"Blue hair"

[kane_magus]

As a follow up to this horseshit, I looked at one of the Reddit threads linked to in that article.

And now, from that, I have fodder for another linguistic pet peeve post. When and why and how the fuck did the term "blue hair" go from meaning old, pearl-clutching, conservative people (or, more generally, just "old people"), as it has been for nearly a century now, to suddenly meaning "young, liberal activists" or whatever the blue hell it ostensibly """""means""""" now?

Seriously, people in that Reddit post were indignantly replying to the OP, saying that "blue hairs" (apparently, based on context, meaning liberals) would be the last ones to like that shit, when the OP actually was using the term in the original sense, meaning "old people" (and probably, more specifically, Trumpanzee old people).

Comments

[goldpseudo]

I have never heard the term "blue hair" being used to refer to old people. That might be more of a regional thing (insofar as the USA is a region that is (thankfully) not Canada).

"Blue hair and pronouns" has been a derogatory stereotype used against trans people for a while now (and LGBTQ+ in general) and now mostly expanded to cover the entire young liberal left because they, y'know, actually support them having rights and stuff.

By which I mean, when I see someone say "the blue hairs seem to love it though" I instantly expect them to be referring to the young liberal left in a derogatory manner, and the very idea that it might've originally referred to old people doesn't even cross my mind, despite being almost an old people myself at this point.

[kane_magus]

"Blue hair" has referred to old people who put blue rinse dye in their hair to mitigate the gray since at least the 1930s. If you haven't heard of it, fair enough. Similarly, I've never once heard of "blue hair" as referring to liberals until today, and it was in the context of someone using the term in the original sense of the term, meaning "old people," with others misunderstanding it.