"Stop being a Karen"

[ValsCupcakes]

I heard this on Tuesday from a young, no more than 20, guy saying it to his girlfriend in the street in town.

Is this still going on? I'm out this afternoon at my friend's house. She is called Karen and is sick of it. I heard a woman phone into the radio too the other week saying her husband's satnav was an annoying female voice so he called it Karen.

I agree it must be hard for Dicks, but there is a bit of a difference...

The insult "dick" refers to a penis. It may sound the same and be spelled the same, but it's not literally referring to Dick as a name. When somebody says "don't be a dick", they mean "don't be a penis", and it's just bad luck that the name Dick is the same word as the slang for penis.

Whereas the "Karen" insult is literally referring to the woman's name "Karen". The implication being that women named Karen are bitches etc.

No but I’m just thinking isn’t it similar to being “a Becky” like Becky with the good hair? It’s just a slang?

Is this serious?

Some of the mental contortionism on this thread is quite spectacular to behold....

Eh, yes it is from the name

The association with "penis" is more recent, arising from Dick becoming a cliché name for any man, as in Tom, Dick and Harry.

Becky was never a thing in the UK.

I'm surprised at the women encouraging people to call them names.

Nobody in good faith thinks that Karen and dick are the same. Dick isn't even capitalised.

It certainly is

The slang usage may be more recent than the name, but dick has been a UK slang word for penis for a very long time. The Wiki link you shared even states that the use of the word dick as an insult derives from its use as a slang word for penis:

"Dick is a common English slang word for the human penis.[1] It is also used by extension for a variety of slang purposes, generally considered vulgar, including as a verb to describe sexual activity and as a pejorative term for individuals"

When someone says "don't be a dick", you can't be seriously claiming they are saying "don't be a Dick (the name/person)" as opposed to "don't be a penis"?

Unlike "dick", "Karen" doesn't have an existing alternative slang meaning. The insult just derives from the name, nothing else.

Isn't Karen just yet another term taken/stolen from the black community (like the Me Too movement and woke were)
And its meaning and use to help black people stay safe, twisted and degraded by others (I will include myself of being guilty of this) so it loses its purpose and can be co-opted?

I wouldn't get upset about it tbh, when black people come up with the next trendy term/word/movement then 'Karen' will be old news

Exactly what I came on to say. Apparently the well known male equivalent is Dave. No, was it Kevin? Darren? Hang on a minute, pretty sure it's Ken or Chad(wtf?)

What a load of crap. There is no male equivalent yet people will tie themselves in knots to say it's not misogyny.

It's not something that ever crossed my radar.

Having googled, it is apparently an insult for a 'basic' white woman? So that would be more misogyny then.

I think the term has been fully co-opted by common or garden misogynists these days. It's mainly white people I see using it.

On the internet, a Chad is a guy who is really good looking and gets lots of girls.

Sometimes it is used negatively to suggest that they cheat and treat women poorly (mainly by men who treat women poorly and can't accept that women don't want them because of it, so they blame other men and women for their inability to find a partner).

That’s like saying ‘I use coloured to refer to white people’ well what you PERSONALLY do has no bearing on the use of the word ‘coloured’ being insulting

Yeah, @Poachedeggavocado , this follows a bizarre exchange I had with a "delightful" young woman in her late teens / early 20s few weeks ago. She called me a "Karen" because I had asked some male friends of hers if they could please stop swearing at the top of their voices, as I had my two year old traveling on the train with me.

I asked her what she thought was racist about asking people to not swear in front of small children (her male friends were white, in any case) and she seemed perplexed. The fact that young people in the UK don't know the origin of the Karen phrase, and are just using it as a substitute for "Bitch" means her bafflement makes a lot more sense to me now.

It doesn't make me any less pissed off / disappointed at the attitude of the young woman in question though.

This.

And I find it hilarious somebody actually said earlier up that we should be ‘grateful’ to live in a less sexist country than others? (Others being where women are not allowed to speak or sing outside of the house’

Oh yes! Ever so grateful, Sir.

As Dave said at the Brits; ‘the least racist is still racist’

Yep, it was certainly the middle class white women leading the recent racist riots, we were right there at the front shouting "save are kids" and throwing bins at Policemen 🙄

What is a Becky. Never heard of that

Not it’s not because you’re just picking an example that no relevance suit your need to disagree with me. Anyhow, much as I love a circular argument neither of us is getting anywhere.

You are wrong to say it’s ’just slang’, it is not, it is generally used as a misogynistic and ageist insult.

I asked a young man to move to the smoking area the other week when he lit up in a no smoking area, I was polite as I assumed he hadn't realised, he called me a Karen and said it was only a fag not weed or anything. I don't for a second think he would have called a man a dick for asking. It isn't comparable because half the people on this thread assume if someone is called a Karen then they are obnoxious so not worth listening to. It effectively shuts women out and silences them. Dick does not have the same effect.

Women are rude, men are forthright. Women are bossy, men are born leaders, women are sluts, men are ladykillers (thats not an insult).

The poster is illustrating the fact that you could pick any word, that would generally be deemed offensive, and say that you personally use it in an inoffensive or different way. It doesn’t mean that the word isn’t generally offensive.

It’s exactly the same 🤣 just because you use a word incorrectly or to not mean what everyone else thinks it means, has no bearing on an argument! If I said to you, I use the word ‘slag’ as a non offensive term but only use it to address women, I’m sure you’d see my point