What Is ‘Gurting’? The Teen Slang Term That Actually Is (Somewhat) Related to Yogurt

Trying to understand things your Gen Z (and increasingly, Gen Alpha) kids say is a lose-lose situation. When they first start saying it, there’s almost no way you can figure it out by context clues. When you finally do learn the definition, it’s suddenly not cool at all anymore. It’s the circle of life! Still, we do our best to help figure out the obscure meanings of popular slang, and one of the latest we’ve heard teens saying is “gurting” or “gurt.” It sounds like the world “yogurt,” and it’s actually tied — albeit loosely — to the popular breakfast food.

In a time of memes, TikToks, and constantly-evolving internet culture, teen slang moves at breakneck speed. So to understand “gurting,” you first have to look back at a (practically-ancient!) meme from all the way back in 2012. This is a joke with someone saying “yogurt,” and a character named Gurt responds, “Yo” as a pun on the word. This meme went viral in 2025, per Know Your Meme, thanks to videos by Juggtok — and from there, evolved even further.

The outlet pointed to an April 2025 TikTok, explaining “new underground slang word” referring to gurting. This user defined it as: “When you do something that’s very smart but also very dangerous.” People used this phrase/definition in videos of animals doing smart, yet dangerous things (risking it for the biscuit, if you will). Now, teens will say they are “gurting” when they do something smart and dangerous.

Now, back to the original “Gurt: Yo” definition of the word. Teens will now make videos or memes, where instead of the character “Gurt” responding “Yo,” he has other responses, like SYBAU, which stands for “shut your b—h a—up” or “What’s up twin?” It’s all very convoluted and confusing.

Educators, like TikTok’s Mr. Lindsay, hears his students saying “gurt” or “gurting” too, but he also has no idea what it really means. It’s so perplexing that even other teens seem confused by this one.

As a millennial who used to participate in the “planking” trend (where you laid flat across various, random surfaces and filmed yourself), I have no room to talk. By the time you wrap your head around gurt, they’ll have moved on to something new anyway!

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