On feeling old for not knowing what a glizzy is

Do you know what a “glizzy” is?

I’m 32 years old, a late millennial, and I feel—at times—profoundly disconnected from the Gen Z that are at the nexus of current pop culture.

Glizzy is just the latest evidence of this.

If you, like me, still don’t know what I’m talking about:

Glizzy, apparently, is slang for hot dog.

What? How does this make any sense?

The Internet refused to answer that, but Know Your Meme has some valuable research: glizzy was in use offline as early as 2017 in Washington, D.C. and Alabama. And then, at some point in 2020, posts of “glizzy gladiators”—yes, people eating hot dogs—proliferated on social media.

I feel slightly insane spelling this out. (And who knows how the writers over at Know Your Meme feel?) Glizzy sounds like the product of an obscene alternate universe.

But my wife’s cousin—Gen Z, of course—was aghast that we could be so far from the epicenter of culture.

At least I know we’re not alone?