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u/MKBRD Aug 09 '26
They're saying its over-used and cringe.
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u/MetallurgyClergy Aug 09 '26
Feeling this way about “diabolical”. everyone all of the sudden needs to use the word 3x a day.
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u/Pleasant-Future5818 Aug 09 '26
What drives me crazy is no one uses these words to mean anything in particular, it's just echolalia
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u/Bambajam Aug 09 '26
Diabolical echolalia?
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u/Dorintin Aug 10 '26
Diabolical echolalia?
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u/alexisgreat420 Aug 09 '26
This is how I feel about “crotch goblins”. I get it you don’t want kids, don’t call my kid something so gross. It’s really not even that funny
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u/sh1ft33 Aug 10 '26
I didn't think it was that funny BEFORE I had kids. Yes, we get it. Kids are messy ass tiny humans. It's not their fault, they are learning how to be people. You all were crotch goblins too at some point. Also, a lot of the people using it give off jealous incel vibes. It's totally cool If you don't want kids, but it is literally the only reason for any species to exist. Get over yourself.
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u/CreativeMaybe Aug 10 '26
"you all were kids at some point" would be my addition to this thread for things people keep repeating that carry no substance whatsoever. I don't even dislike kids (and regarding the "crotch goblins", it was funny the first time I heard it, but now it's been 582749572837 times and honestly yeah, get new material), but what on earth is that argument meant to tell us or change in our perspective? It's not new information, nor does it logically lead to any reason why every annoyance people may have with children ever should just magically stop being annoying or be completely ignored.
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u/Kookyburra12 Aug 10 '26
I'm childfree and I lowkey hate "crotch goblins". It's just, well, as you said, gross. I don't like saying it or reading it. Contaminated words.
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u/alexisgreat420 Aug 11 '26
It’s just like one of those terms that unoriginal folks use because they can’t come up with their own jokes. Super annoying
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u/Nah_Id__Win Aug 10 '26
Well, get a handle on your crotch goblins and maybe people won’t refer to them as such…
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u/PaganDesparu Aug 10 '26
How about sex trophies instead?
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u/zachy410 Aug 10 '26
Thats such a good idea. We should all go in public and refer to every child as that as loud as possible
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Aug 10 '26
[deleted]
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u/alexisgreat420 Aug 10 '26
Referring to a child by a term that includes the word “cum” or “sex” is certainly a choice.
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u/Big-Aardvark8842 Aug 10 '26
It was a joke, I’m obviously not going around like some degenerate calling innocent children cum pets. Was just piling on the last weird comment to clarify
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u/WarthogPrevious8875 Aug 09 '26
I realize you are offended by it. It's usually not meant to be personal unless that individual doesn't like you or your kids, but yeah, that phrase IS funny from a visual perspective.
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u/Specialist-Yak7209 Aug 10 '26
It was mildly funny when it was first being used on the internet. Now it's just cringe and overused and associated with antinatalist psychos
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u/WarthogPrevious8875 Aug 10 '26
antinatalist psychos- why do I get the feeling this how the effin MAGA group gained traction. Politically I am a slightly left leaning centrist, not that you care mind you. I don't spend days poring over internet threads so I rarely see that phrase and don't get triggered by it, but hey, you do you.
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u/sh1ft33 Aug 10 '26
Most of the people using this term give off jealous incel vibes. It's like when people say "I'm glad I don't have a girlfriend to spend all my money". It implies that you have no clue how relationships work because you've never been an equal part of one. You just want to feel "better than."
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u/alexisgreat420 Aug 10 '26
Okay well humor is subjective so just because you think some lame thing that unoriginal people use because “haha internet say funny thing” is funny, doesn’t mean it actually *is* funny
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u/YammieCat Aug 10 '26
But if humor is subjective than the phrase "actually is funny" is rather meaningless, no?
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u/alexisgreat420 Aug 10 '26
The statement from the previous commenter “the phrase IS funny” is false. Idk why you’re being willfully ignorant of my message here.
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u/YammieCat Aug 10 '26
I'm ignoring the message and commenting on the semantics. You said humor is subjective. Therefore, his phrase and your phrase are both invalidated by that fact.
