A fun and witty teacher I enjoy, who is a huge favorite among her students, recently lamented: “When I started teaching, I aspired to change lives. Now, after many years, I’ve realized I have neither vibed nor have I capped.” She shook her head and looked at me. “I don’t understand what they are saying anymore. What is vibed?”
I love working with teens and also often find myself perplexed and intrigued by their vernacular. Last fall, I finally figured out “yeet”. Before that, I had to learn meme. Today, this Word Nerd is proud to report that she just might have a handle on cappin’ and vibin’.
Have you heard these terms? When I ask my 16 year old son how practice was, he often replies, “Fine, ya know, we were just vibin’. ” (short for “vibing”.) My daughter announced some good news in our family group chat this morning, and 19 year old son replied, “No cap?”
For all you puzzled people out there, especially you, Jennifer, ;), here is an explanation of “cap” and “vibe”.
vibe/vibin’ (verb) (Urban Dictionary)
- hangin’, doing nothing, chillin’, relaxing
- listening to music
- connecting with your surroundings
- feeling cool or relaxed or into something deep
- general state of enjoying or feeling good about a situation, person, place, or thing; can be used to describe interest in someone and like wise how they feel about you; can also be used to describe various levels of intoxication/pleasure from drinking/sex
- Vibe check: when one person assesses another one’s vibe; can be friendly; can also be aggressive, like beating someone up if they say or do something stupid
So, if my boy tells me he was vibin’ at practice, he was probably just chilling out with his friends. (I assume no intoxication and/or sex were involved.)
cappin’/ capped/ cap (Urban Dictionary)
- saying something that isn’t true; lying
- showing off
- short form of “high cappin” which was used in the 80’s to describe some one who lies about their social status or who flaunts brand new merchandise but is in debt
When “cap” entered our group chat this morning, and certain family members expressed confusion, I gave this Word Nerd explanation:
- Are you cappin’ = are you kidding? no way!
- no cap = no lie/ no joke; He makes awesome pancakes, no cap.
- stop cappin’= stop lying/ bragging; Stop cappin’, you never even played basketball.
Some were impressed; some were disturbed. Hopefully you are now well informed. And Jennifer, I’m confident that you have positively affected the lives of MANY students, no cap. 😉
If you like to learn new words and the origins of their meanings, visit the Wondrous Words Wednesday meme at Bermuda Onion. Each Wednesday, bloggers share new words they’ve learned.
Have you heard these teen terms and do you know how to use them? Are there others that still confuse you? I’d love to do some research.
Nice, thanks! I needed that because I work in the high school and I’m often in need of translations.
Yay! Happy to help, no cap! 😉
So I just texted my family to ask if they knew these terms. My kids did, my husband said cappin’ was cereal, like Cappin’ Crunch. Clearly he is out of touch, but my college kids came to the rescue!
Ha! Cappin’ Crunch! Hilarious. How does your husband feel about Snap Chat? I know you’ve said you like to keep up streaks with your daughter. My husband thinks everything about it is ridiculous, but I like some proof of life from my kids!
I haven’t heard either of those! Oh, goodness, I’m out of touch…
Don’t despair. Maybe they aren’t super popular where you are. 😉