A sociology teacher interested in the slang used by some of his young students has vaulted again into the spotlight after originally going viral in 2019. James Callahan, a high school teacher in Massachusetts, keeps an alphabetized running document of new slang he learns from his Zoomer students.

One of my teenage coworkers heard me say "We gucci" the other day and I thought the poor girl was gonna have a stroke. Lol

— Brym (@Skibrym) September 13, 2022

Following a repost on Reddit of a 2019 tweet from one of his students, the wholesome document has become an important resource for those seeking to understand the Generation Z people in their lives. The comments were full of older people appreciating the chance to learn what terms like no cap really mean, and how they are used.

The discourse around Gen Z slang is vibrant and raucous. Many think that much of the slang is simply appropriated AAVE (African-American Vernacular English) rather than an original creation of Zoomers on TikTok. Companies seeking to promote Zoomer slang and cash in on trends related to it have notably faced backlash in the past.

A whole social company whitewashing AAVE…hate to see it pic.twitter.com/C4P6jp6JD6

— Kaysen (@KaysenHarlow) September 13, 2022

Gen Z has some fire slang I fear.

— Hihmji (@Ehmji301) September 9, 2022

Another element of the debate is over the definition of “Generation Z” as a category of people, who qualifies for membership and whether Zoomers are mid or bussin.

people born between 1995 and 2000 are not quite gen z, not quite millenials, but a third more obscure option

— gaut (@0xgaut) September 13, 2022

the real line between older and younger gen z is poptropica

— Official Poptropica (@Poptropica) September 12, 2022