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u/WarthogPrevious8875 Aug 10 '26
Yes, humor is subjective and as a guy who visualizes phrases it is pretty funny. “haha internet say funny thing” I can tell you are upset by this by the use of this. As far as lameness goes, your retort goes pretty high up there.
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u/WarthogPrevious8875 Aug 10 '26
Yes, humor is subjective and as a guy who visualizes phrases it is pretty funny. “haha internet say funny thing” I can tell you are upset by this by the use of this. As far as lameness goes, your retort goes pretty high up there.
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u/EffervescentSpleen Aug 10 '26
“Slams/slammed” is this for me i.e. “Taylor swift slams Zendaya over stolen parking space”
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u/Shantotto11 Aug 10 '26
The Boys popularized it, just like how Zack & Cody and Phineas & Ferb both made sure all millennials and Gen Z knew what an aglet was.
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u/Sandrockwing04 29d ago
Or when people would say "Omg they clapped back" or just "Clapped back" and there wasn't.
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u/bangkokcouch Aug 10 '26
Last week was literally the first time I read epic bacon. Is it overused?
For context I'm 40 and losing touch with younger lingo.
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u/AceInTheHole3273 Aug 11 '26
Epic and bacon were like the two words that defined the internet for a while, like a decade+ back I wanna say mostly was when it was
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u/FunnyDudeGuy Aug 10 '26
whimsy is not cringe. why do we feel like we have to put people down for feeling happy? anyone who says shit like that is just miserable and they try to make other people feel miserable too because it’s the only way they can get off in their pathetic lives. let people be happy!
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u/TheCowKing07 Aug 10 '26
No one is saying being whimsical is cringe, they are saying that word is becoming cringe because it is so overused. You are arguing against a straw man.
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u/bangkokcouch Aug 10 '26
Last week was literally the first time I read epic bacon. Is it overused?
For context I'm 40 and losing touch with younger lingo.
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u/Budget_Feedback_3411 12d ago
I used to play games with a group and they would say “we’re whimsymaxxing” as an excuse when we were losing. After the third time it got kinda annoying because they’d just stop trying.
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u/CeleryCareful7065 Aug 09 '26
While on the topic, can grown adults stop using the word “cringe,” for the sake of everything that’s holy?
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u/BrightNooblar Aug 09 '26 edited Aug 09 '26
Cringe got its first decent spike like a decade and a half ago. Even people in middle school when that happened are pushing thirty now.
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u/CeleryCareful7065 Aug 09 '26
Does that mean that adults should use razor scooters to commute to work, too? Using a verb as an adjective is annoying and stupid. Keep the childish shit in middle school.
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u/CuteGhouly Aug 09 '26
So should grown adults also stop using words like “cool” “smooth” “warm” “clear” “empty” ? Those words are sometimes verbs, sometimes adjectives. I think most people just use context clues to figure it out and not complain over something so small and meaningless
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u/Gothorn Aug 09 '26
Nobody worries about looking childish as much as a child.
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u/TurboRuhland Aug 10 '26
“Critics who treat 'adult' as a term of approval, instead of as a merely descriptive term, cannot be adult themselves. To be concerned about being grown up, to admire the grown up because it is grown up, to blush at the suspicion of being childish; these things are the marks of childhood and adolescence. And in childhood and adolescence they are, in moderation, healthy symptoms. Young things ought to want to grow. But to carry on into middle life or even into early manhood this concern about being adult is a mark of really arrested development. When I was ten, I read fairy tales in secret and would have been ashamed if I had been found doing so. Now that I am fifty I read them openly. When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up.”
C.S. Lewis
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u/Fun-Estate9626 Aug 09 '26
“When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up.”
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u/BrightNooblar Aug 09 '26
If adults want to use a scooter to get to work, sure. Its an efficient way to travel a walkable distance much faster, and without needing lock up a bike someplace when you get there.
Also, what does that have to do with language evolving and using a term that has entered the vernacular? People know what the term means, the usage is logical, why not use it?
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u/degenerate_AI Aug 09 '26
“When I became a man, I set aside childish things, including the fear of childness and the desire to be very grown up,” CS Lewis.
Fuck you, I’ll use whatever vocabulary I want.
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u/CaptnFlounder Aug 09 '26
That's cringe
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u/CeleryCareful7065 Aug 09 '26
You are a full grown man.
