The Most Important and Funny Gen Alpha Memes You Need to Know

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Trend expert Gia Rutkowski gives us the skinny on contemporary meme culture
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Chopped unc is cooking, but is he sus? If reading that sentence was painful or confusing, fear not, we’re here to help! Gen Alpha, like the digital generations before them, are proving to be meme pioneers, and it can be hard to keep up. That’s why we talked to trend expert Gia Rutkowski and slang expert Tobi Nwodo to fill you in on any you might have missed.

Gen Alpha Memes Explained

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A collage of popular gen alpha memes.

Trend expert Gia Rutkowski explains that “A common theme among emerging internet memes is that they are referenced more than used, automatically building irony into the joke.” So keep in mind that many Gen Alpha memes are less about meaning and more about...well, nonsensical fun!

1

67

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  1. It doesn’t have to mean something to be funny.
    This one’s pure echolalia—when you hear something funny and start saying it yourself. Nwodo tells us that the meme started when rapper Skrilla released his song “Doot Doot,” which contains the phrase “six-seven” as a throwaway line or adlib. The song was then used in sports highlights and the phrase caught on.[1] Skrilla himself has said it doesn’t really mean anything, and it’s whatever you want it to be, which could explain the appeal.[2]
    • Example: “6-7! 6-7!” (That’s literally all there is to it.)
    • Similarly, 41 is also a hot new number. Rutkowski explains that it’s “a newer meme originating from rapper Blizzi Boi, who raps about being 41 and having ‘41 of everything’ (goals, gold, etc.). The song isn’t new but became a meme when it circulated on Instagram and TikTok.”[3]

    Meet the wikiHow Experts

    Tobi (Hyperstrides) Nwodo is an influencer and content creator based in Los Angeles, CA. Tobi first got his start making videos about gaming and Fortnite, and later transitioned into commenting on internet culture, memes, trends, and slang.

    Gia Rutkowski is a content creator, speaker, and consultant based in Chicago, Illinois. Gia specializes in digital patterns and their behavioral implications.

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2

Alphas and Sigmas

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  1. It’s still pseudoscience, but now with added social hierarchy.
    It’s a common misconception that wolf packs feature an “alpha” leader.[4] But misconception or not, the idea took off in (problematic) male spaces, with certain communities claiming that some people are also alphas. This spun off into a whole intricate, dubious model of male hierarchy. “Sigmas” emerged as men who exist outside the hierarchy as confident, attractive rogues who don’t follow norms. Of course, it’s all hooey, but the hooey became its own sort of meme.[5]
    • Also included in the false hierarchy are betas (submissive males), and omegas, which are like sigmas but lower down.
    • Example: “An alpha speaks his mind, a sigma lets his actions speak for him.”
3

Aura

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  1. It’s rizz 2.0.
    “Aura” is basically charisma or rizz, but a little more general, and with more cool factor. When someone does something effortlessly cool, they’ve got aura. The term got its start when the New York Times described Liverpool center-back Van Djik as having “an aura” that dismissed his mistakes, and the internet latched on, and now aura is everywhere.[6]
    • Aura farming is when someone purposefully does something cool and impresses others.
    • Similarly, nonchalant caught on a way to describe someone who doesn’t care about the opinions of others. Someone who’s nonchalant is probably aura farming.
    • Example: “The way you walked into traffic and made all the cars stop for you had major aura.”
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4

Brainrot

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  1. They’ve outsourced the memes to AI.
    “Brainrot” is a catch-all term for anything online that probably inflicts a little brain damage, like nonsensical TikTok videos or spending hours and hours scrolling. Behold, the dawn of the age of robots.
    • Italian brainrot is a weirder offshoot featuring AI-generated animal mashups with vaguely Italian-sounding names that all have their own nonsensical lore.[7]
    • Example: “Bro get off of the internet you’re getting brainrot.”
5

Bussin’

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  1. The hot new way to say “That’s good.”
    Another term that originated from AAVE, “bussin” is another way to say “busting,” and is used to describe something, particularly food, that’s so good it makes you, uh, bust. It was first recorded in 2020, but has probably been around a lot longer, and was popularized in 2020 in a song of the same title by rappers Lil Uzi Vert, Doe Boy, and Southside.[8]
    • Example: “This Pad Thai is totally bussin’.”
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6

Chat, is this true?

