20-year-old girlfriend’s nonstop TikTok-inspired ‘brain rot’ slang is making boyfriend rethink relationship: ‘Me: XYZ happened, her: you’ve gyatt to be rizzing me’

Author image for Etai Eshet
Etai Eshet • Editor
Jan 21, 2025 6:00 AM EST

Slang is like a linguistic time capsule—it defines a generation, creates inside jokes, and connects people through shared verbal quirks. But as fun as it can be, too much slang can sometimes cause, well, problems. 

Take, for instance, a young man in his 20s who adores his girlfriend—except for one little snag. Her love of TikTok-inspired "brain rot" slang has begun to overshadow their relationship, making it hard for him to feel connected on a deeper level. While he appreciates a good joke, the constant barrage of trendy catchphrases has started to feel more like a wall than a bridge.  

Before I try to unpack this situation for today's Gen Alpha crowd, let's hop into a time machine and set the stage for a more mature, nuanced folk of the 90s. Imagine the guy, totally into his girlfriend at first because she's all that and a bag of chips. They're vibing, and he's feeling fly, but slowly, her nonstop, over-the-top Booyahs and Schwings are making him question Wazzup.

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  • How do I (20M) tell my (20F) partner that her brain rot is making her less attractive

    "It has gotten to the point where I cannot have a single conversation with her"
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    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • I think this type of humor can be funny once in a while, and I understand that it's a part of the culture of people our age.
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  • I am referring to common terms frequently used on Tiktok/other social media platforms.
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  • It starts to chip away at the connection and makes him feel like he’s talking to a hand. What once seemed like da bomb now feels exhausting. Sure, the phrases are fun, but they’re overloading the relationship’s signal with static, and while that’s fun for a minute, 24/7? It’d leave anyone buggin’.  

  • Example: me: "XYZ happened" her: "you've gyatt to be rizzing me".
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  • However, her vocabulary is full of just straight up brain rot to the point where it doesn't feel like just a joke anymore. Everything is endearing during the honeymoon phase, so I used to frequently
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  • joke back to her. But now it's hard to find “sigma” or “hawk tuah" attractive, you know? It has gotten to the point where I cannot have a single conversation
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  • with her, in person or over text, where this type of language is not involved. I know this sounds so idiotic, but it genuinely turns me off when I try to have a
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  • Now that we’ve set the stage, let’s bounce into Gen Alpha slang to really unpack this love story. Spoiler: it’s not giving. I'm 32 which is way too old for this. It’s chaos. Stay tuned.

  • of still
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  • normal mature conversation but she responds with just brain rot. The thing is, she can be serious when needed, and occasionally we'll have a good conversation.
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  • Bro’s out here taking a fat L, trying to vibe with his GF’s NPC energy, and honestly, her negative aura is giving major skibidi vibes. The rizz? It’s just low-key buried six feet under in Ohio. No cap, though, my guy needs to go full sigma mode and secure some aura points by hitting her with open and honest communication. For real, king, don’t let the brain rot cook you into oblivion. Use your words, clutch up, and turn this convo into a W before it’s GG for their love story. Ate that? Let’s hope so!

  • These are the moments that I look forward to, where I don't feel like I'm talking to an immature high school boy stuck in the body of an attractive woman.
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  • She's beginning to notice my lack of enthusiasm, and feels insecure about it. I feel guilty for feeling this way, as she shows me nothing but love and support. I love her so much, but this is the one thing that I cannot get over.
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  • I just don't know how to approach this subject to her because I don't want to hurt her feelings or make her feel self conscious around me. I always try to reassure her when she's
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  • insecure, so I feel terrible bringing this up to her for fear of making her more insecure. She's a genuinely sweet, funny person, but the brain rot has gotten to be just too much for an adult.
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  • I understand the humor and I also use it from time to time. But, I think it's hard not to get tired of something after excessive usage. I will have a conversation with her about it soon, and I realize my fault in this for not
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  • communicating clearly to her. Guess I was just concerned about making her feel less than and damaging her self esteem. Thank you all for the advice, I will do better.
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  • cheerfulsarcasm For anyone who doesn't know the term "brain rot" after reading it nearly a dozen times lol.. it's like walking around all day in the 90s saying WUZZUPPPPP! Bababooey! Schwingggg!
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  • Spiritual_Bus_666 Instead of a swear jar, make a skibidi jar? Lol Just tell her brain rot makes you cringe. Be clear it's the words themselves, not her.
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  • MostGoodPerson I know a girl who has a Skibidi jar! She's one of my 6th grade students...
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  • Illexj Dude, this comment was too funny to me
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  • MostGood Person Brain rot is usually referencing the new slang everyone is using, mostly from memes/social media. Skibidi, sigma, rizz, Ohio, gyatt are all examples of brain rot. And for some people, it's used all. the. J. time.
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  • Source: I'm a middle school teacher. I hear it nonstop, everyday.
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  • normanbeets "hey can you cut back on the meme speak? It's kind of obnoxious." That easy
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  • No_Childhood_8555 Tell her literally everything you have typed out in this post. Tell her you really like her and you don't wanna hurt her feelings but you really want her to know that her humor has changed over time and that she could maybe tone the Tik Tok talk down for a bit because it makes you feel XYZ emotion.
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  • And if her feelings get hurt then reassure her that it's not her as a whole it's just the Tik Tok vocab that's throwing you off. Ask her if it's a phase or something like that.
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  • Better yet don't just go with complaints. We tend to pick up the humour we are exposed to. Maybe you can take her out to comedy shows or watch more movies or just replace the kind of content you guys consume so there's less recall. Don't manipulate her into this stuff obviously. Have a conversation and figure it out together.
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  • Brain rot is objectively not the best thing if that's all you're consuming. Have fun with it but try to expose her to new content and the vocab will vanish on its own.
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  • KnottyColibri I mean.... To be fair.. she's still basically a teenager lol she's still a kid and is young. She's only been "an adult" for two years. She still learning her personality, she's still learning how to communicate etc.
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  • these things WILL change over time. I for sure no longer speak the same way I did when I was 20. In actual relationships you need to know how to go "hey, _ can we talk real quick? I honestly get frustrated when I'm trying to have a mature conversation and the
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  • only responses I'm getting is stuff like hawk tuahhhh and other nonsense I honestly don't find funny. If you wanna use those terms I understand but please limit the use of them around me... to me it's like someone telling the
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  • same joke every 5 minutes it's just... idk not funny and getting old. Can you please limit the use of (xyz) words or get new frases to say. Thank you I appreciate you and love you and want to have better conversations" or something along these lines. Just be honest....
    via KnottyColibri
  • She may change she may not but ultimately looks aren't everything if you're not clicking... you both need to fix it or move on. Good luck
    via KnottyColibri

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Dating-Relationships boyfriend relationship advice teenagers early 2000s millennials slang relationships girlfriend advice gen x 90s kids gen z dating gen alpha
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