You know what word I hate? Adulting.
The word "adulting" is used by Millennials as a verb to describe things they should already be doing. Urban Dictionary defines it as "to do grown up things and hold responsibilities such as, a 9-5 job, a mortgage/rent, a car payment, or anything else that makes one think of grown ups."
Adulting Part 1
Where I find a problem with the word is when it is used with sincerity. I have seen people on Facebook, Twitter, and Snapchat say things like how they are "adulting" after doing their first set of dishes in their summer apartment, or vacuuming the house, or doing a load of laundry. It seems like "adulting" really just means "doing your chores to keep your living space from looking like garbage." Apparently, being an adult means doing things independently.
Adulting Part 2
The transition into adulthood is really about as slow as it can get, for the most part. We have college where we are among people our own age growing alongside us, and we're figuring out rent, jobs, school, and chores as we go along. There is never really a point along the way where our eyes are suddenly opened and we think, "wow, I now have this whole life thing all figured out." The journey can indeed be an emotional struggle, but "adulting" is really just things we should have been doing most of our lives or need to do now to not be gross.
Going off in another direction, I find it fascinating how Millennials use language these days. The way we communicate through image, text, voice, and emoji leads to various interpretations of the same idea or statement. This has led to the birth of new words and slang usages of words as well as new connotations of old ideas or visuals. Even more so, emojis and images can be adopted or received in completely different ways by different people. Twitter phenomenon @jonnysun has explored this on twitter and in real life as the individual behind the account studies at MIT.
Our generation has created many new words, and has an ever changing vernacular and viral language. Many of the words and phrases are cute and fun, like "bae." However, for some of us, these words are idiotic or just annoying. I find myself finding them annoying, yet I end up using the words ironically. This leads me down a slippery slope in which I cannot stop using the words in my everyday language, thus putting me in the same boat as everyone else.
What can I say? I'm a pretty woke bae who's thicc af tbh.
