“Smash” is a hot candidate for the choice of youth word 2022. In addition, “bottomless” and “doer” are two other contenders. The three favorites were announced by Langenscheidt-Verlag in Stuttgart on Tuesday.
Langenscheidt has been publishing the youth word of the year since 2008 – at that time “Gammelfleischparty” (over 30 party) won. This year’s election began on June 7th. By the time the top 10 were announced in early August, 200,000 people had voted. However, only the voices of the participants between the ages of 10 and 20 were and are relevant for the evaluation. Since August 9th, the top 3 have been determined from the top 10. Finally, on October 25th, the youth word 2022 will be finalized. Last year’s winner was “cringe” – the shame of others.
In the selection for 2022, what is particularly striking – like many youthful words of the past – is an English word “smash”. Translated it means “to smash”, but it is to be seen in connection with another English word – “pass”. The word duo is used in a popular party game in which players are rejected (“pass”) or enthusiastically accepted (“smash”) as possible sex partners. This gives a new meaning to the word used both as a verb and as a noun. Possible paraphrases: pick someone up, get in a box with someone or have sex with someone. The object of desire can be a “smash”.
Other favorites are self-explanatory
The other two favorites are pretty much self-explanatory: According to Langenscheidt, a “doer” is someone who implements something without hesitation, who tackles something or gets something baked. “Bottomless” young people find something that is unbelievable or abysmal bad. Discriminatory and offensive terms of any kind are eliminated by the publisher.
For the youth researcher Simon Schnetzer, youth language is a sociolect spoken by certain social groups with different words, expressions and grammar. “Youth language serves as a connecting element for young people in the phase of orientation and in the search for belonging, similar to clothing, music or certain forms of behavior,” explains Schnetzer. What promotes cohesion internally represents a possibility of differentiation externally. One example is that young people use the youth language as a secret language so that other groups, parents or teachers do not understand it.
Information from the youth researcher Information Langenscheidt
