What does "Emo" mean? Or, help a middle-aged woman understand her nephew's language.

[bertha katzenengel]

Help!

Emo?

Anything else I should know? He's sixteen...

[ghostsofgiants]

1. Originally it was an offshoot of the hardcore punk scene.

Just emotionally charged punk music. Over time (and especially more recently) it came to encompass a lot of shitty, whiny pop-punk, and also refer to a person's style and more derogatorily, it's meant to imply a nihilistic, self absorbed, "no one understands me and I hate the world" stereotype.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emo_(slang)

[bertha katzenengel]

4. Hmm. Thank you. I think it must mean something else to him...

He's never been into punk, or shitty pop (or any music whatever), and he's not nihilistic nor does he have the "I hate the world" attitude.

Hmm...

But thank you for the education!

[Drum]

6. aka "Weenie"

:eyes:

[Blue-Jay]

2. Emo kids can only see out of one eye,

[WindRavenX]

11. sorry...everytime I see an emo kid I just LOL

That picture just says it all.

[Omphaloskepsis]

12. And every-time a Emo kid sees you...

They say, "I'm glad she is going to Utah."

[WindRavenX]

16. At least I don't wallow in my own self pity

Or listen to shitty music.

[Forkboy]

21. "Or listen to shitty music."

It's all relative.Relax.

[NashVegas]

36. Isn't It Funny?

From 1983-1986 or so, when that type of haircut was popular among new music/alternative fans that hated rock music culture and thought rockers were the biggest knuckledraggers on the planet, the war still rages on?

[Forkboy]

37. I used to be guilty of it myself

From 85 to 90 if it wasn't fast I didn't want to hear it,and I thought people who didn't like stuff like the Dead Kennedys or Sepultura were idiots.Now I listen to all kinds of stuff (listening to Buddy Rich right now) and I realize that one's musical tastes are so personal and evolved over the years that no two people should ever agree entirely on what's "shitty" or not.It's an idiotic claim,and the people who make it (myself included twenty years ago) aren't really fans of music,just fans of THEIR music.

Another thing I see a ton of are people who claim they listen to everything.Far more often than not these are some of the narrowest-minded people musically walking the planet,in my experience.

I like people to tell me what they like,why they like it,and why they could care less if I agree or not :)

[NashVegas]

38. With a Few Exceptions

Opera is about the only thing I can't get into.

Jello was in town last week. 3/4 of the crowd were in black, chains, tattoos, etc. And there was me looking all bourgeois :0

[Forkboy]

40. Heh

Jello is still bringing the shit.He was great live with the Melvins.

Love him or hate him the man speaks his mind.

[Starbucks Anarchist]

20. Well, that was unnecessary.

:eyes:

[allalone]

27. my daughter and son-in-law

have a game called hat or hair re these hairdos. My granddaughter and her boyfriend HAVE these hairdos.

[skypilot]

48. Reminds me of...

...what used to be called a "Blitz kid" in the early eighties. Except the hair was puffier.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

3. I think you have to dye your hair black and cut your bangs diagonally.

You also have to wear tight black clothes. Seems to be sort of like goths without the white lipstick. Also, you have to mope around all the time and lament how your life sucks, while listening to a certain sort of high-pitched, wailing, punkish music. Maybe having to listen to emo music is why their lives suck.

[GirlinContempt]

5. ....

http://www.google.ca/search?hl=en&q=define+emo&btnG=Google+Search&meta=

[GoddessOfGuinness]

7. Emotional...

"Don't get all emo on me now."

[MassLiberal]

8. my 2 teenage daughters are always trying

to explain emo to me. I think it means to be self-consciously depressive, so that the world sees just how deep and sensitive (and thus sad) you are.
:shrug:

[bertha katzenengel]

31. THAT'S it.

Thanks. :(

[TheFriendlyAnarchist]

9. Depends on the context.

I'm 15. There's "That shirt looks so emo!" Which means that it is black and probably has some punk or 'woe is me' logo.

"That chick is so emo!" Means that they probably wear black, like Greenday and other punk/ rock groups, have dyed hair, and are either quiet or really loud.

"Stop being emo!" In this case, it can mean they're drowning in self pity, or it can be used instead of to "Stop being gay!" (The two are interchangable to teenagers in this context)

"I'm being really emo right now." - Made hair so you can only see out of one eye; wearing black or punk apparel, listening to punk music, or just acting stupid ("gay" is also often used as an interchangable term here as well)

[Mojambo]

10. It means you work really hard to make yourself feel bad. n/t

[SPKrazy]

13. Nemo's younger brother

the movie was really "Finding Emo" but then the conflict started and they changed it to "Finding Nemo"

Emo was really who got lost in the original screenplay.

