Young people have always created their own slang terms over the years, yet the invention of the internet and social media has caused that to go into overdrive with new terms seemingly popping out of thin air every week.
You know you're starting to get old when you have to Google what certain terms means that you've been seeing online — and sometimes they quite literally have no meaning.
Don't pretend it's a new thing that kids have suddenly come up with either as we all had our own slang phrases when we were younger – and you might even still be saying them without realizing that you're incredibly uncool for doing so – but there's one in particular that you'll want to be aware of, just in case it gets thrown your way in the near future.
While many viral terms have positive or neutral connotations, plenty are also used as insults, and being caught out of the loop can leave you with egg on your face as you don't even know when you're being mocked.
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As shared by LADbible, the latest viral term that you should get to grips with is 'choppelganger', and it's meaning might not be obvious if you're not already well versed in another key viral Gen Z term.
Choppelganger is a portmanteau of the phrases 'doppelganger', which you should hopefully be familiar with, and 'chopped', which you might possibly be confused with.
The latter has nothing to do with slicing food, but instead is used to refer to someone who looks bad, is ugly, or 'facially challenged', as some online like to refer to.
For example, if you saw someone's outfit that you deemed to be unfashionable you would say that they look chopped, or the same if you've been left with a bad haircut.
It's an antonym of 'mogged' or 'mogging' – another similar recent viral term for young people on social media – although you might not have yet managed to get your head around that term either.
So, combining that with doppelganger you get a term that conceptualizes the notion of looking like the uglier version of someone else. This could refer to a celebrity of any random person, and the strength of the insult very much depends on the person you're being referred to.
Regardless though, it's never a good thing to be referred to as the uglier version of someone else – even if they're generally considered to be attractive – so make sure you're not mistaken the next time someone says you're a choppelganger as you've definitely not misheard.