Bello!

I know absolutely nothing about the Minions; it was only recently that I learned to associate the word with those images of cylindrical yellow creatures I occasionally saw around the internet. However, for obvious reasons I was absorbed by Eva Jaber’s Guardian story about their language and its influence on the slang of Youth Today:

I was four years old when Despicable Me was released in cinemas and the banana-coloured, overall-clad Minions took the world by storm. By the time I was seven, my siblings and I were using The Official Minion Manual to teach ourselves Minionese.

Minionese is, of course, the made-up language spoken by Kevin, Stuart, Bob and company, which consists of a combination of melodic gibberish and variations on genuine vocabulary from a diverse array of world languages. When the Minions shout “kanpai” (“cheers” in Japanese) or “para tú!” (a variation on the Spanish “para ti”), it might remind you of how gen Alpha slang, which primarily consists of nonsensical words such as “cap” and “mogging”, also draws on world languages. Consider the Bulgarian scat origins of “skibidi”, for example.

In anticipation of the forthcoming Minions & Monsters movie, which for the very first time includes a 15-minute sequence spoken entirely in Minionese, join me in breaking down the parallels between Minionese and gen Alpha slang. Next time you hear a minion shout “bello” on the big screen, appreciate how what Illumination originally intended as an endearing comedic tool has grown to embody a trend of embedding sociolinguistic diversity in the youth vernacular.

Let’s start with some Minionese lines from cherished Minions moments, many of which have roots in Spanish, English, Italian, Tagalog, Russian, French and Indonesian. One of the most beloved moments in the Minions canon is Bob’s brief stint as king of England, which concludes with the queen giving Bob a tiny crown for his teddy bear, Tim. Bob repeatedly expresses gratitude by yelling “terima kasih”, which is “thank you” in Indonesian. Linguists classify these bits of real world languages in the midst of Minionese as “loanwords”.

My personal favourite moment from Despicable Me 2 is when Dave the Minion, looking dapper, celebrates Gru and Lucy’s wedding by singing a Minionese cover of All-4-One’s I Swear, which he begins by sighing “ah, lapo da”. This moment is a sneakier example of Spanish influence in Minionese, as the phrase is phonetically identical to “ah, la boda”, which means “the wedding” in Spanish. From verbatim loanwords to clever easter eggs, Minionese is surprisingly representative of world languages and ties a seemingly random consortium of vocabulary and gibberish together quite seamlessly.

Perhaps the most obvious bridge between Minionese and gen Alpha vernacular is the embrace of Italian as a language full of words that have proved uniquely fun to roll off the tongue. Take, for example, the Minions cover of YMCA that concludes Despicable Me 2 (which, I will shamelessly admit, I regularly play in my car on the way to work). This cover is full of onomatopoeic lyrics, with the occasional “bokka linguini banaki loto” and “li le carbonara” sprinkled in. The Italian dishes “linguini” and “carbonara” hidden in here are an odd addition, but they undeniably fit, and they make the song more fun to sing along to. […]

Now moving fully over to gen Alpha slang, you would be surprised by how much unfamiliar jargon tweens shout these days is, like Minionese, derived from a creative and cross-cultural manipulation of language. One popular gen Alpha term is “sussy baka”, a noun used to call someone out for acting comically strange or suspicious. At first glance, the term seems nonsensical – but it is in fact a combination of the English “suspicious” and Japanese “baka”, meaning fool. Gen Alpha slang has their own loanwords, too, like “wallahi”, which has become their version of gen Z’s “on God”. The word “wallahi” – which translates from Arabic as “I swear by God” – having made its way into the gen Alpha vernacular is yet another way the linguistic patterns of gen Alpha slang resemble those of Minionese.

Great stuff; thanks, Nick!