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Karen vs. Heather for Gen X? Tweet captures the debate and goes viral.

Karen vs. Heather for Gen X? The Tweet Heard ‘Round The World

It’s pretty wild when a tweet goes viral. Your phone blows up to the point where you actually have to turn it off for periods of time. Such was the case with my tweet below, and I am still getting tagged with it every day. In fact, a friend in Australia found it on author Catherine Deveny’s Facebook page and then Scary Mommy shared it, which (of course) blew it up yet again.

Karen vs Heather for Gen X?

The impetus behind the tweet? Well, “Karen” has traditionally been a slang name for, um, whiny white women who demand to see the manager. But in the few weeks leading up to this tweet, there were several stories that claimed the youngins were now calling ALL of Generation X by that name. Also, Karen Walker from Will & Grace (a definite Boomer) was representing Gen X in generational war memes.

Huh? I didn’t get it. To me, if you really wanted to insult us, call us “Heather” from the movie Heathers.

I guess I struck a chord, because even Jon Cryer, aka Duckie from Pretty in Pink himself retweeted me.


People who didn’t get the joke kept saying it should be “Jennifer.” Which, definitely was the number one name of the decade dominated by Gen X kids. But it’s not an insult. Unless you think about how all us Jens, Amys and Michelles all had to go by our last names all through school since there were so many of us.

Most Popular Baby Names of the 70s


Of course, the standard response was, “I’m more of a Veronica.”

To which I say, in a world of Heathers, we all want to be Veronica.

The thing that was great about it? 99% of all that response was positive and fun. I mean, on any normal day on Twitter, I will mute or block probably at least five people without blinking an eye. But I barely had to do it at all through these conversations, which also took a deep dive into 70s-80s pop culture.

It was fun and I truly appreciate it!

Now. Who is up for a slushie and some BBQ corn nuts?

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