Bwana John
Member
- Joined
- Sep 10, 2004
- Messages
- 2,960
What’s up with this “Karen” nonsense. Run across that a bit lately. Is it a label, derogatory name, some internet BS. Someone’s mother sister wife or family member may be named Karen. Curious.Good grief. I'll take care of my health, you take care of yours and all's well. Leave it to a progressive liberal to pretend to care about me, Karen.
Derogatory name for white middle class entitled person. Internet thing.What’s up with this “Karen” nonsense. Run across that a bit lately. Is it a label, derogatory name, some internet BS. Someone’s mother sister wife or family member may be named Karen. Curious.
What’s up with this “Karen” nonsense. Run across that a bit lately. Is it a label, derogatory name, some internet BS. Someone’s mother sister wife or family member may be named Karen. Curious.
Lots of words, but etymology aside, it is definitely a derogatory term now. Similar to "boomer."It isn’t really a derogatory name, or Internet BS. It may be considered a label, but a more accurate term would be stereotype.
“Karen” is a gendered middle class name that peaked in popularity in the mid 1960s, and declined pretty rapidly after that. As a result, you can make a good guess that a person with the name is a middle class woman over 45 and under 75. You were astute to omit “daughter” from your list of who might be a Karen in someone’s life - it’s possible but not likely.
With the rise of both Internet video sharing and ready access to video recording devices (embedded in handheld portable telephones), it has become common for people to upload videos of negative social interactions in public spaces. For example a person yelling at another person over the language the other person is speaking, the the amount of cinnamon on their whipped coffee drink, or other things that would not normally be considered appropriate subjects to yell at a stranger about. As a large number of such videos accumulated, a correlation became apparent. Middle class women over the age of 45 appear as the antagonist in a high percentage of those videos.
A correlation is thus observed: A person with the name “Karen” is likely a middle class woman of over 45. Middle class women over 45 are more likely than average to be recorded behaving in an unseemly manner in public. Therefore, people named “Karen” are more likely than average to behave in an unseemly manner.
While general trends do not predict individual behavior, it is common among humans to ascribe notable and repeating individual traits to groups in a process called stereotyping. Here we have two notable and repeating individual traits (being named “Karen”, and behaving in an unseemly way in public settings) so it is inevitable that a stereotype would develop. In this case, middle class women over 45 who are behaving inappropriately in public are stereotyped as having the name “Karen”.
Lots of words, but etymology aside, it is definitely a derogatory term now. Similar to "boomer."
Might want to check that particular ranges rules on such.The problem with some RO's is they think they know it all and are on a power trip. Safety is one thing but an attitude that they are better than the folks on the line is another. Another example is when one tries to tell you that you cannot shoot a scoped 44 mag with a 7.5 inch barrel at the 50-100 yard line and that it is only allowed on the pistol range.
Perhaps, but in this case it's patently obvious the intent is derogatory, and so is the widespread usage of the term "Karen." To claim it's just a name for a middle aged woman without considering the CURRENT ACCEPTED MEANING is absurd.Some words start out derogatory. Others are made so by the actions of those associated with them. When the latter case applies, the word is at most conditionally derogatory. It is important to understand the context to know whether the derogatory connotation applies to the specific usage. Sometimes a name is just a name.
For another example, consider the word “genius”. It too is conditionally derogatory. The same phrase, “You’re quite the genius, aren’t you?”, may be complimentary or derogatory. One cannot say that a particular use of the word is derogatory without evaluating the broader context.
Leave it to a progressive liberal to pretend to care about me, Karen.
A wise policy.Thanks to those responses on “Karen” I was labeled such for commenting what I considered a dangerous stunt involving a girl child jumping into her fathers arms from a a considerable height. Best policy these days MYOB and stay off social media.