Scrolling In The Deep is a weekly column that defines internet slang you need to know to operate online. It runs on Wednesdays in the Daily Dot’s web_crawlr newsletter—but only our most dedicated readers get it.
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Many of the Gen Zalpha slang—or even millennial ones—we see today derive from gaming culture. As platforms like Twitch and YouTube continue to be the go-to apps for younger netizens, it’s not surprising when certain gaming lingo makes its way into this generation’s lexicon.
Terms like AFK, noob, grinding, and more originated within the gaming community and have been IRL for a long time. And in 2025, we’ve seen the steady rise of a slang that is littering the interwebs in a brainrot trajectory: Final Boss.
What is a ‘final boss?’
If you’re an avid gamer or even a casual one, you’re familiar with the concept of a “boss” in a video game. These “bosses” are enemies you must defeat to either gain some materials to level up a character, to pass the level, or as part of a main quest. There are usually multiple bosses in these games, and they tend to be very strong and difficult to beat.
A final boss, then, refers to the last enemy you must overcome to either finish the game or the main quest. These “final bosses” are often the strongest in the entire game, and signal that you are in for an extremely difficult challenge. In video games, final bosses take a while to beat and gamers spend a significant amount of time trying to do so in order to win the game.
What does this have to do with slang?
Over the past couple of years, “Final boss” has snaked its way out of the gamer world and into social media spaces. Today, “final boss” is used to hyperbolically call someone out. The term is usually tacked on to label someone as the epitome of a concept.
For example, a man who spends all his time gaming and glued to the computer with nothing to do all day may be called the “unemployment final boss.” In other words, this man is the epitome of being jobless.
In one TikTok, a woman flexing the hundreds of Stanley Cups she owned—complete with its accessories—was called an “overconsumption final boss.” In this way, TikTokers are calling out this woman for overspending on these cups.
In both of these examples, users are implying that there is no other person on Earth who can beat these people at being unemployed or having an overconsumption problem. You can use “final boss” to call out folks for various reasons, though it’s often used as an insult.
So if you come across someone who can’t stop using words like “yapping,” bought Skibidi Toilet merch, or strictly watches Kai Cenat, feel free to call them “brainrot final boss.”
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