NatNews

For the next two weeks, some of the greatest athletes in the world are putting all of their skills and limits to the test and probably reminding some of us just how amateur we are. All of their training over the last four years (and likely for some of their entire lifetimes) has finally brought them to what might be the biggest competition stage they’ll ever see.

The Summer Olympics draws in a significant amount of support—nearly 29 million viewers tuned in to the Opening Ceremonies last Friday. Whether they are watching to see specific events, to support their countries, to keep up with what Snoop Dogg is going to say or do next, or simply to enjoy witnessing unique moments in history, individuals all across the globe will find ways to embrace as much of the 19-day spectacle as they can.

Denver resident Amanda Bennett said she enjoys the Olympics because it is one of the few things on television or the internet that her entire family likes to watch together.

“I only wish the Summer Olympics started at the beginning of the summer break, rather than toward the end,” she said. “Quality time with kids is fleeting in the face of social media, video games, etc. I will soak up as much of it as I can get.”

For Dallas resident Becca Finke, the Olympics is a time to find peace and joy in the idea that the best athletes from all over the world are able to come together in one highly anticipated and celebrated setting.

“There is a sense of unity and fun competition in a world that feels so muddled,” she said.

And that level of competition leaves many spectators wondering how what they just witnessed is even physically or humanly possible.

“These are the best athletes at their respective sports, and we don’t normally get to watch many of these events,” Dallas resident Craig Borkenhagen said. “That and the fact they are representing their countries makes it feel like so much is at stake. The intensity level is so high, and every event is so thrilling to watch.”

Even only a few days in, the Paris Olympics have already provided a number of exciting moments, including podium finishes for American divers and swimmers. You can bet that Dallas resident Katie Butler relished in those celebrations, as such events carry more significance for her because of personal experiences in her competitive history.

“I like watching swimming most because I did it growing up,” she said. “I also think it has the events where people are least likely to get hurt. Most other sports freak me out—like in gymnastics and ice skating, I’m convinced they are going to fall.”

And sometimes they do fall. But that doesn’t stop people from wishing they could compete alongside those athletes. In fact, the majority of NatNews readers who participated in a recent online poll indicated that if they had the talent and abilities to compete in any Olympic sport, they would choose gymnastics. Bennett is one of those gymnast enthusiasts, though she would also like to take a stab at fencing.

“As a child who grew up dancing, I recognize many parallels in the gymnastics world, especially with the floor routines,” she said. “I love seeing the melding of athleticism and art in their performances. As for fencing, I watch too many movies—it’s just a freaking cool sport!”

Others, like Butler, wish they could compete in events that don’t actually exist in the Olympics. Well, yet. Who knows what could come four years from now? After all, breakdancing was added to this year’s competitions.

“I wish indoor cycling was an event,” she said. “I have taken like 1,000 indoor cycling classes and know all about the sport, so I feel like it would be cool to have an event I actually knew a ton about.”

Another excitement-filled athletic endeavor still ahead is track and field, which begins August 1. Borkenhagen, who is a long-distance runner, said he would opt to compete in the 100-meter dash because it is over quite quickly. Or he would tee it up and play golf.

“[In the 100], you have no room for error and no time to make up distance or to rectify mistakes,” he said. “And growing up, I always thought guys like Michael Johnson and Maurice Green were so cool. For golf, I just love the sport a lot, so to represent my country while playing it would be amazing.”

Overall, though, no matter what event he competed in for this current non-reality, Borkenhagen said he believes that one of the best things about being an Olympian would be having the opportunity to fraternize with other top athletes from around the world, especially those he would have seen at different competitions over the years and those with whom he had forged bonds and rivalries. But there would also be other special memories he would carry with him.

“I saw a video from the Olympic village this year where the Samoan athletes were singing in the courtyard of one of the residential buildings, and it was so pretty,” he said. “Experiencing stuff like that would be a top moment for me, as well.”

For Butler, the idea of having the ability to challenge herself physically alongside other top athletes gives her a thrill.

“I love working out and training, and I’m super competitive, so getting to train with like-minded people who are as excited about the same thing as me would be awesome,” she said.

It’s important to note that less than 0.1 percent of people in the world compete in the Olympics. Finke, who would choose to compete in golf because she enjoys individual sports and is a skilled player, recognizes how unique and special it would be to be part of the Summer Games.

“The best thing about being an Olympian would be having been part of the biggest sporting/games event in the world,” she said. “To receive a medal at the Olympics is, in my opinion, the highest honor as a patriot and an athlete.”

Bennett also noted that she understands how rare such an opportunity is and, at the same time, longs for a true sense of unity not only for the athletes but also for the fans at home.

“With so much animosity in our country right now due to the impending elections, I hope that the Olympics will bring us together, if only temporarily,” she said. “Being the very best in your sport and getting to represent your country is an honor I can’t even fathom, yet I cannot wait to cheer on those who have achieved this dream.”

The fastest badminton smash ever recorded was 565 kilometers per hour (351.1 miles per hour), which was hit by India’s Satwiksairaj Rankireddy in 2023, breaking a 10-year-old record.

If you’re a millennial or older (or maybe even an elderly Gen Z-er), you may experience confusion when you hear the youths talk. Sure, we said things like “all that and a bag of chips” back in the day, but phrases of that sort clearly made sense. Thankfully, we have the internet for interpretation. You don’t have to be a parent to bookmark this list—you can do so if you want to feel hip or in-the-know with the young bucks.

