What is a 'Pavement Princess'? The Comically Big Trucks Trend, Memes And Slang Term Explained

Pick-up trucks started as a vehicle for doing work: they could haul heavy loads, drive off-road and navigate every kind of terrain. But over the past few years, a new kind of truck has appeared in the suburbs and mall parking lots of America: the pavement princess. She's the luxury vehicle version of a pick-up truck, lifted and accessorized to the point of impracticality. She's only rolled on pavement and never seen a dirt road once.

There's been a significant backlash against these vehicles, both from "real" truck drivers and from those who find them unsafe and environmentally hazardous. And now, haters of these vehicles are finding common cause online, posting about the worst offenders in their areas.

What Does 'Pavement Princess' Mean?

The term "pavement princess" seems to predate the internet. Early uses occur on chat board web forums for the owners of Hummers in the mid-2000s, and Urban Dictionary's earliest definition dates from 2007. It seems to have begun in communities where people really cared about the dirt on their tires and the usefulness of their trucks. There's a certain vibe that comes with trucks, and when these true pick-up truckers saw people rolling in with gussied-up luxury trucks, they needed a term to communicate how much it disgusted them. "Pavement princess" was the perfect word.

How Did Trucks Get So Big?

Axios describes the transformation of the pick-up truck from a work vehicle to a lifestyle vehicle.# Cabs got bigger and flatbeds got smaller. The trucks became heavier, longer and taller with more special features. The point became how it looked and not what it did, and the main reason to buy one wasn't because you needed to carry hundreds of pounds of cargo, but because you wanted to look like someone who might. Like many things in the United States of America, bigger was better.

Why Do People Hate Pavement Princesses?

Many people think the big trucks are dangerous. Studies show that it's very easy to run over children with these trucks because you just can't see one over the hood. Heavier cars wear roads out faster, and are more dangerous when they crash into smaller cars.

Some argue that driving a truck as big as some pavement princesses should require a CDL, the kind of driver's license you need to drive a delivery van, a bus, or any other kind of really big car. This is because they think many people who own these trucks don't know how to handle a vehicle that big. No word on whether a forklift certification would work.

Why Are People Posting About This?

The current mania of pavement princess posting began on Reddit's /r/pics, where last week posters began sharing photos of pavement princesses in their neighborhoods. The comments are full of people joyfully hating on big trucks together, talking about times when they've been tailgated, had to walk around a truck that takes up half the sidewalk, or otherwise been annoyed by vehicles that are much too large.

For the full history of "pavement princesses," be sure to check out Know Your Meme's encyclopedia entry for more information.