AEE: Should You Be Gassing People Up?

0:00This is an All-Ears English Podcast. Should you be gassing people up? Welcome to the All-Ears English Podcast, downloaded more than 200 million times. Are you feeling stuck with your English? We'll show you how to become fearless and fluent by focusing on connection, not perfection. With your American host, Michelle Kaplan, the New York Radio Girl, and Aubrey Carter, the Isles Wiz, coming to you from Arizona and New York City, USA. To get real-time transcripts right on your phone and create your personalized vocabulary list, try the All-Ears English app for iOS and Android. Start your seven-day free trial at allyoursenglish.com forward slash app. Are you eating today? Depending on who says it, that question might not mean what you think it means.

1:03Today, we'll share five phrases Gen Z is using to hype each other up. Hello, Michelle. How are you today? I'm doing well, Aubrey. How are you? I'm excellent. We are going to start with a quiz for you, Michelle. About recent slang, trendy slang, trendy new slang. Michelle, does gassing up mean a, putting gas in a car, be complimenting someone or see criticizing someone? Hmm. Do you think? I don't think it's a, I think that's too easy. Well, it does mean that, right? But that's not trendy slang. Right, yes, I'm going to go gas up my car. That's what you and I always use it. That's what we would say. Why not? But it's not, that's not trendy slang, right? And I'm going to, okay, I'm going to guess that it's B because up is like something good. So I'm going to guess complimenting someone. Yes, that is correct. It means to compliment someone.

2:04It means the same as hyping someone up. So we would say, oh, you're hyping them up. Now, Gen Z years, teenagers would say, gassing them up. Oh, you're gassing me up. I'm going to gas her up, right? And there are so many ways that they gas each other up. Like Gen Z teenagers, they're so much slang that they're currently using. You're probably hearing it on podcasts, maybe on the radio, in TV and movies. Some of it you might not know. It means there maybe you figure out it out in context. We got a great question about one of these phrases because you might be wondering, what do these mean? And who should be saying them? Do you want to read the question for us, Michelle? Sure. OK, so this question is from FML1313 from YouTube. And it says, hi, allers English team. Thank you for the amazing work you do. I started listening to your podcast a couple of months ago and have been hooked ever since. Well, thank you so much for listening. Yeah.

3:04I'd like to ask you a question. Lately, I've been hearing she being used to refer to inanimate objects. I notice that it's especially popular among teenagers. So I wonder if it's some kind of modern slang. Could you please explain what it means and when it's used if you haven't done an episode about this already? Oh, fun question. I know, and we haven't done an episode about this. We talk about slang a lot. This is the newest trendiest slang. And it is specific to Gen Z, which are basically like teenagers right now. So we are going to first talk about that one, the one this specific one, and then a few others that are related that are all being used currently by Gen Z, my teenage daughters say them all the time. But this first one, yes, we're hearing this, you know, she is used for inanimate objects. They'll say she's pretty. She's gorgeous. She's beautiful, but they're talking about like a sweater, a loaf of bread, a computer. Like they'll get a new laptop. Yes, my daughter made sourdough bread,

4:04and she sent a photo and textage. Isn't she cute? The bread. And it's interesting because we used to do this with cars, right? Michelle, we would name our car. And if we named the car, you know, Mabel, then we might say like she's adorable. I love her. We would personify a car, but we wouldn't do this with everything. Like they're doing now, right? Yeah, it's kind of fun, but yeah, I kind of like, I know I like it too. Like a new phone, and someone would be like, ooh, she's pretty. And they're talking about the phone, right? Yeah. And this is very, it's interesting because it depends on the person. Everyone has their own style. Right. My friend's, my daughter's friend, her car is a boy. She says he, but it's interesting. She wouldn't say like he's so handsome, but she talks about him, but she's like, he's a real trooper. He sometimes will like break down. So it's interesting. It's not when they say he, it's not so much about aesthetics

5:05and what it looks like. It's more likely to be about quality of performance. So this is really interesting. There's so many little nuances here, right? Of what you would give a gender to, what you, what inanimate objects would be called, like, pretty or beautiful. Right. And you sometimes they'll surprise me, right? Like I have this cup here. My daughter called this gorgeous earlier. She's like, she's gorgeous. She's like, she's gorgeous. And it's just like a pink cup for those not watching on YouTube. So you just move in. Yeah. It's kind of fun. I kind of like, yeah. And it's very casual, right? It's used among friends. This even Gen Z, they're working, that in office, they probably wouldn't say this to someone my age or their boss, right? It's very casual. They're going to use it among friends. And it's all about a lot of their sling is about gassing people up, hyping someone up, right? So we're going to share some of these other phrases that are currently being used and what they mean so that when you hear them,

6:06you know what they mean. Okay. All right. All right. The first one, Michelle is King. Have you heard Teenager saying, okay, King? No. So you probably heard Queen. You've heard like Yas Queen, right? Right. So it's kind of been replaced at Trematz. There's much more common now for them to say, King. My daughter will say, okay, King. And it's usually about a guy being sassy. And this is sort of sarcastic, but in a really fun and playful way. So a lot of these are very specific to certain situations, right? You wouldn't say this about just anyone. And it's again, very casual and playful. So and really it's just Teenager saying it. I wouldn't say this. I would feel like, this is one of those where my daughters would just grow and be like, mom, no, you're not allowed to use this sling. That's pergenzy only. Oh my gosh. Okay. So very interesting. Yeah. No, I didn't. I didn't know that one, but but cool. Yeah. What about the next one, Michelle?