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  1. Let’s ask the audience.
    This is a phrase that’s a product of Twitch videogame streaming, where streamers often interact with their viewers via text chat windows. Like many memes, it started with streamer iShowSpeed when he started doing “react” content—where he watches videos along with his viewers—and asked his chat if what he was seeing was real.[9]
    • Now, people say it whenever they encounter anything far-fetched or dubious.
    • Example: “I can’t tell if you’re serious. Chat, is this real?”
7

Chicken Jockey

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  1. It’s a Minecraft thing.
    That’s pretty much all you need to know. In the Minecraft Movie, there’s a moment where a pixelated video-game chicken enters a wrestling ring riding a pig. In proper Minecraft parlance, star Jack Black shouts, “Chicken jockey!” The delivery was silly and dumb enough to stick, and now all the kids are saying it. That’s literally all there is to it.
    • Example: “Chicken jockeyyyyyy!”
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8

Chopped

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  1. For when the mirror cracks.
    “Chopped” originated in AAVE (African American Vernacular English) to mean that someone is ugly or unattractive, kinda like saying that someone’s looks are totally butchered. “A chop” is something undesirable that you pass on. It hit virality with the Chopped Chin meme, a pretty mean jab at a particular teenager’s looks.
    • Example: “Sorry, but you look chopped with that new haircut.”
9

Clankers

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  1. The robot uprising is here.
    AI is everywhere, and now we have a word to express our frustration with it. “Clanker” has recently emerged as a derogatory term for any AI that shoves itself in your face. That said, people have raised concerns with the idea of creating new slurs, arguing that using any sort of slur for anything isn’t a good look.[10]
    • Example: “Stop talking to me, clanker.”
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10

Glazed

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  1. When it’s too good to be true.
    Something that’s “glazed” is something that people “overly compliment,” Nwodo says.[11] Kinda like putting a tasty glazed icing on a less-than-appetizing cake. It probably first appeared in 2021, and took off in online spaces like Twitch and Discord.[12] “Glazing” is the active verb.
    • Example: “That movie’s not even good. It’s totally glazed.”
11

Cocomelon

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  1. When you can’t afford a babysitter, just ask Cocomelon.
    Cocomelon is a YouTube channel that features animated stories that are downright hypnotic to anyone with a growing brain. They’re colorful, energetic, and also a little nonsensical. Recently, “Cocomelon” has become synonymous with brain-off, drool-inducing activities like scrolling social media.
    • Example: “Twitch streams are basically Cocomelon for unemployed adults.”
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12

Cooked

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  1. For when things go south.
    Nwodo also explains that “cooked” as a past-tense verb means that someone is totally doomed, washed-up, or burnt out.[13] It’s part of the many versatile meanings of the beautiful AAVE slang term.
    • Example: “Time to give up, bro. You’re cooked.”
13

Crashing Out

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  1. If you’re not keeping it together, you’re crashing out.
    “Crashing out is when someone like loses their temper,” Nwodo says.[14] Like so many other memes and slang, it comes from AAVE, and originally was used to describe when someone got so frustrated that they kind of ruined their life somehow. Lately, the meaning has been watered down to just mean that someone is frustrated. Don’t crash out!
    • Example: “If this car doesn’t start I’m about to crash out.”
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14

Fanum Tax

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  1. I’ll have what you’re having.
    Basically, when you steal your friend’s food, you’re taking a “Fanum tax.” Rutkowski tells us that it “originated from the streamer Fanum, who “taxed” his friends during streams by taking bites of their food. The joke quickly became popular, and now many young people reference “Fanum Tax” in any situation involving taking something or committing a minor transgression.”[15]
    • Example: “I didn’t steal your fries, I took a Fanum tax.”
15

Gigachad

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  1. Chads are prime specimens, so gigachads must be… Superprime specimens?
    Rutkowski explains: “Gigachad originated from a fake photo of a man altered to look like a caricature of masculinity…. This meme is theorized to be from 4chan red-pill/looksmaxxing corners, who popularized the image as the comical epitome of male attractiveness. ‘Chad’ is the slang term referring to a very attractive, traditional man—think Henry Cavill—and it was memeified and turned into a cartoon with the suffix of "giga-."[16]
    • Rutkowski goes on: “This image, though used in joking contexts, is also still perceived as a valid representation of desirable male traits by the demographic that created it, appraising aggressive hyper-masculinity as attractive. This has been proven to be false in the context of mating behavior, with women largely displaying a preference for more 'feminine' male faces.”[17]
    • Example: “He thinks he’s some sort of gigachad but really he’s just annoying.”
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16

