Cap

The Bridge: Gen-Z uses “cap” to express disbelief, similar to the use of “get out of here” or “no way” from prior generations.

Past Tense

Not much gets past those of us with some years under our belts, and we’ve got a ton of sayings that’ll show it. We’ve all used “shut the front door”, “get outta town”, or even “you’re pulling the wool over my eyes,” when hearing and experiencing the unbelievable – like some positive news about DOGE Coin (finally). But what if we told you that Gen-Z, in all their wisdom, has condensed these phrases into one word:

This week’s lingo introduces “Cap”, a nice way of calling something a lie, to your 2022 vocabulary. The word is primarily used as a response to these three things: a lie, a wildly unbelievable experience, or very good news. Z-llennials even use the blue baseball cap emoji (🧢) in the place of the word- a modern hieroglyph if you ask us. Don’t worry, the phrase has nothing to do with headgear.

Now, we’re even a bit weirded out by the complexities of cap. How can we put it…

That clicking sound a gas pump makes when your tank is full, that’s cap. Only in this case, the pump is a far-fetched story, and the tank is your ears. We’re pretty good with metaphors here at the Gen Bridge, no cap!

Check out this guide to using this lingo in a non-cringe way:

• “That’s cap” – This sounds like a lie/too good to be true.
• “No cap” – I can assure you this really happened.
• “You’re capping” – You’re lying or prove you’re not lying.
• “🧢” – Same effect as “That’s cap”, used on social media and in texts.
• “Sir cap-a-lot” – Someone who tells a lot of tall tales.

Has your Gen-Z kid been capping lately? Let us know in the comments @thegenbridge!