People are just realizing they've officially hit 'unc status' and the new term may be here to stay

The internet keeps churning out countless new terms every other day and "unc status" or "unc" is the latest addition to social media vocabulary. It is said to be the exact opposite of "cool aunties" or "auntie life." Instead, it is about men who are getting called uncles even before they reach the actual age of becoming an uncle. As long as the men display some typical traits of older male figures and provide comfort, advice or support to others, they are considered to be a part of the "unc" squad online.

Many creators on TikTok have started making videos to address this term and some of them have claimed how they are getting called an "unc" while they are just 20 years old. Some creators have called it a term invented by Gen Z to address boomers as well as millennial men. Austin (@austinreacts96) on TikTok, made a video about it where he popped a question to all the people who are aged 25 and up. "When did you all realize that you have reached the unc or auntie status?" he said in his video. "I realized that I reached the unc status when I saw this video of a dude talking about wearing joggers and people in comments were like 'joggers in 2024 is crazy.'"

Then Austin insisted that it was normal for people to wear joggers in 2024. He revealed that he also hit that realization when his aunts and uncles stopped bringing over food and started asking him what he was bringing or cooking instead. "Am I really this old now that I am cooking at cookouts? I am the one bringing the food and putting this together. It's crazy man," he concluded. A second creator, @_adammcg, gave a hilarious demonstration of people born after 2005 who are trying their best to run away from the "unc status" but find no escape. 

A third TikTok creator @aaronmakelky shared his thoughts on this trending slang. "My students teach me their slang so adults can understand what the heck they are saying with their wild vocabulary and slang words and phrases like 'unc status' which means you are getting old," he wrote in the caption of his video. "Unc status is basically when you've reached a certified old head level," one of Makelky's students tells him from off-camera. "And how do you quantify that? How do you know your unc status?" Makelky questions the student. "When you say stuff that old people say or do," the student elaborates.

Makelky wonders if he would fall into the "unc status" bracket if he said stuff from the '90s. "What age would teenagers say the unc status is from?" he questioned. The student replied that if they are from the '90s they have already reached the "unc status." In the video, Makelky grins and says that he "learned something today." A few people from X and Instagram also shared when they realized they'd entered the "unc status."

A man named Saeed Akil Ferguson shared a selfie on his X handle @saeedferguson, where he captured himself washing his car on a Saturday and claimed that this action has "officially verified his unc status." @ItsKevinCrow shared a picture of his old Sprint phone with QWERTY keypad on X and captioned: "This was my first phone. If you ever owned a phone like this, you have officially reached unc status." "I know I'm turning into an old head because I’d rather be faded in my crib watching movies than out in the streets. I'm on unc status now," @deluludre​ wrote on his X post. At the end of the day, it seems the slang is here to stay for all the right reasons.