Cheugy: A Millennial Tragic Comedy
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- Опубліковано 28 лип 2021
- Cheugy describes Millennials as uncool, outdated and trying too hard. The latest insult in the ongoing TikTok fight between Generation Z and Generation Y made it all the way to the New York Times. This funny bit of internet slang captures the comedy and the tragedy of Millennial life.
Because it turns out that everything the Zoomers find hilarious about their elders is a symptom of growing up between Recessions: we're too broke to be aspirational and now we're too old to be cool. Here's the bittersweet truth behind the word "Cheugy."
SOCIAL MEDIA:
Twitter: / xandrakane
Tiktok: / alexandra.kane
OTHER VIDEOS:
Inside, Bo Burnham and the Internet’s Identity Crisis
• Bo Burnham, Inside and...
(Film criticism meets internet culture analysis!)
Tiktok Beauty, Instagram Reality
• Tiktok Beauty, Instagr...
(How social media makes us feel ugly)
SOURCES:
The Premium Mediocre Life of Maya Millennial
Venkatesh Rao, 2017
www.ribbonfarm.com/2017/08/17...
What Is ‘Cheugy?’ You Know It When You See It
Taylor Lorenz, 2021
www.nytimes.com/2021/04/29/st...
Did Timing Matter? Life Cycle Differences in Effects of Exposure to the Great Recession
Kevin Rinz, 2019
equitablegrowth.org/working-p...
The Scary Reason Why 40% of Millennials May Not Be Able to Retire on Time -- or At All
Maurie Backman, 2020
www.fool.com/retirement/2020/...
(I don’t particularly agree with this article and I don’t generally read much Motley Fool, this is here as a lovely example of the many pieces of “Millennials are doomed!” journalism that business media loves to publish.)
MUSIC:
Music by Dyalla Swain
/ dyalla
Music by Scott Buckley
www.scottbuckley.com.au/ - Розваги
Thank you for this video, it was very informative. It is hard to know that your generation, is the only generation in the modern world that will be poorer than your parents. This is why for the longest time I didn't tell my mother I had student debt, I didn't want to worry her and make her feel guilty about not helping me financially like she is going to help my sister.
I think every millennial should be honest about their struggles whether social or financial, with their parents. And know that it is no one's fault, its just the reality we live in now. And all we can do, is do the best we can and adapt.
I don't really post things on social media, but I understand the appeal of it. Giving this false reassurance that everything is great, and that everything will work out. Everyone deserves to have that escapism, but there also should be a balance to it.
Thank you for watching! I agree that millennials should be honest about our financial and social reality. There's a gentleness in putting on a brave face - whether that's posting inspirational quotes on social media or in not telling our families about debt. But you're right that we need to talk openly about our reality in order to adapt to it.
One thing that gives me some hope is the fact that polls I've read show that both millennials and Gen Z are in favor of policies that will help future generations avoid some of our struggles. Many younger people are for student loan forgiveness, lowering college tuition or making apprenticeship programs free. Maybe some of the cultural artifacts of Cheugy-ness have a layer beyond the kindness as a stage of grief: after all, denial is supposed to be the first stage of the grieving process. But the last stage is supposed to be acceptance. Maybe we'll get there and then work to make things better.
I think it's interesting that it's considered normal for "the young to make fun of the old" bcus I don't remember a time in my teens I made fun of any clothes/manners/media/food of my mom and dad's generation or my grandad/grandma's. I always found it interesting and fascinating rather than something to mock, so I don't really understand this need some gen-z kids have to pick on really unimportant things about millennials. Like sure it's all in good fun (I hope?), but I just don't remember me or any of my friends having conversations like that or making up weird terms like cheugy to describe uncool things the previous generations did lol. If anything, it was the boomers who always picked on the youngs and called us lazy/unsuccessful/weird/obsessed with technology. But I never did it back to them. I just thought of them as a stricter, more emotionless generation. That's about it. There seems to be more of an emphasis now on mocking the older generation rather than learning from it? Also millennials were never as preachy as boomers, who like to lecture us on everything. Yet millennials are the ones to get mocked now even though they're the chillest ones and had the shit end of the stick financially 😭
I don't think popular things from the 2010s are cheesy at all. I'm a Gen Z and I'd rather see a hundred adults in galaxy print than watch a Tiktok dance or hear that "oh no" song one more time.
