Toward a unified theory of “millennial cringe”

Vox ^ | Updated Dec 19, 2022, 6:24am EST | By Rebecca Jennings | @rebexxxxa

[thecodont]

Nice summary of Internet history as it relates to humor.

Important for the meme-aware.

[ptsal]

Bkmk

[LuigiBonnafini]

Reddit: https://i0.wp.com/giantbrain.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/youll-never-see-5b1c0e.jpg?resize=800%2C450&ssl=1

I managed to get perma-banned from about 20 subreddits before they nuked my whole account.

[Alas Babylon!]

The first group, which she calls “Old Internet People” were on the early forums and message boards of the late 1990s and early 2000s: Usenet, Something Awful, or 4chan (back before it carried the alt-right connotations (AB says SHADDUP!) it does now), for instance. They’re the ones who laid the foundations for internet vernacular as we know it; they tested the limits for what was and wasn’t acceptable on the web and usually interacted in complete anonymity. The internet, then, was for connecting with strangers who cared about the same topics as you did, people who might become close friends but whose real names you might never know.

Otherwise known as FReepers, Class of 1998.

Examples of early FReeper cringe sayings...

--What happened? I was taking a Shower.
--Stuned me with my beeber.
--A+Bert, Eschoir and Ash Alerts.
--Deep in the Hurtgen Forest & Classy Green Eyed Blonde (on the Internet, nobody knows you're a dog).
--Italians off!
--Viking kitties & zot!
--Laz would hit it!

[old-ager]

Not to forget Hugh and Series.

I’m a new guy. I didn’t get here until late 2000.

[Alas Babylon!]

You’re a lot closer to the class of 98, my FRiend... You meshed with us while many of these weren’t even cringey yet!

I don’t even know when that happened.

[Impala64ssa]

Examples of early FReeper cringe sayings...

Plus those silly Amish jokes 😃😃😃

[dfwgator]

Thailand?

[100%FEDUP]

Does "All your base are belong to us" qualify as cringe?

[dfwgator]

Remember, “5”? (I believe this meant “Fifth-Columnist”)

[KC_Conspirator]

Dont forget! All your base are belong to us!

[KC_Conspirator]

With great justice!

[Tijeras_Slim]

I was lurking in ‘98. Those people scared me. Joined in 2000 and almost immediately had A+ Bert fry me in a FReepmail for something or the other.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

A moose once bit my sister...

And:

[SaxxonWoods]

**Cringe**

[SaxxonWoods]

**Cringe**

[IllumiNaughtyByNature]

Lol. forgot that one.

[dsrtsage]

I was a lurker in 99 or so. I didn’t really say a whole lot until fairly recently. I am sure most people would prefer me to go back to lurking, but I am too old to care now, I am that old guy that walks around naked in my house with all the curtains open without a care in the world

[FreedomPoster]

Similar lurk and sign up dates. Don’t remember getting flamed like that, but definitely remember being intimidated about posting with the the FReepers of that era.

Back in that lurking era, I used to send obscure stuff I got from FR late at night to talk radio host Neal Boortz. I’d had his email from when he actually had it public on his web site a couple years prior, before CGI forms for that sort of thing became the norm. He probably went to bed at 8 or 9 so he could get up at 5 in the morning to do his show prep. Fairly frequently, he’d use the stuff I’d sent, so that was sort of fun. FR was ahead of the curve on so many topics back then.