I'm sure you've been seeing 'demure' this, 'mindful' that across your feeds all week.
In case you have managed to somehow avoid the TikTok trend practically taking over social media right now, here's the rundown.
The latest piece of lingo is more of a satirical joke than an actual 'how-to' guide for women to act but, regardless, it's clear the internet have been having an absolute ball with it. Especially after TikToker Jools Lebron, who goes by the handle @joolieannie online, can now finally fulfil her wish of undergoing a gender transition procedure after the trend's popularity.
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However, it seems a whole bunch of Gen Z were convinced 'demure' was not actually an adjective from the English language at all - having only first heard of it on TikTok.
One video posted to X shows presenter Kelly Ripa using the word to describe Nicki Minaj’s look way back in 2014 with many youngsters shocked that 'demure' was actually a real word.
Bear in mind, 'demure' is far from a decade old - in fact, it's about four centuries old.
Unsurprisingly, older generations have been left utterly baffled by the bombshell revelation and have taken to social media to share their gripes.
One X user wondered: "Wait… do people not know that this is a real word that wasn’t made up by TikTok?"
"Y'all do know demure is a real word thats been around for 100s of years? Not just a TikTok trend," hit out a second, while a third sarcastically quipped: "Yes, the word has existed before TikTok… what a surprise???"
"Huge news: A word that's existed since at least the 14th century was used before it appeared in a TikTok," echoed a fourth.
A fifth chimed in: "That’s because it is in fact an English word…like omg."
"Y'all got the simplest of vocabulary don't gotta use it all the time to know what it means and that it exists," declared another.
And a final X user added: "It's so crazy that the word has been established YEARS ago but because of the viral TikTok most people only know about it now."
If we're talking etymology guys - AKA the study of the origins of words - the earliest known use of the verb demure allegedly dates way back to the early 1600s, according to the Oxford English Dictionary.
So, yes, being 'very demure, very mindful' very much so did exist before this summer.
Topics: Life, TikTok, Social Media
Rhiannon Ingle