If you have a Gen Y in your life, or if you spend a lot of time texting, IM’ing (instant messaging) or BBM’ ing (Blackberry messaging” it’s likely you will know what the
following acronyms mean:

LOL
MOS
PAW
ROFL

If you don’t know what they mean, here’s the translation:

Laugh out loud
Mother over shoulder
Parents are watching
Rolling on floor laughing

We live and work with a whole new generational language and fairly soon there will likely be classes on, “how to speak Gen Y”. Some of you might be asking, “Why would I even want to learn to speak their language?” There are a few reasons:

1.       When we can speak the ‘language’ of someone’s culture we can relate to each other more easily.
2.       By learning the ‘Gen Y language’ we are showing that we care to understand and that we care to build the relationship.
3.       Learning a new way of communicating leads to enhanced creative thinking.

Today, while finishing up lunch our Gen Y server said, “What are you doing for the rest of your Friday?”
I said, “ I am self employed, I will likely be ‘dogging it’ this afternoon. The Gen Y gave me a blank stare and then I realized I needed to translate for her, so I said, “let me rephrase that in Gen Y, this afternoon I will be “peacing it out”. She broke up laughing and said, “Oh that I understand, you will be taking it easy this afternoon”.

I have an advantage as a generations expert, but I also interact with my Gen Y kids on a regular basis and so I am surrounded by their ‘lingo’.

So how can you speak the language of a Gen Y? Here are 3 ways:

1.       Check out the site http://www.netlingo.com to find out more acronym’s
2.       Take a lunch with a Gen Y and ask them to update you on their common terms for example, chill to a Gen Y means relax but they have also created, “chillax” which means “chill and relax” at the same time. The word bomb, means good not bad and ‘peace’ means good-bye.
3.       Check out websites like TMZ, http://www.tmz.com, search You Tube for clips for interviews with Gen Y celebrities like Justin Bieber.

The benefits of speaking the language of Gen Y are many including, relating on a more personal level, increased loyalty to you if you are their boss, and of course you will up your ‘coolness’ factor.

Cheryl Cran, CSP is the author of, “101 Ways to Make Generations X, Y and Zoomers Happy at Work” as well as “The Control Freak Revolution” and “50 Ways to Lead & Love It”. She is a leadership and generations expert frequently in the media. To find out more visit http://www.cherylcran.com