Over the previous few days, the complete TikTok group has latched onto the phrase “demure.” As soon as a comparatively obscure time period you would possibly’ve final encountered throughout a Gilmore Women rewatch, it all of a sudden turned ubiquitous. That’s the way in which issues work on TikTok — for higher or worse.
For these unfamiliar with the platform, the most recent TikTok development entails customers claiming how “demure” and “mindful” they’re in numerous conditions. It’s a self-effacing, tongue-in-cheek joke the place individuals undertake a persona that boasts about being demure whereas doing one thing as mundane as consuming a blooming onion at Outback Steakhouse.
The development began with creator Jools Lebron, often called @joolieannie on TikTok, who coined the catchphrase “very demure, very mindful.” Mashable’s Christianna Silva offered a detailed breakdown of the development, however briefly, Jools’s playful rants about how she’s “demure,” “mindful,” and “cutesy” in her day-to-day actions took off, and shortly everybody was utilizing the phrase “demure.”
However the rise of “demure” is just not an remoted incident. The web —TikTok particularly — has a behavior of plucking phrases from obscurity, turning them into memes, after which overusing them to the purpose of exhaustion. Simply take a look at the spike in Google Developments searches over the previous week.
Very demure.
Credit score: Screenshot: Google Developments
Mashable’s Elena Cavender has ceaselessly coated the web’s insatiable urge for food for brand new slang. TikTok, particularly, appears to have a knack for reviving outdated or obscure phrases. Typically it’s crass, like “glazing” or “serving c*nt,” however there are additionally phrases like “it’s giving” or “girly pop.” After which there are up to date methods of claiming outdated issues, like calling somebody who gossips a “yapper” or utilizing “pookie” as a time period of endearment. Simply as everybody was as soon as obsessed with “aesthetic,” now “demure” is the phrase of the second.
Mashable High Tales
So, why does TikTok latch onto sure phrases and phrases so intensely, squeezing each little bit of viral juice out of them? The reply lies in its nature as an audio-visual medium.
When Twitter was the driving pressure behind viral memes, the humor relied on text-and-image-based codecs. Consider Tim Robinson’s “we’re all looking for the man out who did this” meme or Dril’s “please don’t put in the newspaper that I got mad.” The jokes have been about what was learn or seen, not heard.
However with TikTok, phrases themselves grow to be humorous as a result of we see and listen to individuals say them. It’s the age-old problem for writers: the precise phrase on the proper time could be surprisingly pleasant. TikTok amplifies these phrases, turning them into developments as creators like @joolieannie reveal that how a phrase is alleged could make it fascinating and new. And as we mindlessly scroll by way of TikTok, these phrases inevitably worm their manner into our vocabulary.
The “demure” development isn’t any totally different from when streamer Sketch had the complete sports activities world saying, “What’s up, brother,” in a selected voice and cadence. Phrases and phrases could be humorous just because they’re. It might sound like round logic, but it surely holds true.
Consider it this fashion: in your group of pals — particularly throughout highschool or faculty — you most likely had buzzwords and shorthand that solely your group understood. You spent a lot time collectively that you simply developed an inner language. TikTok’s affect on our phrase utilization is comparable, solely now the pal group is basically everybody with an web connection.