7:06Have you heard this next one? What is it? Well, go off, but I've heard it in other ways, right? To go off on someone, right? Like to, right? Isn't that kind of like to start yelling at them? Like she went off on me about like how mad she was. And right? Right. How we would use it, right? To lose one's temper. And you will still hear it that way. But Gen Z teenagers are using it to complement someone and hype them up. They'll say like, that outfit is amazing. Go off. And that just means like, you look great. So this is where it's tricky when there are multiple meanings like this. They don't mean getting angry. Have a temper tantrum. It's just a compliment. Right. Oh my gosh. Okay. You're learning a lot today, right? I feel like such an old lady right now. But that's fine. I only know about this because I have teenagers. I hear them say these all the time. And they're coming up in their TikToks and stuff. Every, you know, people their age are using them a ton. But you and I don't hear them that much unless we're around teenagers. You might, if you know, someone's watching a,

8:06like a TV show with younger people, you'll probably hear them. But yeah, let's go over the couple more. And then we'll talk about, you know, would it be okay for you and I to use them? All right. Okay. So this next one, I'm very interested. Okay. This is so eight and eating. So for example, you know, a teenager, if they're in a class and someone has to present, then they go and sit down. The person next to them might say like, you ate that. That means you did a really good job, right? And they'll also say, eating, for example, you're eating that outfit. And that means you look great. Or he's absolutely eating today. It means he looks amazing. Oh my gosh, you're eating that outfit. That's hilarious. Yeah. Well, I mean, you ate that. That kind of reminds me of like you killed it. Right? If you're really similar. Though it's interesting because it can be about performance. Like that, you killed it. You ate that same thing. And then also eating could be about how you look. Exactly. Like your eating means like what your wearing looks great or your hair looks great. It's a compliment.

9:08Well, that was great. So what about eight down or eight something up? Yeah. Same meaning there are all these different ways of saying that. Right? So if you say you ate down, it means the same as you ate or you're eating. Right? So and they also use this for like, if someone is playing a sport well, or they one at something, or maybe a photo they posted online looks amazing, you'll see them post that like in a comment. You know, you ate down or you're eating in that shirt, whatever. But my daughters will say this sometimes if we're playing a game, which is like family, and somebody wins, they'll be like, okay, you ate down. That means they won by a lot. They're all these other ways. We would say like you killed it. You know, you one hands down or something. Right, right, right. Oh my gosh. Or also you ate that up. Same thing. They'd be like you ate that up. That just means you did really well. You did a good job. Okay. Very interesting. Yeah. All right, we have one more Michelle.

10:09And then we're going to do a funny role play where you and I both have to be teenagers. I'll tell you about why. So this is serving. This I had to talk to my daughter about this a little bit because I was like, where did this come from? So this it comes from serving face, but they're just shortening it to serving. They'll just say you're serving in that shirt, something like that, right? So this originally came from she was talking about someone's face card. And then it was really funny because she's saying like, yeah, like people have a good face card. That means they're looking good that day. Maybe they did their makeup or they're just good looking, right? And then she was saying that you might talk. Someone might talk about their face card getting rejected just like a credit card could be denied. And so I was like, so for example, if I said, you know, if I'm at a store and I try to get a discount on something. Like I'm trying to bargain and they say, no, could I say my face card got rejected? And she was like, no mom, no one would ever say. So I'm like, okay, I need more. She was like, we only say serving. She's like, this is all internet slang.

11:09You might see it in a video or someone might comment it on a post, but no one would ever actually say that. So this was really interesting. We had this whole conversation about how so much of the slang that Gen Z uses is just online because so much of their lives are online. Snap chat, Instagram, and they're commenting all these things. But they wouldn't actually say them to anyone in person. Interesting, right? So what ones like would they actually say? And what would they would never say any like face card or anything like that or even serving face, but they will say someone is serving or your serving. That means you look pretty or you look good. They might say like, she's serving in that dress. I've heard my daughters say that. Like they'll see someone who looks great. They think her dress is beautiful. Be like, okay, she's serving. It just means she looks great in what she's wearing. Okay, or you could say she is eating that outfit. Exactly. I'm not learning. Exactly right, Michelle. Well done. Or they might say, where'd you get those genes you are seriously serving? And that means you look great. But if somebody said that to me, I would be like, what am I serving?

