I always took it to mean, “This person is acting like they’re my equal: how dare they!” When in fact, they are equal, but the speaker can’t accept that. It says more about the person using the term than about the person it’s applied to. “Uppity” = “Doesn’t grovel to me.” And usually there’s zero reason why the allegedly uppity person should grovel.
I’ll be honest, I’ve always thought, due to context from the times I’ve seen it used, that the term was definitely used in that way.
We had a long discussion on this in ATMB and it seemed that a banned word list was not a good idea but, here we are. @puzzlegal and some others will not accept the use of “uppity.” Regardless of context.
So…a de facto banned word list. There is no context where that word is ok on this board (so it seems).
And we always have. I mean, let’s be clear, I can say in most non-Pit forums that everything another poster says is wrong, made up, inaccurate, farcical, and on and on and on. But if I address them as a “liar” it’s against the rules.
The restrictions here are among the most innocuous I’ve seen, mostly about using gendered insults that IMHO have no point other than saying Person X is horrible because Y gender is horrible by default. Yeah, no worries about losing those. And I’ve always seen “uppity” being terrible, as I am and was fully aware of it’s horrible history. No harm losing it. Even if used ironically, you’re playing off said history.
And I was on the record upthread as not approving of the term ‘Karen’. Do I think it should have a de facto or de jure ban? Mmmm, that changes on a daily basis. Sure it’s useful shorthand, but it’s mostly used as I stated before based on a single incidence of a person’s life and may or may not be in context.
[ FTR I said it with plenty of provisos, such as a racist rant being right out, you don’t say that sort of thing on the spur of the moment without underlying feelings ]
I have a lot fewer issues with the term when it’s applied to someone who consistently, repeatedly, and with all apparently malice live up to the standards of the meme, such as our “Space Karen” Musk, but they deserved to be piled on for those attitudes and actions, and not some lame “one-size-fits-all” baggage, especially one that in general still is based on a gendered assumption of attitude.
Why do we have TWO threads arguing about this?!
There is one in ‘About This Message Board’ because someone um…well… they wanted to speak to the manager.
This thread is about “Karens” and such behavior, which quickly became about whether it’s actual a thing, and certainly about whether it’s a useful thing. As for the other, Folly put it best:
There are those that see any sort of language ban as limiting (and it is, but in many cases, for the better), and there are those who see limiting language for one group might mean that they can have people stop being mean to them in general.
Hmm, well, you just used that word, and you didn’t get moderated. So, I guess your premise isn’t correct.
Wow…
That is wise.
My kids are convinced that my cause of death will be listed as “Talking Back To An Asshole”.
…yet
It was more like an ATMB post on definitions than using the word to describe someone which seems off limits in any context.
What you’re missing is that “using the word to describe someone” is the context. And in just that one context, there are multiple “banned words”. I can think of a number of words that are slurs and when used to describe someone can and should lead to moderation.
Still, this is turning into ATMB, this should be over in the other thread, not here. I apologize for participating in the hijack turning this thread into the other one. 
I do draw the line when it comes to medical things. If I feel I’m mistreated or harmed or in any danger of being harmed I will turn into Becky Badass.
Not things like having to wait too long or being passed over for a more emergent patient. And I have seen that happen.
Or someone going berserk on the receptionist over a billing issue.
Call the billing office, people.
Moderating:
I have not reviewed the 200+ posts in this thread to determine where and when exactly it went off the rails to become a duplicate thread as the one in ATMB, but there seems to be a general recognition among posters that it has.
Let’s try and get this one back on track for its original purpose, which is to discuss dealing with people characterized as Keiths or Karens (or whatever substitute word one may wish to use to refer to them). Leave the discussion about how or if the terms, Keiths or Karens, are objectionable and/or appropriate for the ATMB thread. Thanks.
JFC on a stick, man. Go sit in a corner and think about what you have done.
Lol! I wanted to make this joke when that thread began, but couldn’t quite find the right tone. Well done!
Okay, so I’m going to go on a long screed, probably too much seriousness for MPSIMS, so feel free to tune out.
And thanks to @Aspenglow for relaxing on the moderation, I’m keeping this here, because I don’t want the term banned (the point of ATMB thread), but still feel it should be avoided.
So here’s the thing, in the concurrent ATMB thread, posters have described “karen” as a less loaded equivalent of “bitch” or “cunt”. You can get by using it in more polite company, or use it as a PG-13 insult as it were.
And yet there are multiple problems with it in that case. Sure, it’s got less shock value than either of those two terms, but by the same token, it’s got little if any of the consequences for using it. Call someone in public, or the internet a C or B, and at least some people will call you out on it, but almost never for “karen”. It’s just as much an invitation to the ‘in crowd’ to look down on someone else as any stereotype.
And that brings us to the main point. It’s a damn stereotype. Perhaps, just maybe, it is one that has some passing relation to reality, but the same is said for other racial and social put downs and pigeonholing. And since it’s pointed, almost exclusively, at rando people on the internet or IRL, rather than individuals who are known for more than a 30 second clip of the life, it’s just as unhelpful as any other stereotype.
People who have made a point of their own entitled position, their willingness to abuse authority to get their way, of threatening anyone who tries to gainsay them AND who have done so over a period of time are likely fair game, such as SpaceKaren upthread: but we already call those folks out in much more specific and individual terms.
For rando internet snapshots of people, we’re using comfortable quick term that hides as much as it reveals. Hey, I’m not saying we’re BETTER than that - I participate in the pit far too much to say that and avoid being a raging hypocrite! But it’s better to call out the specific behaviors that are part of the Karen meme than just use the shorthand.
So TL:DR, Karen’s are a stereotype, and as such should be avoided. But if someone is going to be a jerk (of whatever flavor), especially if it’s frequently, call them out for being that sort of jerk. Have some pride in your takedown dammit!
How about the responsibility of the person acting out in this way? Whatever they are called they must deserve it.
If you’re going to be stupid enough to cause a scene over your french fry count or you not liking some other persons color or behavior, maybe you didn’t feel like wearing a mask, you’re taking your chances, at best.
You better hope it stops at name calling.
It wouldn’t fly in this part of the world.
I feel perfectly comfortable saying “Hey MaskHOLE, shut your trap on your mindless drivel, and keep your diseases to yourself!”
Like I said, pride in my insults. Karen is just so… whitebread. 
And I already (repeatedly) talked about people who release racist rants, that’s not being a ‘karen’, that’s a racist bigot, and I’ll happily call them on it.
[ well from the safety of the internet, IRL I’m afraid of getting shot, although the last time someone asked me to sign a pro-Trump/J6 petition I loudly said “Sorry, I don’t support insurrectionists and traitors” ]
The only use of uppity that I have seen not hurled at black people has been when it’s hurled at non-black women, and it has indeed had the connotation of ‘how dare this lesser person act like my equal’ then too.
I have a hard time believing this or really trusting society to use this term appropriately, because bitch and c*** are used so readily by people against women who don’t deserve it. Why would this term, as applied to women, be any different?