meme-review
KYM Review: The Horny, Bewildering Slang of 2020
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o one will argue that 2020 was the most difficult year in living memory for the majority of the world, but the unexpected side effect of the pandemic, riots, wildfires, and various other doomsday scenarios playing out all at once was that it seemed everyone was wildly and publicly horny. With everyone inside in 2020, there were few private outlets for sexual expression, which made sex an ever-present topic lingering over online discourse. New, non-sexual slang had to compete with the horny on main scandal du jour or the new e-girl emerging from the ether to bring simps to their knees. Despite some new political terms entering the discourse, make no mistake: 2020 was a year of boob and dick slang, fetishistic fan art, and lonely people begging to be freed from horny jail. In other words, it was the horniest year in the history of the internet.
Simp
If there was any word that encompassed 2020, it was Simp. A “simp,” as its understood currently, is any man who debases themself for female attention. “Simp” took off with the e-girl craze started by Belle Delphine and Pokimane: if you bought Belle Delphine’s bathwater or were a tier-3 sub for Pokimane in the hopes that you may get a crumb of attention, you’d be a simp. If you subscribe to an OnlyFans with the fantasy of dating the creator, you’re a simp.
Of course, “simp” moved well beyond its monetary connotations as 2020 went on, becoming a catch-all for any man who does things for a woman. This came to an embarrassing head when Republican congressional candidate Madison Cawthorn accused his opponent, Moe Davis, of being a “simp” because he often voted with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Political use is usually the kiss of death for memes, so it remains to be seen if “Simp” will survive into 2021, but there can be no doubt that “Simp” discourse and Simp-adjacent memes like “Dick Flattening” were dominant in 2020.
Cope
“Cope” was 2020’s updated (and significantly meaner) version of Deal With It. Whereas “deal with it” might be used to tell someone to stop whining over a minor inconvenience, “cope” has been used more to mean “take your grief and choke on it.”
The term saw significant use alongside the rise of a Pepe The Frog meme showing a MAGA Pepe inhaling from an oxygen tube labeled copium. The copium meme has been used primarily by people gloating over Donald Trump’s poor 2020 election prospects and eventual loss. The image is reliably under posts by right-wing election denialists who have been grasping at conspiracies to overturn the election since November. Considering the amount of “liberal tears” memes that were reliably popular among right-wing social media users in the wake of the 2016 election, “Cope” became a shorter, more biting bit of schadenfreude for Americans ready to move on from the Trump era.
Sus
In a year of Among Us memes, one term has transcended the game’s community and entered the popular lexicon of 2020: Sus. While “sus,” short for “suspicious,” had been slang in Black communities for some time, the rise of Among Us had every player believing their “teammates” were “sus.”
Among Us is a hidden role game in which “imposters” try to sabotage a space crew trying to perform tasks by killing crewmates. After a dead crewmate is discovered, the remaining crewmates convene to discuss who they think is the imposter. When throwing around accusations, the term “sus” became common parlance to describe anyone who may have been acting suspiciously during the previous round. If you know anything about Among Us, you know the term “sus,” thanks to the endless memes around the term that populated social media in the past year.
Himbo
Himbos had themselves a glorious comeback in 2020. “Himbo,” a portmanteau of “Him” and “Bimbo,” is not a new term, and has been used to describe sweet, hunky and dumb men since the 90s. While “Himbo” discourse has been popping up for years on social media as people grew to appreciate the charms of characters like Kronk and Andy Dwyer, the term became hot when a Twitter user made the argument the term “himbo” was “ableist” and that attraction to Himbos was akin to pedophilia.
The tweet was patently ridiculous and celebrated as an instantly classic hot take. It’s a perfect crescendo of blazing hot takes, going from “‘Himbo’ is ableist” to “how is it different from attraction to little kids” with a virtuoso’s grace. One Twitter user analyzed the situation thusly: “Tumblr has finally died down enough that the people who used to do analysis for clout are doing it here and now we have the world's funniest mix of people being large hadron collider slammed into each other.” Himbo discourse marked the zenith of old Tumblr and current Twitter discourse colliding, and social media will be feeling the repercussions for years to come.