That's an encouraging thing to read because my favorite thing in my closet is galaxy print! Although to be honest I'd wear it even if the whole world thought it was cheesy -- it's purple, galaxy print and has cats on it so I think it's very fashionable. :)
In a world where Millennials has become the catch-all term for "people Boomers blame when their favourite poorly managed business goes bust" and hated on, despite growing up in the nightmare they created, it's not hard to feel sorry for them - but this video explains a whole new level of how unfortunate it was to be born into that generation. The only thing they had was coolness, and now they are #cheugy. Although, I might struggle to tell my Neapolitan MIL that she is trying too hard when she makes lasagne, and I look forward to whatever random word is created by the next generation to describe cringey zoomer behaviour once they get a bit older and face a lot of the same problems which still aren't being solved.
zomg, I think it is categorically impossible for Neapolitans to try too hard on any matter involving pasta. All levels of effort in real Italian cuisine are the appropriate level of effort. (Also I think zomg is cheugy. It is a fun word and I shall use it anyway.)
Unless we change the naming conventions, the generation after Gen Z is going to be Generation Alpha. I shudder to think what savagery the Alpha Kids will come up with. Also unless humanity radically changes Generation Alpha is going to mercilessly mock Generation Beta.
Thanks for this video. I came on here expecting to relate to the word (supported by just how many months late I am to even knowing about 'cheugy') but instead came across a compassionate analysis about its roots. Besides being informative, this video is very thought-provoking and encourages some reflection instead of embarrassment or resignation at the term. You deserve more views and just earned yourself another sub.
Thank you! That's very encouraging to read. You had no way of knowing this, internet stranger, but I was having a not great day until I read this. Thanks for checking it out and I appreciate the kind words.
Kindness is worth more than being cool because it is so brave and simple...from a generation x sister.
High school me would have imploded from happiness to read this comment. Not sure if all or most millennials feel this way, but (to make the sibling comparison even more direct) I wanted gen x to approve of our generation so badly. So to hear it's better to be kind than cool from a generation x sister is, for lack of a better word - cool. :)
@@maevemonroe ❤
You ruined our lives
oh that part about generations being like siblings got me.
Same. I come from a multi-generational sibling family.
@@shawnperez6880 me too!!! My moms a boomer, my oldest sibling is gen x, my other siblings are millennials n my brother who's a year older than me, is gen z!!
This is a really thoughtful piece.
Thank you! Overthinking internet culture is perhaps not the healthiest hobby, but it's my hobby. I have been wanting to talk about the Premium Mediocre article for years, and when it clicked in my head that Cheugy = premium mediocre I knew I had to make this.
I dont understand how people can consider food outdated and untrendy? Food is food
Food is indeed food. I was so confused that lasanga is cheugy? it's tasty!
I'm from Italy and I'm telling you my mum today made the best pasta al forno of all time, although I'm struggling in Italy I'm glad we don't buy in all sort of trends out there
As the mother of a Millennial who knows she needs this kindness, I feel blessed by this. Forgive us, dears. We still have a helping hand to lend.
My hope is that seeing how much the recession impacted Millennials will, eventually, push us all towards reform. The fact that Millennials and Gen Z have the strongest support for increasing social safety nets and forgiving debt gives me hope. Our generation's story isn't over yet, we're just past the part where we're the youngest characters on the stage.
The irony is that “Cheugy” latches onto a very specific demographic and time period of millennials while GenZ simultaneously benefits from and appreciates/embraces things millennials set in motion. It’s funny when genZ will call you Cheugy for liking Harry Potter yet thinks the 90s / early 2000s clothing you used to wear is trendy. I guess what I’m getting at is that it cherry-picks and it’s kind of like how we attributed “boomer” to the baby boomers and it implied a certain thing despite boomers being responsible in part for the countercultures of the 60s/70s and even the computer age of the mid-late 80s and early 90s. Just food for thought that these sorts of trends of death, judgement, and rebirth are common. “Subculture: the Meaning of Style” by Dick Hebdige is a great read on the matter. PS: why u gotta do Atrak dirty like that? 😂
Very true. I may never get over the fundamental weirdness of seeing bucket hats come back. All the cheugiest of my cheugy friends - including me, I am one of my cheugy friends - loved bucket hats as a kid. Lasanga is bad but our old favorite hat is cool? What is this madness?! I will have to check out that book.
