Someone described Lemmy as less accessible safe space for internet veterans. Oof
Normie is fine, NPC is where it gets cringe
I remember when the only place I saw people unironically use the phrase normie was 4chan. And now ironically the normies have adopted the phrase themselves, unknowingly appropriating 4chan culture
TIL I didn’t know the meaning of normies.
It’s not a word I use but when I saw it first, I thought it meant neurotypical, then after a while I saw it in a more political context and thought it meant centrist. Turns out, it just means mainstream. I think.
What exactly does this word mean?
The original meaning of the word as I first heard it back in the late 1990s was to refer to the vast majority of “normal” people who don’t have an interest in or deep understanding of technology and internet culture.
I don’t think it was originally meant as an insult, but more as an acknowledgement and reminder to ourselves that the things we were into and cared about were a niche thing and not exactly the norm.
Nowadays, I’ve heard it applied to just about any niche interest or hobby, for example: people who are not into mechanical keyboards would also be “normies”, and worse it’s being thrown around as a direct insult to people, in the same vein as calling someone “basic”.
The original meaning of the word as I first heard it back in the late 1990s was to refer to the vast majority of “normal” people who don’t have an interest in or deep understanding of technology and internet culture.
that’s still my understanding of normie today. a normie nowadays is the average person who uses soulless platforms like tiktok, insta, etc which are controlled by big tech companies and exist for the sole purpose of making money. they don’t know about the golden age of the internet when you cared about the content and not about likes. but now since the normies discovered the internet everything has to generate as much profit as possible
I didn’t know it dated back to the 90s, but I agree, the word has gotten mainstream and changed its meaning while doing so.
Huh. I really can’t imagine normies exist.
When I think of a normie, I think of the Cleavers, or the Simpsons. A conglomerate average of what we expect white America to look like.
I think every family has to deal with weird shit, weather mental illness, disability, fentanyl addiction, Juggalos or a Gen X discordian auntie who takes no-one’s bullshit. We all have stuff going on that kicks us out of the normie threshold.
Which kinda is the point of this meme. The usage of ‘Normie’ has gotten mainstream and everybody refers to each other as ‘Normie’ implying that they themselves differ. But you know, most people differ a bit. Mainstream is mainstream, but just because you are using a “special” website, that doesn’t make you abnormal.
I’m confident normie comes from 4chan, I’ve seen it thrown around there since long before it became mainstream, but there they were using it to refer to people living normal lives, something they (mostly) wanted to achieve. (I.E.: “I’ve got a girlfriend, I’m finally on my way to become a normie”)
Now in its current usage it is more like an insult, something like saying “you are a basic bitch”, which implies that person who said that isnt.
