I'm glad they added skibidi toilet to the dictionary, so I can stop asking my nephew what it means

To try and gain the approval of my six-year-old nephew, I randomly used the slang neologism ‘skibidi toilet’, with no real understanding of what I was saying.

He looked pretty impressed. I got kudos.

Still, I then asked him what it means, and he gave me as withering a look as a knee-high primary schooler can muster.

So, I was very glad to see that this phrase, along with thousands of other words, had entered the Cambridge Dictionary, which they say is the world’s most popular online dictionary for learners of English, this week.

Now, I can look it up, so I can get the definition and use it more efficiently. Let’s see.

“It has different meanings, such as cool or bad, and can be used as a joke. It was invented by the creator of an viral animated video series called Skibidi Toilet on YouTube”.

So, it means nothing. That’s disappointing.

But, also, I didn’t get any further than a B at English Higher Grade, but shouldn’t a word without a definition just be classed as a noise?

Maybe not. I suppose supercalafragalisticexpialodotious IS in the dictionary, after all.

Still, the skibidi toilet is as much use to me as a chocolate teapot.

The other new words that have been added to the dictionary are already familiar to me, too. I have said ‘delulu’- essentially a slang version of delusional - to my nieces, aged 12 and 14, before. This is a word that has gained mainstream traction, since Australian Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, used the phrase ‘delulu with no solulu’, about the opposition.

So, yeah, grown-ups are using it too.

The nieces are gen alpha - born in the 2010s - another phrase that was added to the dictionary this year. I’m an X, and we seem to be drifting too far away from each other, not only in the alphabet, but with our lexicon too. They’re the age group who are chronically online, where new words pop up on TikTok like dandelions on an unkempt lawn.

As well as ‘delulu’, I’ve also tried out other modern day parlance on them.

My attempt at calling them ‘bro’ didn’t go down too well, as it turns out that they pronounce it ‘bruh’. My youngest niece calls both her brother and sister, ‘bruh’. And her mum too.

I’ve also been using the term ‘roadmen’ to describe those naughty teenage gentlemen who go around town wearing black tracksuits and balaclavas while riding on electric scooters.

I think I’ve been using the term right, though I wouldn’t say it to their faces.

Also, I always say ‘slay’ in an approving and pure-hearted girls-supporting-girls fashion, but the way my younger relatives use it is dry, deadpan and withering.

I don’t remember when they got so good at sarcasm, but I am very proud.

The one phrase that isn’t in the dictionary, but which I heard the teenage niece say all week, on our recent annual holiday to Arran, was that the whole trip was ‘heavy boring’.

She pretty much said it on the hour, every hour. It was a bit draining at the time, but I like the phrase so much that I have adopted it in my own day-to-day life.

Anyway, I’m sure that the catchphrases from my own youth were way more positive than the new ones from the more cynical generations.

We had a catalogue of words to express how good something was, and a few, like ‘sick’ and ‘gnarly’ to confuse grown-ups.

I think we should bring back bodacious and cowabunga. Bodacious is still in the online Cambridge Dictionary, but cowabunga isn’t, which seems a bit sad.

It’s like the Ninja Turtles never existed.

Other notable new words that have been listed include the portmanteaus of ‘tradwife’ and ‘broligarchy’, both pretty self explanatory, and depressingly telling about the regressive age we live in.

Another new word is ‘lewk’, which is just a different way to spell look. That’s scraping the bottom of the barrel somewhat.

Other words have been eye-opening. I didn’t even know that a ‘mouse jiggler’ existed, until I read that the phrase had been added to the Cambridge Dictionary list.

It turns out that it’s an actual device that basically wiggles your computer mouse - as opposed to your pet one - so your employer thinks that you’re working when you’re presumably skiving. Now I know what to get for all my colleagues at Christmas.

Anyway, soon we will run out of space for words, and the old ones will get bumped out.

I sometimes feel sad that nobody says ‘bally’ any more, since that was one of my late dad’s favourites. As in ‘let that bally cat in’, ‘I’ve forgotten to put those bally bins out’, ‘turn that bally racket down’ and ‘where are my bally glasses?’

Also, ‘bloody’ needs to be downgraded, so it’s no longer a swear word.

It has no gravitas in that department, any more. We have invented too many gritty new ones.

My personal favourite slang expression of all time is the good old Scottish favourite of ‘shan’, or ‘pure shan’, but it’s not in any Cambridge Dictionary.

I also love clarty, but you don’t hear that so much any more.

If you don’t use them, I suppose you eventually lose them.

That’s why I won’t be persevering with skibidi toilet.

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