Bridging the Generation Gap
Or, a humorous translation guide to the Gen Z x Lab-speak mashup.
A Public Service of GGS
A new generation of 20-something lab workers is donning white coats and joining the world of beakers, spectrometers, and mysterious sticky spots on the benchtop. They’re also bringing a fresh dialect that has some of their veteran colleagues scratching their heads.
While Gen Z science graduates are out in the lab world fusing words like “rizz” and “slay” with processes like sample collection, MS analysis, and titration, at the same time seasoned lab techs are also casually throwing around cryptic acronyms like LOD, SOP, and “GMP says no.” It’s literally a linguistic petri dish of confusion.
That’s why GGS is here, performing a critical public service: Helping our clients translate the collision of Gen Z slang and lab acronyms so nobody mistakes “cap” for a pipette tip or thinks “fire” means an actual chemical incident.
Gen Z-Speak x Labspeak Translations
"This new pipette is clutch — my titrations are finally are fire."
This new pipette is extremely useful, it's making my titrations very impressive.
"Dr. Kim’s presentation on MS ATE — no crumbs left."
Dr. Kim’s talk on mass spectroscopy was incredible—absolutely flawless.
“You’ve been staring at that HPLC data all day. Go touch grass before you start seeing ghost peaks."
You need a break from analyzing that chromatography data. Step outside (get real) before you start imagining non-existent peaks.
"I tried to eyeball it, but QC totally ratioed my report — huge L."
I estimated my measurements instead of using precise tools, but Quality Control rejected my report with a lot of negative feedback — a big failure.”
“Dr. Patel is the GOAT at PCR, no cap. His bands are always crisp."
Dr. Patel is the best at running Polymerase Chain Reactions, seriously, His results always look perfect.
“I got sloppy seconds on the reagents, so my ELISA results are kinda sus."
I used leftover reagents from another experiment, so my antibody test results look questionable.
“This HPLC run was straight-up mid, and I’m getting ghost peaks everywhere."
The chromatography analysis was unimpressive, and there are unexpected peaks that don’t belong to my sample.
“My PI ghosted me all week, so I just did cookbook science and followed the SOP exactly."
My principal investigator ignored my emails, so I just followed the standard protocol without making any adjustments or understanding the science.
"That undergrad just did cowboy science on my samples—this data is straight GIGO*."
*garbage in, garbage out
That student didn’t follow protocols while handling my samples—so the results are unreliable due to bad data input.
"I was slaying that synthesis until I realized I grabbed something from the black hole—now it’s cap."
I was doing great on my chemical synthesis until I realized I used an unlabeled, mystery sample—so the results are unreliable.
“The lab was skibidi* Ohio today—two broken centrifuges and someone just set off the fire alarm."
*pronounced skih’- buh - dee
The lab was really weird today—two centrifuges are down, and someone triggered the fire alarm.
“This new media formulation is bussin - our cell cultures have never looked better."
This updated nutrient mix is amazing—our cell cultures are thriving like never before.
“I accidently yeeted the last aliquot of my sample into the waste bin — huge L.
I accidentally threw away the last measured portion of my sample which is a major mistake.
Now, whether the lab is bussin’ with successful experiments or operating at skibidi Ohio levels of chaos, you’ve started your journey to understand the perfect fusion of Gen Z slang and lab-speak to keep up!
Brought to you by the diligent, focused, no-nonsense team at GGS, where we believe that comic relief is a great way to make your lab more productive and stronger.
And if you need a quick repair or a Lab Gas Generator protection plan, we speak the same language.
Interested in identifying more Gen Z & Alpha slang? Click here to download an up-to-date download of terms and text acronyms.