Ok Boomer

Baby Boomer: a term referring to the generation from the “early 1940s to the early 1960s,” according to Dictionary.com.

In the past few weeks, the phrase “Okay Boomer” has taken the meme world by storm. The phrase is all over the internet, from Instagram to Twitter, and has even made it to a parliament meeting in New Zealand.

“Ok Boomer” is a retort from a younger Gen Z to an older individual, perhaps someone from a different generation. It is almost a shorter way of saying, “Okay, old man, your comment was noted. Now go back to your old man things.”

Jacky L., a sophomore says that ” [He uses] it a lot online,” and that it “is mainly used when commenting on other’s posts.”

“Sometimes it doesn’t even relate to an older person. [He uses] it in daily conversation with [his] friends to politely disagree with their ideas,” Jacky adds.

In a recent speech about a zero-carbon bill, 25-year-old Chlöe Swarbrick dropped the phrase when she was heckled by another parliament member.

Victoria Y. doesn’t use the phrase herself, but she has heard this phrase shouted around the school and yelled in her classes. She thinks that the phrase is “just like every other meme. It starts off online, and then goes into our real lives.”

While “Ok, Boomer” started as a meme, it has slowly but surely made its way into our daily lives. However, we should still be careful in how we use this phrase, as some may take it as offensive.

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