cheugy

It seems that Gen Z wishes to keep its distance from the Millennials. The best way of doing that is to poke fun at them and stereotype them as lacking style. Lacking the kind of style that makes Gen Z so cool.

 Cheugy is a word that has gained ground in Los Angeles with a couple of young women claiming responsibility for it, but it was Hallie Cain who introduced it to TikTok on March 30, 2021, and sent it around the world.  She listed the things that she regarded as good examples of cheuginess: graphic tees, girlboss energy, and Herbal Essence shampoo. Others have added to that list.

 Gaby Rasson, a software developer in Los Angeles, says she made up the word in 2013.  It appeared in the Urban Dictionary in 2018.  Gaby prefers to define by opposites so her list is of the un-cheugy things that Gen Z like:  handmade products, making your own clothes, Levi jeans, Birkenstocks, décor that you put together yourself rather than buy at Target, looking good for yourself and not caring what others think.  This is a reaction to the Millennials love of brands and messages. It sounds a little bit like a hippy revival of sorts in terms of its philosophy.

 It is pronounced [chew-gee]. There is a noun cheug derived from it for a person who is cherry.

Gaby decided it would be a cheugy thing to do to capitalise on her word and sell it as an NFT. There are no sales but I guess that is not the point.