There are a lot of differences between generations that include what music we like, what clothes we wear and it is actually evident from how we talk. People who lived in different periods of time have different language they use, especially colloquial speech and slang, because it changes with new generations and within a generation, but doesn’t overlap.
So it is sometimes hard for older people to understand what the younger generation is talking about when they use slang and that might make the distance between the generations even bigger than it is. Luckily, there are people who don’t mind explaining what the terms the youth uses mean.
Twitter user The Meanest TA, PhD. shared a hilarious thread of her interactions with her older coworkers of her explaining slang terms to them and in return receiving some tips on how to express her frustration in a professional manner.
More info: Twitter
Twitter user caught the internet's attention after she shared her hilarious interactions with her coworkers explaining the current slang to them
Image credits: Joi Ito (not the actual photo)
The Meanest TA, PhD. or Meanie, as she refers to herself, shares funny work-related stories and her love for cats on her Twitter account.
Bored Panda reached out to Meanie and although she wanted to maintain the mystery of who she is, she revealed to us that she is a consultant at the company she works for.
After a little digging through her account, we also learnt some fun facts about her that she gives in her intro meetings. She says, “I live on a ranch with my husband (PF, college professor), and my in-laws. I have three cats (Winky, Barn Cat, Princess Pouty Paws), and for some reason Hank the bull has taken a liking to me so I manage his emotions.”
She works with 5 men whose ages range from 48 to 75
Image credits: MeanestTA
Image credits: MeanestTA
Looking at the things Meanie tweets, it seems like she is a fun person to be around, she has a great sense of humor and doesn’t put up with people’s foolishness, although she doesn’t sugarcoat anything, so that might make her seem intimidating. In her bio she introduces herself as an “Academia-adjacent early onset curmudgeon.” So we asked why she thinks she is The Meanest TA and there’s actually a story.
The Twitter user told us, “I was a teaching assistant in grad school. I made this account to vent about the weird expectations universities place on grad student teaching assistants. It’s a joke, really, I got assigned the sweetest, most easygoing elderly professor my first semester and he said he got 'the meanest TA' to keep him on track.”
Image credits: MeanestTA
It seems they are very invested in today's slang and asks The Meanest TA if they are using it correctly or what it means
Image credits: MeanestTA
Meanie tweets quite a bit and there are many gems, but the thread that went viral with 141k likes was about her teaching her coworkers slang usage. Meanie herself is about 30 years old, as she confesses in an unrelated tweet, and her team members are 5 men, ages from 48 to 75.
In return, the Twitter user asks her coworkers to make her frustrations sound more professional. We wanted to know if they actually use the advice they give each other and Meanie admitted that she definitely uses the professional phrasing her coworkers suggest her: “I am a lot more blunt than my team and while I don’t deal with external clients/partners as much, they act as a buffer when I do.”
Image credits: MeanestTA
But in return she also gets very important advice on how to make her frustrations sound professional
Image credits: MeanestTA
Image credits: MeanestTA
Generations are often put up against each other and we like to highlight the differences between them. If there are any misunderstandings between kids and their parents or grandparents, we explain it with the generation gap.
However, Meanie doesn’t feel it and says that it’s not hard working with her older colleagues at all. She also adds that she is used to them and they like each other’s personalities.
Image credits: MeanestTA
Image credits: MeanestTA
You may think that it would be hard to be the youngest on a team with a generation gap, but the Twitter user actually doesn't mind it
Image credits: MeanestTA
Because it’s a more unusual team consisting of people from different stages of life, we were curious to know what are the most challenging aspects and the fun parts about being a part of such a team and being the youngest one.
Meanie revealed that “The most challenging thing is that they assume people will take them seriously, I assume the opposite.”
She continued with the positive, “The most fun is the different life experiences and how they line up. So when I was getting my driver's license in 2009, two of my current team members were returning from military deployments and two were retiring from their first careers.”
Image credits: MeanestTA
Which just proves that the differences between generations can be overcome and all of them should be appreciated for their characteristics
Image credits: MeanestTA
Image credits: MeanestTA
It seems that age isn’t an obstacle on this team and both sides can learn from each other, and it also is an inexhaustible font of hilarious tweets. Did you find Meanie’s slang explanations amusing? Also, will you use any of the professional corporate language that they suggested using instead of what we are all thinking? Let us know in the comments and if you have any similar experiences to share!
People were really amused with the thread as it got 141k likes and they shared their own experiences of similar situations
Image credits: evixir
Image credits: EmmaBlackmore8
Image credits: ManleyZeller
Image credits: DonaDickinson
Image credits: kaa1960
Image credits: nealkane
Image credits: readingjunkie1
Image credits: auntie_beans
Image credits: NDHedgehog
Image credits: Amber_mom_
Image credits: love_elizabet
Image credits: notyourenemy7
Image credits: ghostwriter4God
Image credits: TwitmoGotMeDown