What Does ‘Call Your Uber’ Mean When Teens Say It

We’ve covered off mid, chat, chopped, choppelganger, tuff, six-seven (*takes a breath*) and dozens of other weird phrases kids come out with thanks to viral internet culture.

Now, some teachers in the US are reporting kids are saying “call your Uber” or “call yo Uber” in class. Uber is a popular ride-hailing company so it’s kind of like saying, “call yourself a taxi”. In short: you need to leave.

TikTok creator and teacher Philip Lindsay said: “‘Call your Uber’ is a phrase that I’ve heard kids starting to use in the last couple of weeks and it’s always directed at somebody who’s either being annoying or doing something unwanted.”

The phrase has likely come from a video, the educator explained, where two people are interacting and are “very obviously annoyed at each other” – then one of them tells the other to “call your Uber”.

Another teacher known online as Coach Philly noted he’s also heard the phrase and will be using it because it’s “hilarious”.

“I actually love this one and yes I’m going to use it,” he said in a TikTok video.

“So anytime you hear ‘call your Uber’ that just means: ‘please stop’, ‘shut up’, ‘you’re annoying’, ‘get out’, ‘leave’, ‘just quit’ … If you see somebody doing something you don’t like or they’re being annoying or they’re getting on your nerves or you want them to leave, you just say ‘call your Uber’.”

When Gen Alpha uses it, “mid” means mediocre or of disappointing quality. If you’re described as “mid” by a teenager then they’re basically saying you are… average.

According to Merriam-Webster, “mid” serves to express that something falls short of expectations, or isn’t impressive.

The dictionary notes that this slang term is thought to have come from a shortening of the term mid-grade, “a designation in cannabis culture of medium quality”.

“City boy, city boy” is the call of Gen Alpha currently, with TikTok creator and teacher Philip Lindsay noting kids in his class have been saying it.

“It’s a meme from an old video clip that they’re just repeating,” explained the teacher, who is based in the US. The memes actually first did the rounds in 2022 and appear to be popular again.

From a Gen Alpha perspective, Mr Lindsay suggested the phrase doesn’t really mean anything and kids are just shouting it out at all opportunities – a bit like six-seven.

This is short for “uncle”. And, per Merriam-Webster’s dictionary, it’s “often used humorously to indicate old age” and may imply “someone is old, getting old, or acting older than their age”.

Unc status may also be awarded to someone who “exhibit[s] behaviours that are considered outdated or out of touch”.

In Gen Z and Gen Alpha speak, it means “ugly”. In some cases, younger generations have been calling people, mainly girls, chuzz – a less-than-friendly portmanteau of “chopped” and “huzz”, which means “ugly hoes”.

If your child’s been called chopped at school, here’s some advice on handling it.

Some kids have also been using ‘chopped’ to describe anything they don’t like. (So basically, “that’s chopped” became the equivalent of “that sucks”.)

Choppelganger is a portmanteau of ‘chopped’ (aka ugly), and ‘doppelganger’, which is a person who resembles someone else. In short, it’s calling someone a less-attractive lookalike of someone else.

Check out our ultimate guide to teen slang here.