And I gotta go Atrak dirty like that because I spent years of my life working in an open floor plan office. My coworkers judged me for listening to so much "2012 electric dance-type music" instead of, I don't know, appropriately cool indie type music. I perpetuate the cycle of making fun of things.
@@maevemonroe Haha fair enough
when a video essay about a stupid word about a generation youre not part of makes you tear up you know theres some serious talent behind it. wishing you luck with the algorithm and on-time retirement in the greater capitalist hellscape
thank you! I have no idea how the greater capitalist hellscape will treat me when it comes to retirement. maybe I'll be everyone's favorite 80-year-old cranky cat lady in the office or the geriatric champion of the Battle Royale. either way, reading this comment made my lunch break a whole lot better.
I live laugh love every minute of this vídeo :')
Thank you! Hope it inspired a few moments of too #blessed to be stressed. A youtube-sized bite of life being a beach? Anyway thank you for watching :)
Came looking for a funny video about this new silly word. Left almost in tears.
Thank you but also how dare you, lol.
Aww thank you! But also I'm sorry? But more importantly thank you! Anyway - forgive me for oversharing but this comment brightened my day. It was sort of a not great Thursday today, but now it's a better Thursday. Thank you for this. :)
All of your content is really well written and pro. Also, your content doesn't have that "UA-cam voice" cadence. I would watch a whole show of your clips. Great stuff.
Thank you! I had hearing problems as a kid so I've always tried to speak very clearly so that other people can understand me as easily as possible. Glad to hear that my efforts are noticeable!
This is the perfect video for this topic, thank you miss!
Whats most impressive about this concept is the tremendous irony of the critique, which ultimately best describes itself.
a beautiful and thoughtful video on a painful and tragic reality
Thank you! It is a painful reality. I have a lot of concern for our generation. I think that makes the Cheuginess/cheesiness all the kinder: we know we're largely out of luck, and yet here we are putting on a brave face so no one feels bad for us.
i didnt expect to like this video as much as i did :)
This made me cry
Cheugy is also over achingly white
Omg I was thinking the same thing. The word is giving white teen. It’s an awful word like you couldn’t come up with something that didn’t sound like a toddler came up with.
Millennials and Zoomers should be working together to improve the world and prevent climate catastrophe for both our and future generations sake.
This social media spat seems like a distraction, though I appreciate the informative video.
Well said!
This was sadly beautiful, thank you
I'm gen z and eventhough sometimes I make jokes at the expense of millennials (mostly for their fashion) I truly respect and like that generation , I think they really try their best despite the the socioeconomic limitations , I also admire how millennials try to have empathy even if they don't always "get it". I think gen z and millennials are very similar and can learn from eachother, I don't think creating a "vs" attitude is healthy and it's just repeating the cycles of looking down at younger generations.
2014-2019 cheugy time
I love everything about Cheugy, great word and concept
Pausing to put emphasis on "is a thing" is cheugy.
beautiful video :D
Thank you! I love overthinking internet slang and attempting shiny visual effects, so this was a fun blend of two favorite things.
This video got me geared up ( 1992 born
yaaaay! I know this is probably the most Millennial thing ever but I consider Disney Renaissance era Millennaisl to be a microgeneration. So that's 1989-1996 I think? Thank you for watching!
All the stuff tastemakers calling cheugy was never cool in the first place tbh
I'm an older Gen Z(it starts like 1996, and I was born in 1998), and I will feel grateful for what millennials have done for me.
But at the same time, I am glad things have changed. A lot of the stuff from past years was super fucked up and I'm glad we're in an era of change.
I think you guys shaping the world will help us shape it too.
Though I didn't know Cheugy was a thing. I don't really abscribe to the 2010s at all, I was a teenager during that time. I kind of really disliked a lot of the creators there, we all know what happened to Shane Dawson, and the whole being rude/cruel/racist/etc. "authentic" is "cool" really was hurtful for a lot of us.
Of course, later on, things changed, but, I think I have more nostalgia for the 2000s than 2010s.
So honestly, I hope things get better for you guys, you were a part of that. But I hope we can change it too.
Yeah, definitely don't take yourselves so seriously, it's okay to just enjoy things. When we were younger, we wanted to be you. We grew up with it.
