Calling all olds (I'm including myself here)—if you are utterly confused by why everyone between the ages of 11 and 15 seemingly can't stop saying "skibidi," here are a couple of resources for you.
First, Mashable provides this overview of "Skibidi Toilet," an animated videos series created by Alexey Gerasimov, a Georgian-based animator, and uploaded onto his YouTube channel, "DaFuq!?Boom!":
The series is animated using computer graphics and falls into a film subgenre called Machinima, a portmanteau of "machine" and "cinema."
The plot generally depicts a dystopian world in which Skibidi Toilets — mobile toilets with human heads popping out of their bowls — are at war with humanoids who have speakers, cameras, and TVs for heads. The features of the most "human-like" characters are distorted and often warped in disconcerting or violent ways, which may make it difficult to watch for some viewers . . .
"Skibidi" is an onomatopoeia derived from the lyrics of "Give It to Me" by Timbaland. When sped up, the chorus lyrics "so give it to me, give it to me" sound like "skibidi." A mashup of "Give It to Me" and the song "Dom Dom Yes Yes" by Biser King is the anthem of the Skibidi Toilets and is used throughout the series.
While "Skibidi" originally had no inherent meaning, it has since evolved into a slang term used among children and teens, meaning either "bad" or "cool" depending on context.
Next, 23-year old Adam Aleksic, a self-proclaimed "Gen Z linguist" who has a linguistics degree from Harvard and a thriving social media presence under the name "Etymology Nerd," has also created numerous short guides that help translate Gen Z speak to older generations.
Here's a brief and helpful overview of "skibidi." And here he is discussing how influential videogame language and 4chan language have been for Gen Z and for the broader culture at large.
Honestly, all of his videos are interesting, whether you're trying to decipher Gen Z or just looking for some entertaining educational content about the ways language changes meaning over time. For more, check out the Etymology Nerd's website or follow him on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube.
