If you’re like me, you’re starting to feel a little old. When you tell your kids “Back in MY day”, when your favorite song comes on the “Oldies” station, when the styles you wore as a teenager come back in, and when the American language starts to sound a little FUNNY to you…yep, you’re getting old. For me, I was having trouble this summer when my babysitter kept using the word “Extra”, in what I thought was the wrong context. One evening, when she said my chicken & rice was so “extra”, and I thought, “Extra what? Extra salty? Extra yummy? Extra fluffy?” I finally waved the white flag and asked her what exactly “Extra” meant.
In the world of social media and texting, acronyms are all the rage to save time and space. New “slang” is being thrown around faster than I can keep up. And half the time I’m feeling like….
I DON’T KNOW.
So let’s clear up some of the confusion, shall we? This is not an exhaustive list by any means, but it should help you decipher what seems like the present-day Morse code.
First let’s start with the popular “Mommy” acronyms. Honestly, when I was pregnant with my first, I could barely make out some of the comments on the mommy boards. “I’m a FTM trying to EBF and my other LO is so impatient.” Or “My EDD is 5 months away and I can’t decide if I want to be a WM, PTWM, or SAHM. My SO doesn’t really understand my struggle over this decision.” WHAT?! WHAT DOES THIS ALL EVEN MEAN?! I never thought there were so many code words in Motherhood!
Here are some of the most popular and most used New Mommy acronyms:
BLM– Baby-led weaning
BM- Breast milk
CIO- Cry it out
CS- Caesarean/C-setion
EBF- Exclusively breastfeeding
EBM- Expressed breast milk
EDD– Estimated Due Date
FBM- Frozen breast milk
FF– Formula fed
FTWM-Full time working mom
FTM– First time mom
LO- Little one
MOM- Mom of multiples
MOPS– Mothers of Preschoolers (this is also a popular meet up group)
NIP– Nursing in public
NB- Natural birth OR Newborn
PG- Playgroup
PTWM– Part time working mom
SAHM– Stay at home mom
SO– Significant other
VB– Vaginal birth
VBAC- Vaginal birth after caesarean
WFHM– Work from home mom
WM– Working mom
And here’s the code of ALL THE LETTERS that are flying around these days. (Let’s assume that everyone knows what the “F” word is, so when you see that letter, you can draw your own conclusion.)
AF- As F (Honestly, I’m still wondering how this reference came about, but whatever.)
DD-Dear Daughter
DS– Dear Son
DH– Dear Husband
DILLIGAS – Do I look like I give a ____
DGAF– Don’t Give a F
EUC– Excellent used condition (Seen on swap sites)
FOMO– Fear of Missing Out
FR– For real
FTW– For the win
FIL/MIL– Father in-law/Mother in-law
GUC– Good used condition
HBD– Happy Birthday (Because it would take too much effort to actually wish someone a full HAPPY BIRTHDAY)
ICYMI– In case you missed it
IDK –I don’t know
ILY- I love you
IMO-In my opinion
IMHO– In my humble opinion
IRL– In real life
ISO– In search of (on swap sites)
JW– Just wondering
NIP– New in package (on swap sites)
NWT/NWOT– New with/without tags
NVM – Never mind
PPU– Pending pick up (swap sites)
TIA– Thanks in advance
LMBO/LMAO– Laughing my butt off…(or another body part which you can guess)
OTW/OMW– On the way/on my way
OFC– Of course
ROTFL – Rolling on the floor laughing
SM– Social media or social mention
SMH– Shaking my head (disapproval)
TBH– To be honest
TTYL– Talk to you later
TMR– Tomorrow
WYA– Where you at
YOLO– You only live once
Now let me fill you in on some lingo that every Millennial Mama (apparently) needs to know:
Extra: This term can be used in many ways, but in general, it’s sort of the modern day replacement for “super”. From what I can tell, it just means extreme, over the top OR unnecessary. “That shirt is so extra”….OR “Ugh, my mom is so extra”.
Bomb/Bombed: Against what you would naturally think, bomb/bombed is a good thing is a good thing these days. “I bombed that test.” (Actually meaning, he aced it. Don’t ask me.)
Boujee/Bougie: Derived from the French term “Bourgeois”, describing an elite social demographic, the Urban Dictionary describes this as “high class, ballin”. YEAH. So essentially over the top and super nice. “Her new car is so boujee.”
Lit: In my high school days, this would have described someone who had a little too much Mike’s Hard Lemonade. Now “lit” simply means fun, awesome, or cool”. “That party was lit”.
Salty: Being upset/mad/having an attitude about something. One of our contributors says her son uses this on her A LOT when she shuts down his requests before he’s done his chores. “Mom, you don’t have to get salty about it.” This had me ROLLING.
Basic: So typical or average, as my babysitter put it. This can apply to ANYTHING. For example, my mom wardrobe is BASIC. ; )
Low-Key: A mediocre or suppressed feeling about something. Like you’re playing it cool. “I low-key love that band.”
Shook: This means kinda “shaken up”, in a good OR bad way. Confused or surprised, like you can’t even believe it. “She got my highlights way too blond this time; I’m so shook.”
Yeet: Honestly, I don’t know how to explain this one, but apparently, it is indeed a thing. I think it’s a word of approval or agreement. Like “We owned that soccer game! YEET!”
Roasted: This meaning hasn’t changed, it’s still supposed to mean comically being put in your place or criticized. But apparently “roasting” in present day plays out online, and could lead to cyber-bullying.
Savage: Again, exactly what you would think, just used in more every day language. This would refer to someone who doesn’t care about consequences of his/her actions. In our Mama context, YES, our toddlers are SAVAGE.
Fire: In an attempt carry on the thermodynamics torch, I believe this word has replaced “Cool”. So anything that is awesome, or really good is fire. “That movie was fire, bruh.” (Bruh meaning BRO, by the way. Short for the real word, brother, remember?)
Gucci: This can be used interchangeably with Fire, just in case you needed more words to describe something awesome. “Those moves are Gucci”.
OG: The “original”, possibly short for “Original Gangsta”. As Vickie from The Real Housewives says..”She’s the OG from the OC”.
Ghost/Ghosted: In today’s age, this means totally disappearing from texts, phone calls, or social media. “Dude, that girl ghosted you.”
Yee-yee: I think this means excitement in general, but someone please give a better definition in the comments.
I’ll admit, I caught myself rolling my eyes and LOL-ing (wink wink) at some of these references. But every generation goes through their own “generational slang”. I’m pretty sure my parents felt the same way when I said “WHATEVER” every 5 seconds, referred to EVERYTHING as “cool” when it had nothing to do with the temperature, and labeled my Mom’s famous gumbo recipe as “dope”.
And as for now, I gotta BRB. ILY Mamas. IRL my LO is having to CIO, my SO is out of town, and my toddler is LHS. (You can figure that one out right?)
Peace Out.
P.S. I know I missed some, so please comment with yours!
