When Did Karen Become A Swear Word?
I’ve always liked the name Karen. There was the beautiful, talented but tragic Karen Carpenter; then I had a doctor named Karen, she had an incredible bedside manner; then the woman who did my laundry was named Karen, she was a few months older than me, petite, and very helpful. So why has Karen become a swear word? Very few people have had that dubious privilege, one who turned water into wine in particular.
This nastiness appears to have started in May 2020 when a white woman walking her dog in New York’s Central park was freaked out by a black dude. As usual, the race-obsessed American media had to play it out in that fashion, but leaving aside the fact that this was a woman no manof any race in his right mind would share an empty elevator with, her name was Amy, so why didn’t she become the Central Park Amy instead of the Central Park Karen?
Leaving that aside, Karen has now become a generic term for a white woman, usually middle class, who portrays herself as a victim, makes unreasonable demands, or just acts plain nasty. We have too seen a few black women branded Karens, and no doubt in due course we will see a few Chinese Karens; according to Google Translate, in Mandarin the name is pronounced Kǎi lún. Personally, I prefer to call such women cunts, or for the Amy Coopers of this world, head cases.