Test Your Internet Brain. Can You Use ‘Choppelganger’ in a Sentence?

This is a series about the mysteries of internet speak.

“Choppelganger” — a combination of the slang word “chopped” and doppelgänger — is the latest vocabulary term gaining popularity among Gen Z and Gen Alpha.

The portmanteau is simply defined as a more unattractive version of yourself, according to Kiwi Lynas, whose TikTok post referencing the term has amassed millions of views.

Ms. Lynas, 20, said she was compelled to make a video after being told Mick Jagger was her “choppelganger.”

While the term isn’t inherently meanspirited, “no girl wants to be told they look like Mick Jagger, you know?” Ms. Lynas said.

The term is seemingly nonsensical without an understanding of the word “chopped” — a different Gen Z and Gen Alpha slang term that describes something that’s ugly or undesirable.

Philip Lindsay, a content creator and 7th grade teacher, said his students had begun referring to each other’s “choppelgangers” as a way of poking fun at one another. (In a recent TikTok video, he described a student telling him he was the football player Kirk Cousins’s choppelganger).

Terrence Pate credited his 14-year-old daughter for introducing him to the term.

“‘It’s a person that’s chopped that looks like you,’” Mr. Pate said, recalling his daughter’s description, which inspired him to post a TikTok video explaining the word to his followers that now has more than a million views. “I just thought that was hilarious.”

The word has its roots online, but it has leaped into everyday conversation, at least among Gen Alpha and younger members of Gen Z.

Caitlin Rance, 28, who made a video saying she felt like a “choppelganger” of herself, said she had seen the word used only online. But Ms. Lynas said she sometimes used the word with her friends.

And Mr. Lindsay, the schoolteacher, said he had begun to hear “choppelganger” in school this month, but wasn’t sure it would stand the test of time.

“If it really blows up online and it becomes a thing, it might linger for a bit,” he said.

But in all likelihood, a week or two from now, he said his students would be on to the next mysterious slang word.

— Nicole Stock

Produced by Michael Beswetherick and Antonio de Luca.

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