Millennials and Gen Z have a lot in common, I think, in terms of the obstacles we face and the goals we have for what the future can look like.
I think part of why Millennials take things so seriously is leftover from things were back in the day -- you mentioned rude/cruel/racist things being cool because they're "authentic." It's hard to overstate just how common that kind of attitude was in pop culture and just in ordinary life. On a typical day in high I school I must have heard "that's gay" used to describe something negatively a dozen times. People told me I was taking things too seriously when I said that's not funny.
It's cool as a Millennial to see parts of the 2000s culture make a comeback. It's nice to see bucket hats again, it's a little bit like y2k all over again! Anyway: I have a lot of confidence in what Gen Z is going to accomplish and is already accomplishing.
@@maevemonroe yeah definitely!!!
And that makes a lot of sense! I remember Onision was still big when I was in middle school and his content was like that. It's the trauma, definitely. I hated any sort of fucked up joke for a long time afterwards.
But because of people like bo burnham and john mulaney coming into the spotlight afterwards, I think we were able to have better jokes!
Like now, as a queer person, I make "that's gay" jokes as a positive way. Like the dank memes, funky humor. Like dad jokes too!
And yeah :3!! I hope it gets better!!!
@@yukiandkanamekuran omg I also now say "that's gay" in an affectionate way. I won't put spoilers for a show in this comment but I watched a show where two female characters finally get together at the end. And I, of course, had no choice but to say "that's so gay" exactly the way people at my high school used to say it. But it's now a happier joke, like "heck yeah, this is the kind of love story we didn't see very often back in the old days."
@@maevemonroe yES!!!! that's gay (affectionate) vs that's gay (derogatory). It's always the former with me.
Great video, and you have a great speaking voice. I had never heard of premium mediocre, and it’s given me a brief existential crisis after just moving to New York. We follow eachother on tiktok btw!
Thank you! You make some honest-to-goodness maximum quality booktok material. It's cool that someone visited this youtube racket from the clock app!
Also, New York is tasty. I have yet to experience an existential crisis that is not slightly less crisis-y after eating good New York food.
@@maevemonroe thanks! It’s been fun to do.
I’ve experienced that first hand, I had spicy Chinese chicken pizza today and passed out afterward, woke up with a renewed zest for life.
@@offthewallnovels1292 Spicy spinach dumplings in Chinatown are my go-to existential crisis undo button. Maybe not undo button, but they certainly take the edge off of contemplating the absurdity of existence.
@@maevemonroe I'll have to check that out! So you live in New York too? That's cool. Maybe we'll run into each other in the wild.
On another note, I just released a novel, can I send you a copy?
You’re stretching it, but fun essay nevertheless. And i would say cheugy is not necessarily trying too hard but rather about being oblivious about that what you think is trendy is really a relic.
Wow! Nice work.
Thank you! I thought the whole conversation around "Cheugy" was fascinating, and since it reminded me of one of my favorite articles/blog posts ever I felt like I had to share the connection between the two ideas.
Excellent video!! I think that gen z has to deal with a lot of the same challenges that we millennials do (economic instability, climate change, etc.) and most of those issues have been worsened because of the pandemic. I think a lot of showing ones “glamorous” life on Instagram has something to do with proving something to peers as well, though I understand what you mean about parents. I also agree with a previous comment that the word cheugy seems to be describing white millennials primarily. Thanks for making this, it’s interesting to think about :D
Someone said that the whole debate on cheugy is "white girl on white girl crime." It's funny because it's true.
I agree that gen z is facing a lot of the same issues that millennials have to reckon with. The pandemic has been hard for all of us but I can't help but it's honestly difficult to imagine how tough it must be for younger people. It's been surreal for me, a whole adult with plenty of life experience to keep me semi-grounded. What it would be like to be in school/college or in your first job, then suddenly the world is on hold, it must be so strange. Anyway: thank you for watching!
Dude. Why is this so real? 😢
Yeah what’s the deal with rompers?🤢
With concepts like Maya Millennial and OK Boomer I feel that the generations to come would only take generations as range of ages to make fun of…◔_◔
The generation after Gen Z is going to be Generation Alpha, presumably followed by Generation Beta. I imagine that there is going to be a LOT of intergenerational jokes if slang around alphas/betas somehow lasts far enough into the future.
