# Are there "Black Karens"? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 26, 2020, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-black-karens/919103 "2020-08-26T23:25:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2020, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-black-karens/919103/61 "2020-09-23T04:23:42Z")
Whenever on FB, etc someone uses that term, I call them out on it. Several said they didnt realize that and would stop using it. Other have said they will go on using it, despite it being racist, sexist, misogynistic and classist. I call people out on other things too, mostly racist things. ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2020, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-black-karens/919103/62 "2020-09-23T04:26:08Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Whenever on FB, etc someone uses that term, I call them out on it. Several said they didnt realize that and would stop using it. Other have said they will go on using it, despite it being racist, sexist, misogynistic and classist. > > I call people out on other things too, mostly racist things So, you’ve posted on Facebook and here. That is your “crusade”? ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2020, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-black-karens/919103/63 "2020-09-23T05:03:44Z")
> [@madmonk28](#): > > There is a long history in America of black people having a name for an aggressively demanding white woman. AFAICT the approximate British equivalent is “her ladyship/her nibs” or “his lordship/his nibs”, used by working-class people for middle-class types who were self-importantly bossy and controlling. (If you were an actual titled aristocrat, of course, your controlling bossiness tended to get less pushback.) ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2020, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-black-karens/919103/64 "2020-09-23T05:14:45Z")
> [@mandala](#): > > John is another example - wonder how it came to be associated with toilets? [The Perfect Master investigated this issue some thirty-five years ago](https://www.straightdope.com/21341733/why-do-we-call-it-the-john). > [@](#): > > “John,” along with an older term, “cousin John,” is probably related to “the jakes,” which goes back to 16th-century England and apparently is a shortened form of “Jake’s house.” “Jake” was a generic term for a yokel, but that’s about all I can offer in the way of etymological wisdom. “Jake” seems to have morphed to “Jack” which was then, as now, a common nickname for “John”. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2020, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-black-karens/919103/65 "2020-09-23T17:38:44Z")
FB **etc.** what do you expect? why is this important to you? ---
**Author:** ![Saintly\_Loser](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saintly_loser/32/4045_2.png) [@Saintly\_Loser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saintly_Loser)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2020, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-black-karens/919103/66 "2020-09-24T14:39:56Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > My mother heard me say this and unleashed a Karenesque rant on me about how it isn’t that hard to pull weeds and push a mower. Mind you, this is a woman who has NEVER pulled a weed or pushed a mower. She wouldn’t know how to turn on a weed wacker if her life depended on it. She’s always had her husband or her son do these chores for her. Isn’t that kind of essential to Karen-ness? Doesn’t the Karen (male or female, black or white) expect to have things done for him/her, at his/her command? Karens don’t do the labor of pulling a weed, or making their own coffee, or abiding by rules requiring masks. They just become outraged when things are not done or arranged to their liking, or when they are challenged over their refusal to abide by rules. That’s the point. Karens see themselves as the natural-born managerial class, supervisors by nature. They are genuinely outraged when the rest of humanity doesn’t know their place, and acknowledge the Karen’s rightful status. I’m not saying anything about your mother, by the way. I’ve never met the woman and almost certainly never will. Just an observation about Karen-ness in general. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2020, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-black-karens/919103/67 "2020-09-24T14:58:40Z")
> [@Saintly\_Loser](#): > > I’m not saying anything about your mother, by the way. I’ve never met the woman and almost certainly never will. Just an observation about Karen-ness in general. Yes, it is quintessential Karen-ness, which is why I relayed the story. I understand why people think it’s limited to white women who sic the cops on people. But I see “Karen-ness” among women of a certain age who would never call the cops. They are used to bossing people around so they think they can boss around everyone. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2020, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-black-karens/919103/68 "2020-09-25T13:44:01Z")
Of course in America, a Karen can get a black person killed. The most infamous Karen might be Carolyn Bryant who, in 1955 Mississippi claimed that 14 year old Emmett Till, who was black, whistled or flirted with her. Till was tortured and murdered by a mob of whites. I don’t know if the UK has the same kind of consequences with Her Nibs, but I could be wrong. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-black-karens/919103.md?page=3)