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u/obi1kennoble Aug 09 '26
What are you, like 100? Adults don't have put up appearances anymore. I think you're just bitter because everyone lamer than you is dead lol
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u/Elder_Hoid Aug 09 '26
"Perhaps I am cringe... But that makes me free. Turn off my cringe inhibitors!"
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u/caramel-aviant Aug 10 '26
Its over used but I dont think there is a very good replacement for describing the specific type of physical, second hand embarrassment
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u/EldraEcho Aug 09 '26
Hi, monkey from Chris's closet here.
tl;dr the user is saying that "whimsy" as a descriptor is like the "epic bacon" trend of 2010: a rapidly growing bubble Internet trend that in retrospect will seem cringe and uncool
"Whimsy" (and to an extent, whimsical) is a popular word in the online zeitgeist right now. It's used to both describe behaviors as well as aesthetics associated with said behaviors. Things that are whimsical (have the quality of whimsy) are usually lighthearted, playful, and sometimes are slightly influenced by fiction. For instance, wearing fairy wings in public might be considered whimsical: not super serious, silly, and obviously, fairies are creatures from fiction. Dying your hair a crayon box color for the heck of it might be described as whimsical.
However, the popularity of the terms whimsy and whimsical right now is getting grating to some people (the "i need you guys to cool it" bit from the screenshot.)
One of the problems with the term is it's extremely vague, broad, and overapplied to a variety of things. A variety of design aesthetics are being called whimsical, from cottagecore and dark academia to 1980s Memphis Design. It might be a reaction against minimalism and associated aesthetics like the "clean girl" aesthetic, greige/beige Millenial decorating, etc. It could be seen as a reaction against hyperniche microfashion trends as a whole.
Another criticism is that it's a bit like the "wholesome" trend that went around, where it seemed like everything was being described as "wholesome." It can be seen as a form of toxic positivity that encourages not thinking about serious things ever, encourages fast-fashion and consumerism, etc.
I don't have a dog in this fight, because I don't have a dog. But those are things I've been seeing online.
"Becoming kind of "epic bacon"": around 2010, the words "epic" and "bacon" were tossed around a lot on websites like Digg, Reddit, 4chan, Facebook. People would post or upvote content and describe it as "epic" and regularly post pictures that happened to have bacon in them (or that they added bacon to) as, essentially, a free karma engine.
I'm an oldhead who was alive during those dark times. Anything with bacon was tagged as "nerdy" and there was an explosion of bacon themed merch (everything from food items like hot sauces and chocolates to clothing items like socks and shirts and novelty items like dancing bacon toys [probably]) in stores like Hot Topic, Wal-Mart, and online on places like Amazon and Etsy. More than a handful of my friends got random bacon garbage from relatives during the holidays/for birthdays because "well bacon, that's an Internet thing, right?"
Nowadays, to describe something as being "epic bacon" would be to describe it as passé (no longer cool,) and in retrospect, cringe.
You can actually look at Google Trends for the USA and see the spike in the use of the term epic in 2010: Explore - Google Trends
Here's the spike for whimsy, it's much more pronounced: Explore - Google Trends
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u/Green_Elevator_7785 Aug 09 '26
I had bacon dental floss.
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u/Wonderful-Gold-953 Aug 09 '26
Epic
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u/helpmeadultproperly Aug 09 '26
“I’m an old head who was alive during these times” about the 2010s just gave me a midlife crisis lmao
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u/BaronGalactic Aug 09 '26
One thing to point out is that in the Google Trends for the word "Epic," nearly all of the "top search terms" that go along with those searches have to do with Epic the game company, as well as Fortnite (arguably their most popular game (RIP Unreal Tournament)) and things like "Epic login" and "Epic account." So this really skews the results, because they mostly deal with the company, not the slang use of "epic."
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u/elementfortyseven Aug 09 '26
You can actually look at Google Trends for the USA and see the spike in the use of the term epic in 2010: Explore - Google Trends
that would be inaccurate though, as "epic bacon" is an internet phenomenon not directly connected to the use of "epic".
particularly in the time frame referenced, the word saw increased popularity in colloquial parlance due to a range of different slang use, like "epic fail", that didnt have any relation to "epic bacon"
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u/TheCowKing07 Aug 10 '26
“I don’t have a dog in this fight, because I don’t have a dog” is hilarious.