Gyatt

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  1. It’s your wagon, sorta.
    We mean your caboose. Your backside. Your booty. Gyatt. Rutkowski tells us that this is slang “also popularized by Kai Cenat,” the immensely popular Twtich streamer. Originally, she says, it was an AAVE term that came from “g*damn,” like when you “express surprise, often in reference to an attractive woman (commonly one with a large backside).”[18]
    • Example: “Gyatt! Did you see that baddie?”
17

Let Him Cook

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  1. For when you want to see where this is going.
    Nwodo explains that “cook” has many meanings in slang, but when someone says “let them cook,” they mean that someone is onto something and they want to hear them out or see where it’s going.[19] It’s like they’re a chef making a dubious dish that might end up being really tasty. Of course, most of the time it’s facetious or ironic, like in response to someone speaking nonsense, but that’s what makes it funny.
    • Example: “Wait, don’t interrupt him. Let him cook!”
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18

Mewing

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  1. Act like a cat to become more manly, or so they say.
    Nwodo says that “mewing” is thought to emphasize one’s jawline and make them more attractive.[20] To mew, you literally meow like a cat. It’s a looksmaxxing (an online community obsessed with aesthetics) pseudoscience meant to make you more appealing. Does it work? Probably not, which is probably why the kids are all over it—it’s kind of ridiculous.
    • Example: “I don’t know why my entire bone structure hasn’t changed. I’ve been mewing every day!”
19

Mogging

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  1. It’s a fashion war in the streets.
    Nwodo explains that when someone says “mog,” they mean “You look really good.”[21] More specifically, when you mog, you look better than someone else, or outdo them in the looks department. Like many a meme these days, it comes from the ill-conceived looksmaxxing scene circa early 2000s, and is short for “alpha male of the group.” In other words, when you mog, you assert yourself as the dominant person.[22]
    • Example: “See that girl? She’s totally mogging everyone with her new boots.”
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20

Ohio

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  1. What even goes on there, anyway?
    This one took off around 2021, but it’s got some staying power. It started when a handful of odd headlines out of Ohio broke containment, and people started commenting “Only in Ohio” as a way to poke fun. Then, the trend spiraled into absurdity when users began commenting or captioning “Only in Ohio” on totally unrelated, wacky posts, like this freaky TikTok from user railed0_0. Eventually, it was just shortened to “Ohio” and became another brainrot term, Nwodo tells us.[23]
    • Other iterations of the meme include saying things like “Can’t have sh*t in Ohio,” and, “Can’t even ____ in Ohio,” to suggest that Ohio is uniquely cursed.
    • Example: “Found a dead rat in my hotel room. Tch, only in Ohio!”
21

Performative

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  1. Are you a performative male?
    Contemporary culture is obsessed with appearances, and recently those obsessions have come to a head with accusations of other people being “performative.” That is, they’re only into something—books, movies, even beverages—to impress other people. “Performative males,” therefore, are men who try too hard to impress people.
    • Are you a performative male? Find out with our handmade quiz!
    • Example: “He only likes matcha because he’s a performative male.”
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22

Rizz

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  1. You either got charisma, or you don’t.
    “Rizz” is short for “charisma,” and is used to describe one’s ability to chat up people and score dates. It started when Twitch streamers Kai Cenat and Silky began livestreaming dates and using “rizz” to describe dates that went well. Since then, it’s become a catch-all term for charisma.[24]
    • The Rizzler is an internet child celebrity, Christian Joseph, who makes a funny face that epitomizes the concept of Rizz.
    • Example: “He thinks he’s got rizz but he still can’t get a date.”
23

Skibidi

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  1. Those weird toilet guys are still everywhere.
    Skibidi Toilet is a long-running YouTube animated series featuring heads in toilets battling beings with TVs for heads. “Skibidi” itself has no meaning, and neither does the meme it spawned. It’s just another fun, nonsensical thing to say, especially when you want to confuse and confound. Nwodo tells us that Skibidi falls under the brainrot umbrella, since it’s pretty nonsensical and doesn’t actually mean anything.[25]
    • Example: “Skibidi toilet! Skibidi toilet!”
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24