Being a younger millenial who wasn't a fan of late 2000's and early-mid 2010's culture I find that the reminder that time shifts happen and repeat... Its very interesting because I'm embracing the y2K inspired fashion taking hold in 2020's. I actually don't hate it and find it endearing that the younger generation is bringing back my childhood through their lens and I get to wear that style now - but its not quite the same, there's things that came back and things that didn't. I'm wearing looser clothes which symbolically makes sense - just breath life is always moving forward - will always change.
Let's see if someone is going to read this... When I was super young, at least in the underground realm, you had to respect people older than yourself, they were the ppl taking the lead, the people who lived through the 90's, the IRL platform... we had to respect them. On the contrary, us Millennials are the first generation laughed at by folk 10 years younger than us. Up until mid-2010 this wasn't a thing whatsoever. I'm quite acquainted with everything said in the vid, no BCS I dwell on TikTok but because I did my Music Business degree in my early 30's (just before covid LOL) and I could tell the difference in how Gen-Z approaches things, media, MUSIC... so forth and so on. The most striking takeaway, however, is 'PREMIUM MEDIOCRITY' which is an absolutely spot on definition of everything we went through life, and how we are tackling our financial and societal circumstances.
I'd be fascinated to know what's being taught about generational differences with a degree like Music Business. All I'm exposed to is the data that shows up in Pew Research Reports, NYTimes, etc -- plus, I am ashamed to admit, I spend too much time on TikTok.
Premium Mediocrity is a phrase that helped me feel more at peace with the world. I'm glad I read it so, if I'm gonna make UA-cam videos, I try to share the best things I know.
@@maevemonroe Well, it wasn't the degree itself that taught me how to read differences amongst generations but a few substantial observations, starting with my peers (I was one of the oldest kids in the game). Gen Z is the so-called shufflers, due to the fluidity they are experiencing regarding PEST (macroeconomic environment) they are placed. I could notice they didn't have a 'stubborn' attachment to any particular genre. The subcultures are mostly decided online, online trends take over IRL situations, and marketers need to adjust their promotional message (along with other marketing compounds). Again, I could see that Gen-Z or the youngest Millenials didn't have an older role model to follow, this is also true due to my generation's faults. in fact, most of my (once upon time) pals are now settling down and abandoning previous alt lifestyles. So the newbies are left all by themselves. Additionally, the Music Business has pioneered an Anarcho-Capitalist approach where the middleman is now just a relict from the past, with the rise of cooperative DIY, artists are more in control of their output (think about Bandcamp, think about Spotify playlists and YT music genre specific ID pitching vs above the line media). In some respect this has revolutionised how music, subcultures and output consumptions have been defined and shaped; however, there is an oversaturation of offering, with music becoming the new fast fashion, along with youngsters not really into building up a sonic identity. Those aspects are quite challenging for the industry, it's quite hard to map out what's going on, who is worth following, and who is worth investing in. Artists' life-cycle is briefer than ever before, so the industry works and squeezes what IT is in front of them. FYI you might want to read Bauman he was the first one to conceptualize the idea of fluidity in society back in the early 00s. Cheers and thanks for reading through x
@@fidgetykoala Ty for sharing. I've seen bits and pieces of some of the trends you're describing but it's really interesting to read the background in more detail. I have definitely noticed that the life-cycle of the recording artist feels much shorter now. In my non-educated view it seems like streaming disrupted the music industry and in the last few years TikTok *broke* it. I should check out Bauman, I need more book recommendations so thank you for that as well!
@@maevemonroe you're welcome!
No one in gen z is saying "cheugy"
I am talking for all gen z when I say I never used or heard this, personally I have nothing against millenials and never noticed any off these things about millennials.also don't touch lasagna
This video was chuegy
BigpimMald
Nobody says cheugy
So what will happen to gen z? Is it cheugy to try hard? I guess I have a word for their lack of motivation, lazy.
ok boomer
I’ve invented a term for women trying to be like men in some shape or form: it’s called amasculate. Lazy because it sounds like a word that already exists but it has a meaning that’s easy to grasp from the way it’s spelt.
Can you give some examples to "women trying to be like men"?
What even is this. Huhhhhhh? Sir you live in your own head.
so an example I can think of of a woman acting like a man is a woman getting a mans haircut.
So a buzz cut or something like that.
@@jamesnicholascrowson7501 hair has no gender you fool