# What is "Emo" **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 13, 2008, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-emo/456348 "2008-07-13T18:41:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![scrambledeggs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/898d66/32.png) [@scrambledeggs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scrambledeggs)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2008, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-emo/456348/1 "2008-07-13T18:41:44Z")
I looked at some girl’s myspace page and it made comments about “Emo” and I tried to search about it, but it showed me pictures of high school boys with soup bowl haircuts looking sad. What exactly is “Emo” – I was able to figure it meant emotional, but it means more than that – is it some kind of new hippie thing or something? ---
**Author:** ![Myglaren](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f1d935/32.png) [@Myglaren](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Myglaren)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2008, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-emo/456348/2 "2008-07-13T18:53:46Z")
[Emo](http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=3ab6LWXeNDA)🙂 ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2008, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-emo/456348/3 "2008-07-13T18:54:20Z")
[QUOTE=scrambledeggs] high school boys with soup bowl haircuts looking sad. [/QUOTE] That’s basically it. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2008, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-emo/456348/4 "2008-07-13T19:01:29Z")
Simplest way to answer is to note the adolescent tendency to adopt an “identity” – to conform, to some degree, to a group stereotype appealing to the teen. Examples from the past might include jocks, black-leather-jacket-wearing biker-wannabees, pseudo-hippies, stoners, preppies, etc. Now consider the “Goth” image – dressed in black (occasionally with a white accent), pale complexion, trenchcoat, fascination with Vampires and faux-Satanism… Emo is a spinoff from that, retaining the black-and-white “dress code” (IIRC sometimes with a single red accent), adding a freedom to give vent to the traditional adolescent mood swings and angst, with a particular emphasis on the depressive element. This latter is the basis for the “Emo” (for Emotional) tag. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2008, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-emo/456348/5 "2008-07-13T23:57:12Z")
It’s essentially a group of Goth that went metrosexual. ---
**Author:** ![MissTake](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misstake/32/3189_2.png) [@MissTake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MissTake)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2008, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-emo/456348/6 "2008-07-14T00:05:16Z")
[QUOTE=Myglaren] [Emo](http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=3ab6LWXeNDA)🙂 [/QUOTE] Try [this](http://youtube.com/watch?v=AdASTkfi91E) emo instead. Much more humorous. Going off what **Polycarp** stated, it’s a subgenre of the punksters. Punk-lite. Not quite scene, which is colorful, but not dark enough to be goth. Usually emos are teenaged males who are quite metro (heh, **Sage Rat** ) and feel the world just doesn’t understand. The are not anarchy “hate the world”, but rather “the world hates me, woe is me”. They usually are tied to scenester girls and hang with the skaters. TheKid is scene, heaven help me, and many of the emo boys from last year have found the magic plant and have become stoners. They’ve ditched the guyliner and now wear those doofy baja pullovers. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2008, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-emo/456348/7 "2008-07-14T00:10:10Z")
[QUOTE=MissTake] Try [this](http://youtube.com/watch?v=AdASTkfi91E) emo instead. Much more humorous. [/QUOTE] The Classic [Emo](http://youtube.com/watch?v=3ab6LWXeNDA). ---
**Author:** ![xash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c6cbf5/32.png) [@xash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xash)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2008, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-emo/456348/8 "2008-07-14T00:27:29Z")
Here’s an interesting article on emo. Not sure how factual it is though: [http://uncyclopedia.org/wiki/Emo](http://uncyclopedia.org/wiki/Emo) ---
**Author:** ![Myglaren](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f1d935/32.png) [@Myglaren](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Myglaren)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2008, 8:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-emo/456348/9 "2008-07-14T08:37:28Z")
This opens up a new question. What are “Scenesters”? Never heard of that one. ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2008, 9:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-emo/456348/10 "2008-07-14T09:17:39Z")
