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

Ohio is the anti-rizz capital of the nation.

Gen Z and Gen Alpha have developed a bizarre fixation with the home of rock and roll, scary roller coasters, chili with cinnamon 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 second most searched meme on the engine, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The insult is also typically mixed in with a gen alpha word “skibidi” — a gibberish phrase tied to “brain rot”-style videos kids watch online about a toilet.

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

That goes for most of the kids using the phrase, according to KnowYourMeme editor Owen Carry.

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

But could this be no more than a case of “the kids these days?”

The internet — and even before — has been poking fun at the Rust Belt state for generations.

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

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

Ohioans aren’t letting this latest affront get by them; several local outlets have even recently published public service announcements explaining to the masses — the ones not in high school — what the heck is going on.

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

Some residents are relatively relaxed regarding their accidental fame.

“We are very real, friendly, down-to-earth people,” 31-year-old Clevander Kelsey Will told the Journal. “The majority of us would not be offended by it and would join in on the fun.”

And, perhaps the locals will have the last laugh — a new report shows a substantial boost in tourism for one piece of the state.

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

One Gen Zer, Delaney Hendershot from Lebron James’ home of Akron, says no news is bad news.

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

“I would much rather be a part of the conversation than not, because some states truly are forgotten,” they said.