<
https://slate.com/technology/2024/11/chat-gen-alpha-teens-slang-twitch-streamers.html>
"Shyla Carter was recently beefing with a classmate. The 13-year-old set down
her math homework as she described the issue to her former teacher, JP Peralta.
The miscommunication began in person, she clarified, but quickly trickled
online. Carter, frustrated with the way it was handled on social media, decided
to delete her Instagram and TikTok. Too many things are baiting her rage right
now: interpersonally, politically, internationally.
She heaved a sigh. “I see so many things that be making me want to scream,” she
said. “I don’t know, chat.”
Carter likes using the word “chat” to address people. It can be used to address
her friends all together, her friends individually, and sometimes her family
members. It’s both singular and plural. It’s both second and third person.
Everybody, regardless of the size of the intended audience, is chat. “I say it
all day long,” she said. “In any situation.”
The terms “chat” and “chat is this real” have exploded in popularity over the
past few years. The term, originally used in contexts like “chat, this real?”
to “chat, am I cooked?” stems from the world of Twitch and Discord, as
streamers ask their audience for clarification, support, and answers—all within
the confines of the stream’s chat window, where viewers can communicate with
the streamer through text. But now, it’s become adopted as IRL slang, used in
any context, for any reason at all.
Popularized by gamers like iShowSpeed in 2023, the term originally began as
creators ironically asked their followers to identify obviously doctored or
A.I.-generated content presented to them during their live streams (“Chat is
this real?”). As it moved through TikTok and Instagram, the term focused solely
on the plural possessive, as people jokingly addressed their intangible
audiences. In spaces like r/Teachers on Reddit, educators have shared hundreds
of stories about the moniker taking over classrooms.
“My friends around me watch a lot of Twitch and livestream, so they get it from
Kai Cenat and Duke Dennis, people like that,” Carter said. “I use it for people
around me. Like, ‘Yo chat, come here.’ ”"
Via Kenny Chaffin.
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
