Japanese Gen Z's high buzzword this yr is 'frog-ization,' the concept that your crush isn't truly that enticing as soon as they begin liking you

• Japanese Gen Z’s high buzzword for the primary half of 2023 is “frog-ization.” 
• It is like getting an “ick,” the sensation you get after realizing your crush is not that enticing.
• It references the story of “The Frog Prince,” the place a person begins wanting extra like a frog than a prince.

Japan’s Gen Z has spoken. Their favourite phrase within the first half of 2023 is “frog-ization” — the second when your crush begins wanting method uglier than you thought they had been, proper after they begin liking you again. 

The buzzword was the highest spot on Japanese thinktank Zsouken’s survey of 950 Gen Z-ers. It is also the nation’s model of what America’s Gen Z calls “ick” — so at the very least we all know some relationship experiences are common.

“Frog-ization,” or “kaeru ka gensho” in Japanese, actually interprets to “the phenomenon of turning right into a frog,” per a report by The Mainichi on Wednesday.  

It references the story of “The Frog Prince,” the place a frog turns right into a prince after befriending a princess.

Subverting the unique story, “frog-ization” is used to explain how one begins to lose their rose-tinted glasses after their crush begins liking them again, slowly realizing that they had been by no means actually that enticing. 

It is the Japanese equal of “ick,” which describes the exact second you cease being interested in somebody.

Popularized by the British courting actuality present “Love Island,” getting “icks” could be so simple as seeing an individual utilizing the incorrect emoji throughout a textual content dialog or being impolite to service employees. 

Zsouken carried out its on-line survey in Could, asking 950 Japanese Gen Z-ers what their favourite buzzwords had been. With a overwhelming majority of Japanese youth being social media customers, lots of their buzzwords got here from social media, per The Mainichi. 

Different buzzwords that made it to the highest had been “kawachii,” from the phrase “kawaii” that means “cute,” and “uchukushii,” from “utsukushii,” that means “lovely,” per The Mainichi. 

Representatives for Zsouken didn’t instantly reply to Insider’s request for remark.