How 'Cheugy' Shows That The Internet Continues To Have A Coolness Problem

One of the most confusing aspects of internet culture today is that the next big thing is often about defining what is not. While social media users may be an incredibly diverse group, there somehow still seems a need to identify whoever is not quite online enough.

When the New York Times reported on the rise of cheugy last week, its main takeaway was that the generational culture war had at last spawned a new entry to the dictionary. Had it launched a few years prior, cheugy may simply have been a subcategory of basic.

However, it sets itself apart by focusing on outdatedness alongside conformity. It rolls off the tongue to describe unironic Minion memes, uninspired Instagram captions and labeling yourself as a girlboss. Despite its obvious link to the ongoing trend of making Millennials the punchline, being Gen Z doesn’t give you immunity. The excruciating pranks and Hype House videos you get before you train the TikTok algorithm are unmistakable entries to the genre. The bottom line is that cheugy is a free pass to dictate a "hot or not" list. It’s no coincidence that the word originated in a Beverly Hills high school.

The word is representative of a precedent that memes set long ago. There’s a distinct flavor of pumpkin spice latte to proceedings concentrated less on the creativity of the target than their ability to draw internet clout. Like the basic bitch that came before it, much of the essence of cheugy is drawn from observations about women’s behaviors — even if it is more of an equal opportunity joke than its predecessor.

Its spread through TikTok also represents another ongoing feud between its straight (i.e. mainstream) and alt sides. The app may be a notorious trendsetter, but as with anything that falls under that definition, there’s a pressing need to be on the right side of the current moment.

What brings these influences together though, is that they all live under the shadow of cringe. The all-seeing, all-knowing presence remains one of the biggest factors in what dictates a social media reputation. Its criteria have some mainstays when it comes to outlining particularly outrageous conduct, but mainly it holds a shifting allegiance to whichever groups have the most influence on the internet at the time.

One prominent example is the ubiquity turned fall from grace of so random, turned from an annoying yet innovative means of self-expression to a classic screenshot and copypasta material.

Cheugy is the latest means of enforcing these arbitrary rules, identifying a cultural changeover as much as an embarrassing faux pas. It means that something as minor as captioning a picture of your newly colored hair with “I did a thing” becomes a defining trait of your personality and its online footprint.

In its attempt to atomize the human experience, meme culture has given the starter pack treatment to pretty much everything it can think of. If old-fashioned subculture really is dead, all the memes out there dedicated to describing specific types of individuals are at least symptomatic of the cause. At the same time, they are an attempt to address this conundrum: by creating these microclimates of people, they offer something for the meme consumer to distinguish themselves against or sometimes reluctantly relate to.

This is where the phrase departs from many of its predecessors in that it is not exclusively negative. Some Millennials, aware of their reputation for defensive raps, choose to use it as a self-identifier that shows a conscious acceptance of their uncoolness. On top of that, even many of those who seek to distance themselves from what it stands for usually accept that there is a little cheugy in all of us.

In this way, it bears comparison to Christian Girl Autumn. A format that similarly started out as a cheap shot at a tackily perceived aesthetic, it took off when its protagonists took hold of the narrative and evolved it into something completely wholesome.

Cheugy can’t bring itself to go quite this far. At heart, it is still a finger-pointing exercise that showcases the user’s self-awareness and social media-based superiority in equal measure. The attitude it promotes is not new, although its more participatory nature cements a turning point in its kind. For a long time, participating in meme culture was a marker of difference. This development shows the progress it has made in acknowledging its ability to unite, as well as divide and conquer.

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