# Why Karen? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 30, 2020, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-karen/850633 "2020-03-30T00:29:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Karen\_Lingel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karen_lingel/32/18649_2.png) [@Karen\_Lingel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Karen_Lingel)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2020, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-karen/850633/101 "2020-08-02T06:19:02Z")
> [@Biffster](#): > > Has anybody asked people named Karen how they feel about the epithet? No. No, they haven’t. ---
**Author:** ![Biffster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biffster/32/339_2.png) [@Biffster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffster)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2020, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-karen/850633/102 "2020-08-02T06:39:27Z")
> [@Karen\_Lingel](#): > > No. No, they haven’t. I see. Thanks for replying. And what are your thoughts, Karen? ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2020, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-karen/850633/103 "2020-08-02T19:18:20Z")
I had one friend named Karen who quit FB over it, it was so hurtful to her. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2020, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-karen/850633/104 "2020-08-02T19:27:37Z")
There was briefly a poster here who had a meltdown and quit over the name Fanny being used anatomically. His mother or aunt or someone was named Fanny. ---
**Author:** ![Karen\_Lingel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karen_lingel/32/18649_2.png) [@Karen\_Lingel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Karen_Lingel)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2020, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-karen/850633/105 "2020-08-02T20:35:53Z")
Well, I haven’t experienced anything personally, except for some good-natured ribbing at work (I usually reply “I want to talk to your supervisor!”). However, I realize that I must rely on people’s best natures to overlook the stereotype. In the best case it is just tiring, like tall people having to put up with always being called “Stretch”, etc. But if I were looking for employment as an over-50-year-old (as most Karens are), I would be worried. And if Dave or Abby complained about neighbors leaving piles of trash in the street, everyone would understand where they were coming from. If I Karen said the same thing …? Well, the neighbors would talk about her behind her back, right? Also, I think it was sweet that that pizza place was giving a peace offering to innocent, bystanding Karens, and I don’t understand the backlash. ---
**Author:** ![Biffster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biffster/32/339_2.png) [@Biffster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffster)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2020, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-karen/850633/106 "2020-08-02T21:12:03Z")
What’s in a name? Easy to say when you’re not the one taking potshots. Thanks for sharing your experience, Karen. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2020, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-karen/850633/107 "2020-08-02T22:39:34Z")
Great post, thank you. ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2020, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-karen/850633/108 "2020-08-06T00:42:44Z")
NPR story about historical use of Karen and her predecessors I caught on the radio this morning: > **[Code Switch: What's In A 'Karen'? : It's Been a Minute](https://www.npr.org/2020/07/27/895990398/code-switch-whats-in-a-karen)** > > "Karen" is not just a name. It's also a persona, an attitude, a label for a certain type of white woman determined to get what she wants—especially at the expense of Black people. Karens are part of a long lineage going back at least a couple... ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2020, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-karen/850633/109 "2020-08-06T23:47:56Z")
In the fifth grade, about five of us girls were invited to Anne’s house for a sleepover. None of us were Anne’s friends. She had antagonized most of us since the first grade, especially one girl who lived in her neighborhood and thus saw her more than the rest of us did. But for some reason she invited us to her house to celebrate her birthday and for some reason we all said yes. As a kid, this didn’t strike me as particularly weird, though. The line between friend and enemy isn’t always apparent when you’re a kid. The sleepover part of the sleepover was largely uneventful, but the next day we were goofing around when Anne left the room. Edith, who was probably the smartest and most socially put-together, asked us in her quietest voice if any of us even liked Anne. We laughed so hard. I wish her name had been Karen so my story could be relevant to this conversation. ---
**Author:** ![Acerbic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acerbic/32/3695_2.png) [@Acerbic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acerbic)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2020, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-karen/850633/110 "2020-08-06T23:53:54Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > Well, “Linda” would be a silly choice now, wouldn’t it? Yeah. Everyone knows Linda is the name of a woman in HR. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2020, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-karen/850633/111 "2020-08-07T15:29:03Z")
Or starring in a porn movie. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2020, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-karen/850633/112 "2020-12-04T19:25:15Z")
Karen takes a hit here. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/uJkRV_FlpoE/maxresdefault.jpg "“912, What’s Your White Emergency?”") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJkRV_FlpoE) ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2021, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-karen/850633/113 "2021-02-18T13:58:08Z")
Karen strikes again! > **[Woman arrested after refusing to wear mask in Brook Park store pleads no...](https://www.cleveland19.com/2021/02/16/woman-arrested-after-refusing-wear-mask-brook-park-store-pleads-no-contest-crimes/)** > > A Parma Heights woman who was arrested and charged with several crimes after she refused to wear a mask inside a Northeast Ohio grocery store pleaded no contest during a recent court hearing. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2021, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-karen/850633/114 "2021-02-18T16:31:53Z")
Karen, Florida Man’s Significant Other. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2021, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-karen/850633/115 "2021-02-22T15:53:12Z")
This is so unfair. She could easily have been named Susan. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2021, 9:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-karen/850633/116 "2021-02-26T09:59:48Z")
Huh, I don’t associate it with upper middle class at all, but working class (UK) or ordinary middle class (US). In the UK you’d _never_ meet a posh Karen. One of my sisters has that name. She’s not “a Karen.” Her life has been hard, and she is trying her best. I really dislike people using her name as a slur. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2021, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-karen/850633/117 "2021-03-03T15:07:08Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > This is so unfair. > > She could easily have been named Susan. Or Jennifer. > **[Pro-Trump Florida doctor accused of attacking man at Publix charged with hate...](https://www.wfla.com/news/florida/pro-trump-florida-doctor-charged-with-hate-crime-after-attacking-man-at-publix/)** > > News reports say a Florida anesthesiologist has been arrested and charged with a hate crime in connection with the assault of a Hispanic man outside a supermarket. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-karen/850633.md?page=5)