This is what these abbreviations mean (so you can chat with your Gen-Z daughter)

You might have thought that you had a good grasp of the Dutch language by now. But nowadays, the youth have put such a spin on it that I can imagine you don’t always know what they are actually telling you. You know what a message is, understand the difference between a story and a post, and you’ve even learned that ‘slay’ doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with a butcher shop. But then your daughter comes home.

‘Mom, shall we grab a cappu first? After that, I have a lawa, but I actually still need to sog. And tonight MDM, so I have to be a bit normi.’

Welcome to the wonderful world of Gen-Z. A world where a cappuccino suddenly becomes a capu, a bitterbal is a biba, and an evening with friends is simply MDM. Sounds complicated, but don’t worry. After this crash course, you’ll be able to chat with your Gen-Z daughter in no time. Or at least, you’ll finally be able to decipher what she means.

First, let’s cover the basics

We’ll start easy. Heerlie means delicious. Makes sense really. Something can just be heerlie, but if it’s really very good, we go for HDP: heerlie de peerlie. ‘This pasta is really HDP.’

That means your compliment has been well received. Did something not go down so well? Then you can of course just say the opposite. But I’ll get back to that later.

Having a drink, but shorter

The Gen-Z’er loves socializing, but apparently not too many letters. A beer for the road? That’s a BVO’tje. A special beer? A spebi. A cappuccino? A cappu.

And if you thought an espresso martini just stayed an espresso martini: no way. That’s an esma. The pornstar martini is a poma. Here’s an example from daily life: ‘Shall we first grab a cappu and then a spebi?’ If your daughter says this, you only need to say yes. The rest will follow naturally.

Food isn’t safe either

Food had to change too. Spaghetti bolognese is now just spagbolo. Bitterbal becomes biba. And after dinner comes the infamous ADD.

Not the condition you might be thinking of, but the after dinner dip. ‘I’ll be right there, I just need a ADD.’ Very understandable. We might call it ‘just lounging on the couch’, but Gen-Z calls it ADD. Sounds a lot more efficient.

And then we have the walks

A walk can of course just be a walk. But why call it that if it can be shorter? A long walk is a lawa, a short walk is a kowa. So when your daughter says: ‘Shall we do a kowa?’

Then you know: shoes on, jacket with you, and especially don’t think you’ll be home again after five minutes. Because what is a kowa for one person can easily turn into half an afternoon for another.

The GK is sacred

Then there’s the GK. The common room. In other words: the living room. But ‘living room’ is a word from another generation, so from now on it’s called the GK. This is a bit deeper student language.

‘I’m in the GK’, or: ‘Who’s in the GK?’

‘Can you come to the GK for a moment?’ You don’t have to wonder where that is. Just walk to the living room and act like you’ve been calling it that for years.

Study? We have something for that too

Then we come to perhaps the most recognizable abbreviation of all: Soggen. Study Avoiding Behavior. In other words: doing everything except studying. Cleaning your desk? Soggen. Going for a walk? Soggen.

Getting a cappu? Soggen. Rearranging your entire wardrobe while you have an exam tomorrow? Absolutely soggen. The beauty is: there’s always a reason why it ‘really had to happen’.

Love? No, not yet

Love also has its own vocabulary. A prela is a pre-relationship. So you’re not officially together yet, but something is clearly going on. ‘No, we have nothing. We’re just prela.’

Sure. And if you then have a slightly unrealistic expectation of how this will all turn out, you might be a bit delulu. Delusional, that is. That’s the English term for ‘crazy’ or ‘insane’. And not in the sense that you’re going crazy, but more that you have unattainable ambitions. But hey: who am I to say anything about that? A little delulu keeps life exciting sometimes.

When it all becomes a bit too much

Sometimes it’s time to just be a bit normi. In other words: act a bit normal. Not everything needs to become a whole story. Not every message needs to be analyzed. Not every eye contact means someone is in love. And no, one like on Instagram is not a marriage proposal.

So: ‘Ff normi.’ A sentence that every generation can actually use.

And just this

Some things are just really bad. And not bad in the sense that someone literally dies, but to exaggerate something. For that, you have d and dz. That stands for dead and dead sick. ‘That outfit is d and dz.’

It sounds dramatic, but that’s exactly the point. Gen-Z knows little between ‘well okay’ and ‘the end of times’. And if you ultimately want to make plans with your daughter, there’s of course still the dapri. The date picker. Because spontaneously meeting somewhere? Nice idea. But let’s first send a dapri.

Now you’re ready

You made it. You are officially educated. So when your daughter comes home tonight and says: ‘Mom, I’m going to do a kowa, then cappu in the GK and then I have MDM. Maybe a biba and spebi. Tomorrow I actually need to sog, but I have an ADD now.’

Then you know what she means. And maybe you even respond: ‘Heerlie, I’m in. But let’s be a bit normi.’ Look at that. You’re ready. How HDP is that?