Can we stop using “Karen” as a pejorative term do describe an angry woman?
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If it’s a woman that’s being angry at a service worker and she’s clearly in the wrong, probably not. That’s just what the word means now.
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Yes, as soon as someone comes up with a more catchy term. How about Kathy? Wait, she’s the chatty one.
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Not the term I would have picked either, but there are countless guys out there named “Dick” who have been dealing with a similar annoyance for generations.
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If your name is Richard and you voluntarily choose to go with “Dick”, you’re just asking for it. I mean come on:
https://www.congress.gov/member/dick-swett/S001113
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I think it’s awful and sexist. Where’s the term for men doing the same thing? I guarantee there are more of them but they don’t get the same shaming and labelling.
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“Asshole”
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Or here on Boing Boing, “Gentleman.”
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Let me go on record to say that I stan your insistence that names shouldn’t be used as pejorative terms.
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Or Pete Schweddy
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My grandfathers both went by “Dick” long before the name became widely adopted as a pejorative in the 1960s. So similar to the plight of modern-day women named Karen. Sure, they could start going by “Kay” or something but who wants to change the name they’ve identified with their whole life?
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I haven’t been around long enough to know personally, but according to the internet “dick” has meant “penis” for a couple hundred years at least. Or do you mean the “jerk” connotation specifically?
fwiw, the male version of “Karen” is “Terry.” it’s apparently just science:
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Oh wow. This is even sadder. I know exactly one person named Terry, and he is a sweet man who, along with his male (!) partner helped me negotiate coming of age in Dumbfuckitopia. And one of my favorite persons is a Karen who saved me from getting beaten to death (not figuratively speaking) by a local thug who is now a Pillar of the Community back in Dumbfuckitopia*.
*Dumfuckitopia is the county seat of Cuzzinfuk County, in rural west Shitholistan.
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Just remember: Don’t blame the victim because something unwanted is thrust upon them.
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At this point, I don’t think we can. Like the term “tea-bagger,” It’s been written in indelible ink on the public consciousness.
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You must be joshing.
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I worked with someone called Richard Head. I guess it wasn’t a common insult when his parents named him.
Take him down a Peg.
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