What? 'Choberiba?' 'Choberigu?' in the Reiwa Era? High School Students Reveal the 'Words That Feel Old Now' Ranking!

Have you ever used a 'buzzword'?

And have you ever felt that a 'buzzword' has become a 'dead word'?

When everyone is using a word, you can't help but want to say it yourself.

This is especially true for young people who are sensitive to trends.

But what happens when the trend fades?

Aren't there young people who, when someone uses an old word, think to themselves, 'Oh, people still say that...' or 'Isn't that... old!?'

So, Wakamono Research, a marketing information site for teenagers and current high school students,

(https://wakamono-research.co.jp/media/)

conducted a survey of current high school students (male and female) across Japan, asking them, 'What words have you recently felt are old?'

(All responses were free-form.)

This time, we present a ranking of some of the results.

[For Companies]

Surveys of teenagers and Generation Z, like the one in this article, can also be conducted for your company's products and services.

・Want to use the real voices of teenagers and Gen Z in product development?
・Want 'trendy data' that can be used for PR?
・Want to create a project that will be picked up by the media?

Wakamono Research can design the entire process from 'survey to article creation to media exposure.'

We have examples where PR using survey data has led to media coverage and social media sharing.

Why not design a 'trendy survey' together?

▶ For inquiries and case studies, contact us here:
　contact@wakamono-research.co.jp

▶ Wakamono Research Inc. HP:
　https://wakamono-research.co.jp/

[Old Word #1 is 'Pien' – 'It's Already Hard to Say Out Loud,' Say High School Students]

As a result of this survey, the first place went to 'pien' (12.8%).

'Pien' is an onomatopoeia that started being used mainly by young people around 2018,

expressing a crying state or mild sadness.

Many responses from high school students included:

'It was popular a long time ago, and no one uses it anymore.'
'I haven't heard anyone using it recently.'
'People have stopped using it.'
'It was popular around the time of the coronavirus.'
'It's been about 6 years since I used it.'

It seems that it was a word used actively when it was popular,

but its lack of recent exposure directly makes it feel 'old.'

Also, some male high school students said,

'It sounds uncool.'
'It's a bit hard to say out loud.'

This suggests that even if someone were to use it as a joke, it's become a difficult word to use.

Perhaps because it hasn't been considered 'old' for very long,

the feeling that 'if you say it now on purpose, it sounds forced and uncool' is what pushed 'pien' to the number one spot.

Next, in second place was 'maji manji' (8.5%).

This word became popular mainly among female junior high and high school students around 2017,

and was used to express emotional excitement or emphasis, like 'awesome' or 'amazing.'

High school students who feel this word is 'old' commented:

'I don't hear it anymore.'
'It feels nostalgic.'
'I don't use it recently.'

Because it was popular 9 years ago, the opportunities to use it have decreased, leading to the feeling of it being 'old.'

A notable response was from high school students who said:

'I've never seen anyone use it.'
'I've never heard 'maji manji' before.'
'I don't remember ever actually seeing anyone say it.'

While it was frequently discussed as a 'youth buzzword' on social media and online news at the time,

it seems there were young people who never used it even back then.

Although the current high school students were in elementary school when the word was popular,

the fact that opinions from high school students with no experience using 'maji manji' stand out

may be due to TV media and youth media over-hyping it as 'trending.'

Ranking in third place is... 'choberigu' (6.0%).

A buzzword from long before current Reiwa-era high school students were born has made it into the top three.

This word is an abbreviation of 'cho berry good' (very good), which was hugely popular in the mid-1990s.

It was popularized by models from the then-popular magazine 'egg' and the 'kogal' (high school girl gang) subculture that filled the streets.

But why has such an old buzzword appeared in this Reiwa-era ranking?

The background seems to involve two factors:

・The Heisei revival boom (Y2K)
・Parental influence

This is because high school students gave responses like:

'It was trendy for a while around me, but I don't hear it anymore.'
'It sounds Heisei-era-ish and old.'
'It's a representative old word.'

It appears that some high school students recognized 'choberigu' as part of the Heisei revival boom culture.

Compared to the 1st place 'pien' and 2nd place 'maji manji,' this word is from a much older era,

and it seems that some Reiwa-era high school students actually used it, feeling less resistance to saying it.

However, the fact that it is a 'word that was popular in the Heisei era' cannot be changed,

so it likely crossed their minds as an 'old word.'

Furthermore, responses like:

'My mom uses it, and I thought it was old!'
'I learned it from my mom, but it's a really old word.'
'A relative used it, and I was like, what's that?'

were prominent, suggesting that some parents of Reiwa-era high school students still use 'choberigu' today.

If a young person who was a high school student during the peak of 'choberigu' in the mid-1990s

married at age 30 and had a child, that child would be a high school student in 2026.

Thinking about it this way, it's not surprising that 'choberigu' comes up in conversations like 'In mom's time...' or 'In dad's time...',

and it seems that this survey, conducted now, is why 'choberigu' made it into the ranking.

Next, in fourth place was 'choberiba' (5.1%).

This is an abbreviation of 'cho berry bad' (very bad), which was popular among 'kogal' in the mid-1990s,

and means 'the worst' or 'terrible.'

Opinions on this word were mostly similar to those for 3rd place 'choberigu.'

Voices suggesting the influence of the Heisei revival boom, such as:

'It's so Heisei-era that I almost never see anyone using it.'
'It feels Heisei-era, so it's old.'

and the influence of parents from the 'choberiba generation' were evident in responses like:

'It popped into my head because my mom uses it regularly.'
'My parents use it, old! old! old!'