Making Sense of Gen Z Jargon

There are many popular new words used by Generation Z. The popularity of which seems to be influenced by some extend by number of people who seem to understand the meaning of them. For example we have fam – for family, cap – means lie, no cap means no lying. Fam a short term for family. Vibe – someone’s energy and this is what we will be focusing on, in this article. Vibe Check – which basically means to check someone’s mood or energy.

We are sure that you must have heard phrases like “vibes not matching” in various contexts – in simple terms it means the emotional or communication connection with another person. If the “vibe” matches it is a “vibe check”. These terms are quite noticeable among millennials and generation z daily jargon, they are in fact over using them.

Since it is not a dictionary word no one has ever made a clear definition of the meaning of vibe check – it can have a multitude of meanings because no one can provide a precise explanation.

Although the first reference in UD dates back to 2011, the phrase vibe check has gained popularity only in the recent years especially on Twitter. Writer Palmer Haasch’s definition is: “Vibe check is getting a read on someone’s mood, aura, or aesthetic”.

Umru a musician that goes with @drive45music on Twitter is one of the first artists to shout vibe check in a musical event. Even he the phrase creator has a hard time defining the meaning or what the meaning has evolved too.

The phrase made it to google maps as well with google saying a new AI Feature will be able to vibe check cities and towns people want to visit.

So for instance if you are planing to to go Rome than the AI will vibe check certain areas or the whole city for you.

It’s not surprising that a rather recent New York Times Crossword puzzle (11 Feb) happened to have VIBE CHECK as the answer for one of its clues:
Emotional assessment of one’s surroundings, in lingo.

It even made a to politics. A notable mention of the words happened last year in New York when a congress candidate S. Patel had “Change the Vibe” in his posters.