About

Normale Brakka a Niffo or Normal Brakka is a Dutch and German slang term used to describe a pair of straight-leg pants, with "brakka" meaning "pants" and "a niffo" translating roughly to "bro," the phrase roughly translating to, "a pair of normal pants, bro." The term was popularized on TikTok around July 2023 when Dutch user @schjar described a pair of skinny jeans as a "normale brakke," inspiring remixes of the audio and memes referencing and parodying the video. In December 2023, the word "brakka" was named the "Austrian youth word of the year."

Origin

Around April 2023, TikTokers began teasing Dutch TikToker @schjar for wearing skinny jeans, prompting him to respond to the comments by denying his jeans are too skinny, often calling them "normal pants." For example, on June 3rd, 2023, the TikToker^[1] uploaded a video using the phrase "normale brakka" several times while showing off his skinny jeans, garnering over 1.3 million views in six months (shown below, left). On July 18th, he posted a video to TikTok^[2] refuting a comment calling his pants skinny where he shows a pile of pants he refers to as "normal," bouncing up and down in the jeans to show that they don't restrict him, garnering over 5 million views in five months (shown below, right).

Spread

The videos became the subject of memes and referential videos over the following months. On July 29th, 2023, TikToker^[3] @philemon454 posted a remix of several of @schjar's "normale brakka" videos set to music, garnering over 971,000 views in five months (shown below).

The original sound was used over 4,800 times in the following months, often in videos referencing @schjar. For example, on August 30th, TikToker^[4] @enny.de posted a video where he and a friend walk out of change rooms in skinny jeans and test them like the Schjar does, garnering over 2.2 million views in four months (shown below, left). On September 12th, TikToker^[5] @m.a.r.c.e.l.l.o.o.o posted a video showing off notably baggy pants under the sound, garnering over 2 million views in three months (shown below, right).

On November 10th, Giga.de^[6] published an article explaining the term. On December 7th, the German TiKTok^[7] news page Time In the Picture (@zeitimbild) posted a video clip of a report claiming that "brakka" was named Austria's "Youth Word of the Year," garnering over 1.6 million views in a day. That day, TikToker^[8] @schjar duetted the video, garnering over 300,000 views in a day (shown below).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References