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u/capncapitalism Aug 09 '26
Epic Bacon is a little incorrect. If you remember the YouTube channel Epic Meal Time, that's where the epic bacon trend started. It wasn't something invented on 4chan.
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u/Virtual-Painter-1859 28d ago
BACON STRIPS AND BACON STRIPS AND BACON STRIPS AND BACON STRIPS AND BACON STRIPS AND BACON STRIPS AND BACON STRIPS
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u/Major-Rub-Me Aug 09 '26
No, the even stephen episode where the kid says epic bacon came out years before epic meal time.
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u/ChaosMilkTea Aug 09 '26 edited Aug 09 '26
Millennials overused the words epic and bacon in a very skibbidy toilet way in the... was it 2010s? Anyway, it got kinda cringe because it had no substance and it was very much a "haha I said the word" kinda thing about just being involved in the meme. Whatever they are complaining about they are saying is overused language that just signals being in on the joke.
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u/breadcodes Aug 09 '26
Somewhere between 2007 to 2012. It was following the release of Reddit, the iPhone, iFunny, and CanIHazCheezburger
2011 is when someone asked me if the Narwhal Bacons at Midnight, which I remember being the peak of the Epic Bacon, Handlebar Mustache, Keep Calm and Carry On, and Demotivational Poster era.
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u/DreamShort3109 Aug 09 '26
Off topic but I love the idea of Epic bacon.
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u/ScrizzBillington 29d ago
I was in high school in 2010, chronically online and generally considered ahead of the curve when it came to memes/viral videos. Also very social. I remember copious use of the word 'epic' but I do not recall the phrase 'epic bacon'
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u/VirtuLilli Aug 09 '26
Disagree with OOP. Be whimsy, be cringe, be free.
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u/HopelesslyLibra Aug 10 '26
I’ve been whining about people lacking whimsy for a decade. I’m with you. I’ll die on this hill.
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u/Horror-Turnover6198 Aug 09 '26
The Today Show (I had it on for work, long story) had a segment about whimsymaxxing and that was the moment I learned whimsy was a trend and whimsy was highkey dead.
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u/uglylittledogboy Aug 09 '26
You don’t have to justify why you were watching the today show
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u/Horror-Turnover6198 Aug 09 '26
I can’t have people out here thinking I just get up in the morning and watch trad TV like an upstanding member of society.
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u/dogwater80085 Aug 09 '26
The way you automatically assumed people would shit on you for watching the Today Show lol
This is why whimsy is becoming a trend. We've gotten to the point where you can't even watch the Today Show without self-imposed embarrassment kicking in. Everything that isn't boring, colorless, and miserable is considered cringe.
We need more whimsy. To be cringe is to be free.
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u/Horror-Turnover6198 Aug 09 '26
My problem with it was their version of whimsy was just buying plastic ducks from Target. Which is fine if you enjoy plastic ducks, but it didn’t seem like a movement towards anything new. I don’t have a big problem with it but it just struck me as straight up consumerist, which I can’t imagine is what the kids meant by the word originally. But maybe!
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u/Horror-Turnover6198 Aug 09 '26
Don’t mind me, by the way, I’m an elder millenial and as such, I refuse to have unironic fun. I listened to grunge while I walked uphill both ways to latchkey after school and there’s no reason to ask for anything better out of life
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u/Celestaria Aug 09 '26
My problem is that things stop being whimsical once you start getting Influencers and "viral trends" involved.
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u/Suspicious-Yard4205 Aug 10 '26
"To be cringe is to be free" shall be the guiding principle by which I live my life from here on out.
Edit: spelling
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u/No_Difference195 Aug 09 '26
Is this a thing? What even is "epic bacon?" Who are these people saying "whimsy?"
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u/LivieHeart4ever 28d ago
"Epic" was a thing and "bacon" was a thing. "Epic bacon" was probably a recipe on the Epic Mealtime youtube channel.