12:11What am I serving? What are you talking about? Grapes? I don't know. Oh, that is so funny. So that really brings up the most important question, Michelle. A lot of this, you haven't even heard before, right? Because you're not around teenagers all the time. Yeah. But I also wouldn't say any of it. My daughters would laugh at me if I said it. It's very slang that's specific to Gen Z, to teenagers. And so someone, our generation might say it to annoy them on purpose, right? But I would never say it to you. Like we're not going to use it in casual conversation because it's so specific to that generation. Right. Well, and then I mean, it makes me think of the whole six, seven thing. Like because, you know, I think what I don't know. What was I? Somebody was talking about how it's like, once the adults take it over, it becomes not the absolutely. If it started saying she's eating in that outfit, teenagers would never say it again. They would be like, nope, you ruined it. Yeah. So if we wanted to ruin this for them, we could start saying it. But I couldn't, I would be mortified to say that to anyone.

13:12And they wouldn't know if I said that to you, you would have no idea what I was saying. Well, it's just interesting. It's a whole, it's a whole other language. And I mean, yeah, I mean, I think back to when we were kids, and you know, I'm sure there were things that our parents were like, all right, totally ridiculous. Right. I remember, I remember things. And they, they were like, why are you saying that didn't understand? I'm like, you're just too old to understand. Yeah. And, but yeah, it's funny being now on the other side of so many things. I mean, it even, you know, I mean, it's just all the part of getting older. It even makes me think of just like musicians and actors that I don't know. I remember, I would always watch Saturday night live with my parents. And, you know, they would say who's the host or who's the musical guest. And my mom would always say, you know that person. And I would just be like, yes, mom, of course. Right. And now when I tried to watch Saturday night live, I'm like, you're like, who's Halsey? Yeah, yeah, exactly.

14:13Okay. So it's like, what happened to me? I know exactly. Anyway, so you and I are teenagers in this role play. Because otherwise, we would never say these things. So we are friends shopping together. And we are, you know, inhabiting our inner teenager here. So much fun. Okay. All right. I'm going to inhabit. Okay. Here we go. What do you think of the sweater? Oh, wow. She's gorgeous. You are seriously eating in that. Right. The color is perfect. And the fit is so cute. If you get that sweater, you're going to be serving this fall. I think I might wear this outfit to Sarah's birthday dinner. As you should. Go off. I'm just thinking you're not going to see any of them. Thank you. I'm just thinking that your kids are going to really like it. You should have them listen to this episode because so that they can laugh at the two old ladies. It actually would be really funny for them. And just to hear me say them. Because a lot of them, like, I hear them say them, but I don't say them. Right. Yeah. But yeah, let's go through this. So this is interesting. I said, you were like, what do you think of this sweater?

15:14And I said, she's gorgeous. And I'm talking about the sweater. Right. But this again is teenager speak. Right. They would be like, she's so pretty. She's gorgeous. And they mean the sweater, not the person. Yeah. Right. And I said, you are eating in that. Which just means you look great in that. Right. Exactly. And then you said, if you get that sweater, you're going to be serving this fall. So it's, I mean, what I like about these are, it seems like a lot of it is very positive. Well, that's what's interesting. Because I was talking to my daughter about prepping this episode. And she gave me all these details. And she said, but that's just the positive stuff. She's like, oh, the other slang for, you know, criticism. I'm like, we might have to do a part two. And I'll share all of the trendy slang for like, I'm like, wow, that everyone's so nice. Gen Z, the nicest generation. And then lastly, I said, as you should go off. So I don't mean the way you and I would say it, Michelle, meaning like get really angry and yell at people.

16:15I mean, like, do it. You look awesome. You should wear that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's funny. So this is really interesting because I love to this question. And yes, we want to know what these things mean, right? When teenagers speak, I want to know what they're talking about. Oh, yeah. But it's interesting that I would recommend that anyone over the age of maybe like 25 probably shouldn't say any of this because it really is reserved for teenagers. Would you agree, Michelle? Yeah. Yeah, they're like, I will not be saying any of this. Yup. Yup. If I, okay, if you were to say one of them, is there one that you'd feel the most comfortable saying? No, I wouldn't say any of these. And honestly, that also is a huge connection skill to know what you, not that you're too old, but like what is specific to a certain generation, right? You're going to hear people using this. You're going to hear it on TV podcasts, the younger generation. And how can you know that it exactly what it means? First of all, because it's sort of like an alien language. And also, if you should then turn around and use it to someone else.

17:17So I'm excited to share this with you. All of these Gen Z phrases that we're going to leave these for Gen Z. We're going to leave these for the teenagers. Yeah, leave them for Gen Z. So guys, check out, uh, uh, speaking of awareness of the language. Check out episode 2681. Self-awareness is key. Ignology or excitement in English. So guys, also we just want to remind dude to hit the follow button wherever you're listening so you don't miss any of these awesome episodes. Yes, awesome. Thanks, Michelle. It was fun. And lightning you to all this random thing. Thank you very much. You feel like you learned a lot along with our listeners, I would think. Yes. Yeah, this is great. Thanks so much guys for listening. Thanks for teaching me, Aubrey. Welcome. Awesome. We'll see you guys next time. All right. Bye. Thanks for listening to all ears English. Would you like to know your English level? Take our two-minute quiz. Go to all earsenglish.com forward slash fluency score. And if you believe in connection, not perfection,

18:19then hit subscribe now to make sure you don't miss anything. See you next time.