‘Ohio’ is the latest Gen Alpha and Gen Z slang word – and they’re not using it in a good way: ‘Kind of weird, absurd’

Ohio is the anti-rice capital of the country.

Gen Z and Gen Alpha have developed a strange obsession with rock and roll house, roller coasters, cinnamon rolls and JD Vance – adopting The Buckeye State’s given name as slang for anything “weird or absurd.”

Earlier this summer, search phrases like “Only in Ohio” and “You’re so Ohio” tripled on Google to 58,021 — while last year, the term was the second most searched meme on the engine, the Wall Street Journal reported .

The slur is also commonly mixed with an alpha generational word “squid” – a gibberish phrase associated with the “brain rot” style videos kids watch online around a toilet.

“Ohio is kind of weird, absurd,” 12-year-old Eden Rodriguez of Chevy Chase, Maryland, who has never been to the state, told the media.

That goes for most kids who use the phrase, according to KnowYourMeme editor Owen Carry.

“Most of the people who are making these memes about Ohio have never been there, and they’re making them about other people who have never been there,” Carry told the Journal.

But could this be nothing more than a case of “kids these days?”

The Internet — and even before that — has made fun of the Rust Belt state for generations.

In the modern era, it came first “Hastily Made Cleveland Tourism” viral videos on YouTube in 2009, which boasted that “at least we’re not Detroit.”

Then rapper Lil B dropped “Swag Like Ohio” in 2010, followed by a widely circulated 2016 Tumblr post calling for Ohio to be “eliminated.”

The citizens of Ohio are not letting this latest insult pass them by; some local media outlets have even recently released public service announcements explaining to the masses—those not in high school—what the hell is going on.

“Are you a scibidi rizzler in Ohio?” a recent headline from the Columbus Dispatch read. “Are ‘Ohio’ memes the source of ‘brainrot’ among General Alpha?” The Cincinnati Enquirer published.

Some residents are relatively relaxed about their accidental fame.

“We’re very genuine, friendly, down-to-earth people,” 31-year-old Clevander Kelsey Will told the Journal. “Most of us wouldn’t be offended by that and would join in the fun.”

And maybe the locals will have the last laugh – a new report shows a significant boost in tourism for one part of the state.

Mahoning County’s economically challenged Youngstown area reported a 10% increase in tourism revenue as of 2021 — saying the segment has become a billion-dollar source of revenue for the region.

A Zer general, Delaney Hendershot of Lebron James’ home in Akron, says no news is bad news.

“We know our value in the state,” Hendershot told the WSJ.

“I’d rather be part of the conversation than not, because some countries really have been forgotten,” they said.