The definition of “Karen” escalated quickly—I think.

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Up until a few months ago I think it meant “an entitled, annoying woman.” Now I think it means “a horrible, racist woman.”

Is this correct? Please help me understand how the term is escalating so quickly.

Yes and it also means now someone who stands up for themselves or advocates for themselves, it also means someone who is oblivious or naïve and doesn't understand.

I don't know about strict definitions, but I have seen it more of a general archetype rather than any one thing. Probably older, usually middle class to upper haircuts optional. A Karen's favourite phrase is asking for a manager, she feels like she is entitled to what she wants, and is ready to make an employee who cannot control things have a bad day.

I am curious over the reason for the archetype, and I do theorise it could be due to patriarchy where women are not taken seriously and have to act a certain way to get results. It is just misplaced targeting innocent people, especially other women being targets of Karens.

The term isn't escalating - the Karens are. A Karen is still just an unreasonably entitled person. But some Karens also happen to be racists or bigots, too. A Karen who is also a racist doesn't move the definition from "Karen = entitled" to "Karen = entitled + racist" - it just means *that* Karen is both a Karen, AND a racist, not that "Karen" now implies both qualities.

It's really not uncommon for a Karen to also be a racist or bigot of some sort. Superiority and entitlement tend to go together rather well.

I don’t recall hearing the term at all before this year. Is it really that new or have I been out of the loop?

It escalated from "entitled white woman" to "racist entitled white woman" because entitlement and racism go hand in hand.

It was restricted to 'meme space' for several years, but it evolved into derogatory political slang for opinionated women of the opposite side (both republicans and democrats). Whatever joke was originally there is dead.

Which probably gives it a fairly short life expectancy outside meme space… Memes are not good at adapting to environments so far from their natural habitats...

In fact, by the time memes reach "mainstream", they have often been done to death in the mediums where they originally appeared.

So I suspect parents won't need to avoid naming their children Karen en masse out of fear of stigmatization…

The principlal components of the Karen archetype is entitlement and unreasonableness. Racism isn't required, but close at hand.

Many terms that become popular on the internet eventually become so broadly defined that they cease to have any meaning.

Yeah, that's true. Kind of like how anyone that's rude on the internet is a "troll" now. Kind of annoying. Trolling is a art.

As I recall, trolling didn't even refer to trolls (the Fantasy ones) originally, but to the method of fishing by the same name..

Fantasy trolls don't usually post inflammatory content... last time I checked, they - at least the D&D variants - are *afraid* of fire...

Nah, fantasy trolls are named for the old norse umbrella term for magic and magic critters that lurk just out of sight. It lives on the the Nordic words like "trollkarl"(wizard) and "trollstav" (magic staff/wand).

I somewhat assumed the idea of calling people internet trolls was along the lines of a monster patrolling a bridge to harass random people that want to cross. More Billy goats than D&D.

The term troll has evolved. Troll literally means a person who starts flame wars or intentionally upsets people on the Internet by posting inflammatory and digressive, extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community (such as a newsgroup, forum, chat room, or blog) with the intent of provoking readers into displaying emotional responses and normalizing tangential discussion, either for the troll's amusement or a specific gain. Taken from wikipedia.


And the link for types of internet trolls you will meet online:

https://www.lifewire.com/types-of-inter ... ls-3485894

How to identify trolls:

https://nordvpn.com/blog/internet-troll/

My opinions here:

Online dating scams, sounds like cat fishing to me they are describing. I never saw them as a troll, just someone who is scamming. Their purpose is to get money.

Sextortion, you mean blackmail. Not a troll, just someone who is nasty and wants nude photos of you.

Social media trolling, I totally agree here this is actual trolling and fits the literal definition.

My own words here:

And there is trollish behavior. Trolling and trollish are two different things in my mind. Trolling is someone who intends to get a rise out of people and to create trouble and get a reaction out of people while trollish is a user who does a behavior that is consistent of a troll but their intentions behind it are different than a internet troll.

Mental issues, naivety, lack of social skills, not knowing when to stop, learning disabilities can all make someone come off as a troll.

And yes topics here do go off topic all the time in threads so I guess we are all engaging in trollish behavior. I doubt we are all doing it on purpose so hence the term trollish.

And once again, scamming is not trolling. Black mailing isn't trolling.

While I'll concede that language can develop and evolve quite quickly when the need arises, I disagree that this a word evolving so much as it is a word having its actual meaning diluted due to entering the mainstream and being used en masse by people who do not actually understand it. Just as the word "meme" retains it's actual meaning despite existing in many people's heads as "a funny picture", the word "internet troll" still means something a little more than just "someone who said mean words on the internet".