Horny Jail
While everyone was being horny on main in 2020, someone had to step in and establish order. Enter a Doge with a bat, bonking horny criminals into submission and sending them to Horny Jail.
Horny Jail was a very necessary destination in 2020, appearing under threads where people got horny for what felt like zillions of cartoons, dead political figures and even inanimate objects. While social media users policed each other with the stern doge, the original image became a handy exploitable while the term expanded into a common substitute for “keep it in your pants, dude,” which was certainly necessary at certain times of 2020.
Karen
2020 was yet another year of "Karen" discourse. For those who might still be mercifully unaware of what a “Karen” is, a “Karen” is a catch-all name for anyone filmed complaining. Though many of the most notable “Karens” made their debut in 2019 under names like BBQ Becky and Permit Patty, seemingly hundreds of videos of women (and men) complaining about Covid restrictions or black people were lumped into the “Karen” epidemic in 2020. Central Park Karen and the Missouri Gun Couple were the major Karens of the year, but Karens were everywhere in 2020, their presence in pop culture buoyed by some media publications that banked on “Karens” for traffic. Karens have certainly outstayed their welcome, as has the term “Karen.” Hopefully in 2021 we can go back to “public freakout.”
Boob Slang
2020 was a huge year for big bonkhonagahoogs, as slang for huge breasts was prevalent throughout the year. Milkers, Big Naturals, Honkers, if you will all had moments where they were the hot slang for boobs in 2020, as both women and men took the year to admire the gift of gigantic jugs. Sugoi Dekai made waves in the anime world, while Booba became the Pepe for looking respectfully at the thirst traps that seemed to dominate timelines. Unlike other slang developments in 2020, it seemed everyone was certainly happy to whip out some old slang for breasts and rally around some new ones.
PogChamp
Poggers and its various pog affiliates made small jumps from Twitch chat into the mainstream in 2020, but no Twitch word had a year quite like PogChamp. “PogChamp” has been a Twitch word and emoji used for when someone does well in their game for years, but 2020 brought the rise of My Little PogChamp, a bizarre video meme in which a tsundere character from anime addresses the viewer and says, “Fine, I guess you are my little PogChamp. Come here,” before extending her arms out for a hug.
The meme drew a surprising amount of variations considering its highly niche concept. Perhaps it’s an extension of 2020’s general horniness, imagining stern waifus reluctantly giving in for a brief moment of tenderness. Or maybe its popularity has a more wholesome root: it’s nice to be told you’re doing well, even by a fictional character, after all. The balance it strikes between irony and wholesomeness made it one of the more curious memes of 2020, and brought “PogChamp” to the mainstream.
Cottagecore
TikTok was TikChock full of bizarre trends this year, but one of the oddest was cottagecore, an aesthetic movement based on the types of fashion one might see in 19th and early-20th century country farms. While the aesthetic started on Tumblr in 2018, TikTok’s embrace of the aesthetic brought it to new heights in 2020.
https://www.tiktok.com/embed/v2/6815944476620541189
https://www.tiktok.com/embed/v2/6833369271259680005
The movement was covered by multiple major outlets, including the New York Times, who described it as “an aspirational form of nostalgia that praises the benefits of living a slow life in which nothing much happens at all.” For everyone not in the subculture, this made pictures of bread, old-timey nighties, and idyllic countryside a staple of the internet in 2020. Perhaps in a year where everyone was stuck inside, Cottagecore provided the perfect escape for those stuck inside yet imagining a world where being stuck inside had a sweeter purpose.
Glizzy
Of all the weird terms that popped up in 2020, perhaps none is as weird as Glizzy. The summer of 2020 brought with it “Glizzy,” a term for big ol’ hot dogs. After a Facebook post of a man devouring a hot dog went viral, pictures of politicians and celebrities became a brief rage, as people dubbed the hot dog eating men “Glizzy Guzzlers.”
Then, “Glizzies” became the 2020 version of Fidget Spinners, as Glizzy Ninjas began showing off their dextrous hand tricks with hot dogs. It was strange, gross, and even a little sexual: in other words, 2020 slang in a nutshell.
Looking for more of this year's best viral phenomena and memes? Be sure to check out our other 2020 meme roundups below:
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