Karen

It is often inexplicable why we give certain stereotypes a particular name.  In Australia we have the Queensland alternative to bogan which is Bevan.  A Nigel, often elaborated as Nigel no-friends, is the name given to a young man who is a social misfit.

 In America the name Karen is now associated with a middle-class white woman who is very clear on her rights and her general superiority to everyone else.  In particular the Karen is now associated with racism after the episode in which a white woman in New York’s Central Park sooled the cops onto a black man with an invented story about feeling threatened by him.  Everyone on social media agreed she was a Karen.

 Karens are also linked with the notion of demanding to see the manager. And now they are linked with the anti-maskers reciting their rights to bewildered policemen and the staff at Bunnings. The Bunnings Karen, along with the Brighton Karen, achieved brief social media fame.  It is in this context that Australians are picking up on the Karen type.