The other day, my son was talking to one of his friends, and challenging him to a dare.
“On skibidi?” My son asked.
Which, of course, being an older man, confused and scared me, as I had no idea of what “on skibidi” could mean. And I’m a writer, I write thousands of words every day, so I have a pretty good grasp of English.
So what could this new lingo mean?
“On skibidi”, of course, stems from the bizarre YouTube smash hit “Skibidi Toilet”, the animated saga that’s now spawned a line of toys and physical products that are being sold in department stores.
Yes, an online video series about heads that pop out of toilets and take on sentience has now spawned a million-dollar business. Welcome to the new era of digital trends.
If, like me, this feels a little strange, and a little disconcerting, the latest trend listing from GIPHY may help. Rather than compiling a list of the top GIFs from its library for 2024, GIPHY has put together an overview of rising search terms in the app, which points to shifting vocabulary and slang terms that are being popularized by online interaction.
Including “skibidi”:
You’ve no doubt seen these terms floating around the web, though I would advise caution in actually using them in speech. You may want to impress your kids with how in-touch you are, but an off-tone reference to “skibidi” could kill any illusion of such immediately.
Best to leave it out if you don’t quite understand it.
GIPHY’s listing also looks at the rising references to the chat in everyday speech.
Which I imagine stems from gaming creators making comments on live streams, but has somehow morphed into a thing that people say. Like saying “LOL” in actual conversation.
The listing also covers off on other key conversational trends, including increased verbosity:
How applicable these are to you, and indeed, your brand, will vary significantly, but it does provide an interesting overview of key conversational shifts, and the language people are increasingly using to interact.
Maybe, there are some notes there for your outreach, though again, I would advise a level of caution in approaching such.
On skibidi (I doubt I’ve used that right).
You can check out GIPHY’s full listing of trends here.
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