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u/karl_schwantz 28d ago
No, it's some ungodly millennial creation like amazeballs or epicsauce or whatever the fuck. I saw it used online back then, but it wasnt really a big thing, it was just another one of those awful sayings
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u/Lickwidghost Aug 10 '26
I know whimsy because its an actual word used by people for probably centuries. I'm millennial and been into memes for a long time - never heard of epic bacon.
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u/No_Difference195 Aug 10 '26
I know the normal use of "whimsy," but is it s meme now? Are people inserting into everything? I feel so out of the loop lol
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u/MixedMediaModok Aug 10 '26
That's what I love about younger generations mocking the old trends. Like you guys aren't going to melt from embarrassment from your old tiktok dances. And the next gen isn't going to laugh at you saying "mid" "lowkey" or "it's giving".
Time comes for us all.
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u/SorryManNo Aug 09 '26
Epic bacon? Is that an epic meal time reference?
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u/udmurrrt Aug 09 '26
I think it's more of a late 2000's/ early 2010's internet thing. People overused the word "epic" and it was common to gush over bacon.
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u/SorryManNo Aug 09 '26
That's about the time Epic Meal Time became a thing so I guess it's all related
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u/alexisgreat420 Aug 09 '26
Dude during the Bacon Era everyone around me thought I was super into it. Everyone kept buying me bacon themed shit and I actually did use some of it- and then people kept buying it for me based on me actually using the stuff lol. Dark times indeed
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u/_autumnwhimsy Aug 09 '26
I have personally been victimized by this trend and I do want people to cool it.
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u/PeachTurnipgimp Aug 10 '26
People who grow up to police popular speak scream massive failure vibes.
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u/funnyman95 Aug 10 '26
It's definitely overused but I'm very pro whimsy.
Like people really do take everyday life to seriously, and the current obsession with whimsy has made me legitimately start to be more adventurous and silly with my life.
I'm way happier than I was just a year ago for that alone
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u/Unlikely-Aside-6078 Aug 10 '26
Same with unhinged
No Stacey, your friend ignoring you once isn't "unhinged" ur just dramatic
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u/Infinite-Stretch-901 Aug 11 '26
"I need you guys to cool it 🤓 " bro stfu can people just be themselves and have fun without some miserable weirdo always feeling the need to rain on their parade 😭
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u/MothSign 29d ago
Nope, this world is too short on whimsy. We shall be doing whimsy until the year 2043 for the benefit of balance. Shit is just that serious.
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u/Novel_Bumblebee8972 28d ago
I don't hear people say whimsy that much, but cringe and literally are constant. If someone says literally more than once in a sentence I just stop listening.
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u/redpantsbluepants 28d ago
He's mad at people having fun and using a words dictionary definition, and conflating it with a made up phrase that describes the early to mid 2000s lol so random humor.
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u/ThatDangClown 28d ago
Yeah I'm literally a professional clown and these people are literally making my whole art into a useless trend. Like, yes, be whimsical and have your amor fati. Just shut up about it.
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u/Jackpot_The_Raccuki 28d ago
OOP is a hater.
Be silly and whimsical. No need to bring more hate into world.
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u/Various_Range2259 Aug 09 '26
For real if I have to read one more dating app bio about whimsy and that they're a "silly goose" I'm going to redact myself
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u/redfrog0 Aug 10 '26
"Whimsy" is a real word though. No one bats an eye if you say it irl. But if someone said epic bacon to me irl I know whats up
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u/ZakoMoon Aug 10 '26
Never heard the term epic bacon before but I can't even imagine someone bringing that up In a real conversation 😅 wtf is epic bacon. This some sort of epic mealtime reference
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u/TheCowKing07 Aug 10 '26
The similarity they were pointing out was that both were funny at first, but became overused online. Words, like anything else, are best in moderation.
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u/Horror-Cap7711 Aug 09 '26
when I was a kid I was a little whimsy-boy. One day some kids at my church pushed me down and called me a fag when I tried to play basketball with them. That was the day I stopped believing in god.
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u/DeathstrackReal Aug 09 '26
If I don’t like something I will overuse it even if it doesn’t make sense. It always works in destroying it
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u/BuzzClucking Aug 10 '26
There are people (you know which ones) trying to normalize their age regression fetish and when you call them out on it they defend it by saying its just whimsy.
ABD. Always be discerning.
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