Sus

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  1. There’s an imposter among us, and they’re pretty sus.
    “Sus” is short for suspicious, and means just that. It got its start with the release of the online multiplayer game Among Us, where players play as spacemen on a ship, but one of them is a bloodthirsty alien in disguise. Players would describe each other as “sus” to point fingers, and the term escaped containment to the greater internet at large.
    • Amongus is a related meme where people point out the vague shape of the little spacemen when they find its semblance in everyday objects.
    • Example: “Why are you stammering? You’re acting sus.”
25

Unc

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  1. That’s your uncle.
    “Unc” is AAVE for uncle, but there’s a bit more to it than that. An unc is someone who’s older and has more aged taste in things like movies and music, like when you’re a kid and that weird-but-cool uncle tries to get you into Steely Dan. That’s unc behavior. Unc status.[26]
    • Example: “All unc does is talk about how things were back in the day.”
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References

  1. ↑ Tobi Nwodo. Meme, Brainrot, and Slang Expert. Expert Interview
  2. ↑ https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/67-meme
  3. ↑ Gia Rutkowski. Trend Expert & TikTok Influencer. Expert Interview
  4. ↑ https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/is-the-alpha-wolf-idea-a-myth/
  5. ↑ https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/sigma-males
  6. ↑ https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/aura-slang
  7. ↑ https://www.icls.edu/blog/italian-brainrot-characters-the-wildest-way-to-learn-italian
  8. ↑ https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/bussin
  9. ↑ https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/chat-is-this-real
  1. ↑ https://www.npr.org/2025/08/06/nx-s1-5493360/clanker-robot-slur-star-wars
  2. ↑ Tobi Nwodo. Meme, Brainrot, and Slang Expert. Expert Interview
  3. ↑ https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/glazing-slang
  4. ↑ Tobi Nwodo. Meme, Brainrot, and Slang Expert. Expert Interview
  5. ↑ Tobi Nwodo. Meme, Brainrot, and Slang Expert. Expert Interview
  6. ↑ Gia Rutkowski. Trend Expert & TikTok Influencer. Expert Interview
  7. ↑ Gia Rutkowski. Trend Expert & TikTok Influencer. Expert Interview
  8. ↑ Gia Rutkowski. Trend Expert & TikTok Influencer. Expert Interview
  9. ↑ Gia Rutkowski. Trend Expert & TikTok Influencer. Expert Interview
  10. ↑ Tobi Nwodo. Meme, Brainrot, and Slang Expert. Expert Interview
  11. ↑ Tobi Nwodo. Meme, Brainrot, and Slang Expert. Expert Interview
  12. ↑ Tobi Nwodo. Meme, Brainrot, and Slang Expert. Expert Interview
  13. ↑ https://www.parents.com/what-does-mogging-mean-how-this-slang-term-could-affect-your-childs-confidence-11849510
  14. ↑ Tobi Nwodo. Meme, Brainrot, and Slang Expert. Expert Interview
  15. ↑ https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/rizz-unspoken-rizz
  16. ↑ Tobi Nwodo. Meme, Brainrot, and Slang Expert. Expert Interview
  17. ↑ https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/unc-unc-status

About This Article

Gia Rutkowski
Co-authored by:
Gia Rutkowski
Trend Expert & TikTok Influencer
This article was co-authored by Gia Rutkowski and by wikiHow staff writer, Luke Smith, MFA. Gia Rutkowski is a content creator, speaker, and consultant based in Chicago, Illinois. Gia specializes in digital patterns and their behavioral implications. Growing up immersed in the online world sharpened her ability to spot rising trends and cultural shifts before they go mainstream, turning them into actionable strategies for clients and digestible breakdowns for her 130k+ young followers. Her bilateral approach to media analysis, working closely with both corporations and consumers, keeps her plugged into the rapid cycle of influence. Gia is currently studying Sociology and Philosophy at Loyola University Chicago. She educates a global, intergenerational audience on the evolving cyber-world and its real-world entanglement, sharing her work across TikTok, Substack, and YouTube. She’s worked with youth-focused media outlets to share her insights with hundreds of millions of monthly viewers and has been recognized by Yahoo! News, Glamour, and more. This article has been viewed 3,567 times.
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Updated: February 16, 2026
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Categories: Social Media | English Dialects and Slang
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