have one defined meaning.”

Having unique slang terms like skibidi can cause miscommunications between generations, leading to a disconnect.

“They say something is skibidi, and I said, ‘Is that good or bad?’” said Albuquerque teacher Marjorie O’Neill.

Nonsense words like these play into the idea that younger generations have a very unique slang, unlike any other generation before them.

“It evolves very quickly,” said English teacher Christine Dickey. “It’s like lists of slang, whereas, back in the day, it was maybe one or two words.”

The lists of slang words today can be extensive. For example, when one English class at Eldorado High School was surveyed, students were able to come up with a list of 73 terms. This list included skibidi, and also showed how some words are already becoming more prevalent, with “rizz” being most used, followed by “cooked/cook.”

However, some younger people feel that their generation gets a bad rap from older generations for their slang, and several teachers agree.

“All of the generations have had such specialized slang,” said middle schooler Inara Kreiner, “just different words.”

“It keeps adults from knowing what you’re saying,” O’Neill said.

Mushen added, “I seriously doubt that younger generations are that different from older generations.”

As seen in the evolution of the term skibidi, the increased presence of the internet in kids’ lives has been a driving factor in the fast-paced evolution of Gen Z and Gen Alpha slang.

“They can come up with new words, and spread them around quickly,” O’Neill said.

Many of these new words can be unrecognizable to members of older generations. In the survey conducted at Eldorado, one can see the huge number of new words, many with multiple variations, that have come about, showing how younger generations are creating a language of their very own.