Some terms (like “cap,” which means something is not true, and “fit,” which refers to what someone is wearing) have been around for a few or several years, while others (such as “rizz,” which kids are using in place of “charisma”) are more recent. Dallas-area resident Liz Orozco works in education and has three of her own children, so she is able to stay up-to-date because of the lingo her older kids use. Whether or not she knows what everything they say means doesn’t determine if she’s a fan or words and phrases.

“I can’t stand the whole ‘what the sigma,’ ‘skibidi toilet,’  ‘GYAT, ‘bet,’ and referencing Ohio,” she said. “I still don’t get that.”

At some point, Ohio somehow became a state about which to joke on TikTok, and it stuck. Not everything that becomes trendy makes sense (after all, jeans under dresses were once considered “fashion,” and suddenly the word “random” seemed like the perfect description for essentially every situation). Dallas resident Aaron Byrkit has two young boys but doesn’t pay extremely close attention to current popular sayings.

“I only do enough to make sure and say the lingo wrong so that my 9-year-old finds it annoying,” he said. “I think I don’t keep up with it because other things in the world take up my attention now. We’ll see if this stays true as my boys get older and start to use hip lingo.”

Dallas-area resident Libby Shewski, however, coaches 12-year-old club volleyball players and makes sure that she uses language with which her athletes are familiar. She even became a well-known TikTok queen, and her players could frequently be heard saying “slay, Libby!” (“Slay” means to be quite stylish and successful.)

“I stay updated because I want the sixth-graders I coach to think I’m cool,” Shewski said. “Actually, they teach me pretty much everything I know, and they can get pretty judgmental if you use a word that’s not cool anymore. I once told them I was a millennial, and they made fun of me for that. But in reality, I want to learn the cool words so that I relate to them and bond with them and so that they trust me as their coach.”

But Shewski has to be careful that she uses the words and phrases correctly.

“One time I thought ‘selling’ meant you were doing well at something, but in reality, it means you’re not,” she said. “A kid said to me ‘Coach Libby, I’m selling right now,’ and I told her ‘good job,’ so I think it’s very important (especially in what I do) to understand their slang.”

And Shewski said she even likes some of the new words her players bring to her vocabulary. For instance, the word “opp” refers to someone an individual doesn’t like. If Captain Hook saw Peter Pan or heard a reference to him, Hook would say about Pan “he’s my opp.” But Shewski said she can’t get behind all of the youthful lingo. 

“There are a lot that seem silly to me,” she said. “For example, ‘mewing,’ which is when you hold your tongue to the roof of your mouth to give yourself a good jawline. Another one that I really don’t understand is ‘skibidi.’ I still don’t know when to use that word. ‘Sigma’ and ‘alpha’ have similar meanings, and ‘beta’ is bad, and those words are getting trendy.”

Orozco said she finds the word “rizz” amusing, and she also doesn’t mind “brain rot,” which is a new condition one experiences after spending too much time consuming low-value internet content.

“I use that when my kids are on their screens too much,” she said.

Byrkit, on the other hand, said he doesn’t have many strong feelings regarding any of the current lingo he’s heard.

“I’ve recently started to realize how out-of-the-know I am,” he said. “It took me quite a while to figure out what was going on with this ‘hawk tuah girl.’ I thought maybe she was a Gen Z-er making falconing popular or something.”

Why these words and phrases become popular are sometimes unknown, but they spread rather quickly, especially with technology almost constantly at our fingertips. Orozco said most of the trends we currently see are a result of social media, and some of them simply aren’t necessary.

“I don’t mind lingo when the words are actual words, but it sometimes seems like people say words just to hear themselves speak,” she said.

Byrkit agrees with Orozco’s notion that outlets like Instagram, TikTok, and others propel these trends, many of which often appear to pop up out of nowhere.

“I think it has to do with the cultural zeitgeist,” he said. “I do think it has been super-charged with social media, which has accelerated the ability for information to travel from person to person or from bot to person.”

Regardless of the reason or the means, we’re likely to continue seeing evolving lingo come and go for years to come.

“I feel like it’s the same as why fashion trends resurface—a little nostalgia, or maybe someone famous used that word in a TikTok,” Shewski said. “It also seems like a lot of effort to keep inventing new words.”

WEEKLY PHOTO OP

NatNews dear reader and Kansas City Chiefs lead producer Anna Tobkin was able to enjoy a day at Chiefs Training Camp with her sweet son

Monday, July 29: National Lasagna Day; National Chicken Wing Day
Tuesday, July 30: Free Rooftop Movie — Superbad at Sundown at Granada
Wednesday, July 31: FC Dallas vs. FC Juarez at Toyota Stadium; Idina Menzel at the Majestic Theatre
Thursday, August 1: Club 90s Presents — Midnight Memories at House of Blues Dallas; Sounds of Summer — Simply Garth at Grandscape
Friday, August 2: Rangers vs. Red Sox at Globe Life Field
Saturday, August 3: WRRC Saturday run from Taco Joint; Taylor’s Version — A Swiftie Dance Party at Sundown at Granada; Roller Disco Adult Skating Night at Interskate Roller Rink; Journey Tribute — Departure ATX at Legacy Hall
Sunday, August 4: Free First Sundays — Access for All at the Dallas Museum of Art