[QUOTE=xash] Here’s an interesting article on emo. Not sure how factual it is though: [http://uncyclopedia.org/wiki/Emo](http://uncyclopedia.org/wiki/Emo) [/QUOTE] I’d say it’s highly fanciful. The very first sentence speaks of emo coming fro Latin buy, purchase. There is indeed such a Latin term but it has nothing at all to do with the youth subculture. (Why on earth would it?) [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emo) itself suggests the far more likely origin: > [@](#): > > Where the term emo actually originated is uncertain, but members of Rites of Spring mentioned in a 1985 interview in Flipside Magazine that some of their fans had started using the term to describe their music. By the early 90s, it was not uncommon for the early DC scene to be referred to as emo-core, meaning “emotional hardcore,” though it’s unclear when the term shifted. ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2008, 9:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-emo/456348/11 "2008-07-14T09:31:56Z")
Emo has always been around. It’s just emotional adolescents. What’s new about that? What’s new about it is that this is the first time it’s been _marketed_. Personally, I’m surprised it hasn’t happened earlier. ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2008, 9:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-emo/456348/12 "2008-07-14T09:42:52Z")
When I first started seeing and reading about the term I thought for sure it had to have something to do with Emo Philips the comedian (because of the hair). But as I read more about them I thought, “Emo Philips isn’t like this”. Turns out the hair connection was just a coincidence. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2008, 9:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-emo/456348/13 "2008-07-14T09:52:45Z")
[QUOTE=aldiboronti] I’d say it’s highly fanciful. [/QUOTE] Psst. A couple of clues: it’s a website call “uncyclopedia”. The top of the page says: “PIECE OF CRAP WARNING! - This page is a piece of crap. The author(s) acknowledge this.” Whoosh! ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2008, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-emo/456348/14 "2008-07-14T12:17:08Z")
[QUOTE=Princhester] Psst. A couple of clues: it’s a website call “uncyclopedia”. The top of the page says: “PIECE OF CRAP WARNING! - This page is a piece of crap. The author(s) acknowledge this.” Whoosh! [/QUOTE] :smack: :smack: :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2008, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-emo/456348/15 "2008-07-14T13:17:14Z")
[QUOTE=MissTake] TheKid is scene, heaven help me, … [/QUOTE] Heard this one from youngest daughter yesterday - same one who educated me to emo a couple of years back. Does thqt qualify me as hip? 😉 As I understand it, “scene” kids dress the role of either emo or prep, but do not otherwise adopt the “lifestyle/attitude.” ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2008, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-emo/456348/16 "2008-07-14T15:28:30Z")
Paradigmatic [Emo](http://emooranges.ytmnd.com/). -FrL- ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2008, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-emo/456348/17 "2008-07-14T15:30:35Z")
[QUOTE=Dinsdale] Heard this one from youngest daughter yesterday - same one who educated me to emo a couple of years back. Does thqt qualify me as hip? 😉 As I understand it, “scene” kids dress the role of either emo or prep, but do not otherwise adopt the “lifestyle/attitude.” [/QUOTE] To be clear, I believe it’s supposed to be an epithet, accusing the “scene kid” in question of being somehow insincere. -FrL- ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2008, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-emo/456348/18 "2008-07-14T15:40:34Z")
[QUOTE=Frylock] Paradigmatic [Emo](http://emooranges.ytmnd.com/). -FrL- [/QUOTE] That’s not emo. [This](http://youtube.com/watch?v=2qOW__TneAY) is emo. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2008, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-emo/456348/19 "2008-07-14T15:49:39Z")
I _knew_ somebopdy would come up with this. I can’t open it at work – it’s gross or suggestive or both. But the description fits: **Tickle Me Emo** www.compfused. com/directlink/4329 I’ve broken the link in the interests of NSFW stuff ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Tan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/charlie_tan/32/12582_2.png) [@Charlie\_Tan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Tan)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2008, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-emo/456348/20 "2008-07-14T16:30:53Z")
The thing about Emo kids is that they hate being called Emo, I should know, since I teach quite a lot of them. It’s basically an updated beatnik: young pale male, dark 2nd hand suit jacket, black denims, white shirt, thin tie and Converse hi tops. Has a canvas messenger bag, goes to poetry slams, think that they invented irony and sincerely believes that no one understands him. The bottle black hair and bangs are a must, as is having posted a lot to facebook. Photography is a passion - " \*I see the world the way it \* really _is thru the lens."_ The female Emo has a choice of black or totally white hair, (not bleached or blonde, white) sometimes with part of it fire engine red, or even all of it red. A heavy layer of make up, sometimes white pancake, very heavy eye liner and - to be ironic - some Barbie type paraphernalia. The clothes could be described as trashy (as in second hand) and slutty, and most garments will be black. Both genders are into piercing and tatoos. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-emo/456348.md?page=2)