Struggle with Gen Z Slang? 2 Guides to What They Say and Mean 😜🤣

Ever feel like Gen Z talks gibberish? Or do you struggle with Gen Z slang and emojis?

You aren’t alone.

Even some Gen Zers don’t always understand what their contemporaries are saying or what they’re trying to express via emoji.

How do we know this is true? Google searches for “Gen Z slang” and “Gen Z words” both nearly doubled in recent years, coinciding with the generation’s rise in the workplace.

But it’s OK if you don’t get it because we have help here to understand!

Understand — and slay! — Gen Z slang

Our friends at Movchan Agency, a communication and growth agency for tech startups, worked on the ultimate workplace Gen Z slang and emoji guide.

And our creative people at HRMorning put all the great — and sometimes surprising — information into handy charts.

For starters, here’s the guide on slang.

Know the emoji 💅😍

Now, let’s say you need to understand that upside-down smile your new colleague just sent in a Slack message.

Don’t fear. We, along with our friends at Movchan, have laid out some of the emojis Gen Z likes to send and their meanings (which some overlap with the slang).

Still don’t understand slang and 😉

If you still don’t understand the slang and/or emojis Gen Z uses in and out of work, don’t feel like you aren’t with the times.

When I worked with our creative team at HRMorning — who are from different generations in the workplace — to pull together the awesome charts, I got these comments back about what we all see:

“This looks great, but I’m using so many emojis the wrong way 😭!” — PJ Fronzeo, Graphic Production Artist.

“Half of these I use and know how to use, and the other half I don’t even know they were a thing 😅!” — Jeffrey Leretsis, Graphic Designer.

“This looks great. I can finally speak to my children again!” — Michael Credle, Graphic Designer.