So they just left Emo out there and not even Dorie would help him. She couldn't remember anyhow.


I think that Carrie Underwood was the voice for Emo.

:shrug:

you read it here on the internet, it must be true?

:rofl:

[GenDem]

14. emo graphic

[Rabrrrrrr]

15. Wallowing in one's one poetic excrement in order to impress the world of one's deepness

The kind of selfabsorbed unartistic whiny shit that you want to punt through shards of broken glass and force them to land in a Normal Rockwell painting and slowly die, spending their remaining days rueing the fact that they were poseurs and that there was nothing honest about them.

When being a so-called depressed loner that no one understands becomes an entire movement with its own clothing labels and makeup lines, it's time to kill oneself for hypocrisy and poseurism.

EMOism has all the credibility that "Alternative" music had when it became a genre at Musicland.

[Starbucks Anarchist]

18. Yep, that's it.

:rofl: :thumbsup:

[philosophie_en_rose]

19. Bingo!

Oh to be an oppressed emo kid!

It is dark and full of sorrow.

Pass the webcam!

Document my immense suffering!

My floor littered with unwashed black clothing.

And it means nothing.

[havocmom]

26. My daughter explained: emo grass is low maintenance; it cuts itself

:rofl:

[rockymountaindem]

32. I salute you, sir

Well put.

[Poiuyt]

17. I always thought it refered to...

[siouxsiecreamcheese]

22. Emo in a nutshell

http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/emosymphony

[shanti]

23. LOL

i asked my 16 yr old son that question about 2 months ago...and now understand....sort of :eyes:

[TheBaldyMan]

24. sad, geeky, goth wannabe

:P

[Pushed To The Left]

25. It always makes me think of Emo Phillips, but I don't think that's the current definition! n/t

[orleans]

29. see my post #28 for the origin of emo phillip's name n/t

[orleans]

28. back in the late 60's / early 70s the kids who attended one of the junior highs

where i lived would call each other an emo and it meant mentally retarded/jerk/idiot/weirdo.

the name emo came from a sign above one of the classroom doors--room 101 was for the mentally challenged kids and the sign read: "emo. disturbed" or "emo. challenged" (i forget which.) anyway--a name was born!

the word emo was all over town--kids would use it as a swear word akin to "asshole" (you emo! he's an emo! hey, emo!)

one of the kids who attended the jr. high was phil soltanec. he became a rather strange stand-up comedian and called himself emo phillips--the name emo coming from above room 101 at the junior high for the "emo. disturbed" kids.

emo phillips (phil soltanec) was a tall, skinny guy with black hair and a lot of black in his wardrobe. his emo character had a bowl shaped haircut but i don't remember it hanging over one eye.

"Emo Philips (born Phil Soltanec) is a stand-up comedian from Downers Grove, Illinois. He is best known for his high-pitched, lilting stage voice and absurdist punch lines."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emo_Philips

his front page on his website: "some mornings it just doesn't pay to gnaw through those leather straps."

http://www.emophilips.com/home

http://awakened_freak.tripod.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/emo!!.jpg

[KG]

30. i think it has something to do with painting your nails black and listening to Joy Division.

[DBoon]

43. weren't those people called "goths"?

nt

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

33. It's a class of people for other people to complain about.

I swear, I see far more people whining about "emo people" than I've seen "emo people." Whatever that is.

Take this thread, please.

[liontamer]

34. a musical genre characterized by whiney boys

There is much debate about who is exactly emo, but no one seems to dispute that sunny day real estate are emo.

[NashVegas]

35. It's a Marketing Term

For music that was, or (today's music that) would have been, called "alternative" 20-24 years ago.

[Arugula Latte]

39. self-delete

[Arugula Latte]

41. "Ve are doomed and I am filled with remorse, and it is most delicious."

[smtpgirl]

44. SSProckets

I remember Dieter

"His agony was gorgeous. I need to be slapped."

"Rühren mein Affe. Lieben meine Affe-monkey!" (excite/agitate my ape. love my ape-monkey!)

"Now is the time on Sprockets when we dance."

"Why is it that the truly brilliant are doomed to a life of obscurity, surrounded by a sea of mediocrity, only to end up covered by sores in a pool of their own filth? Oh well, the beat goes on."

"You have disturbed me almost to the point of insanity...There. I am insane now."

"I feel spent, like a man who is forced to wear his genitals around his neck like a pendant."

"You are a master of exposing tedium."

"I love going to Oktoberfest, because they drink a lot there, and afterward you can skate home in other people's sick."

[Arugula Latte]

47. ...

:rofl:

I love Dieter. My favorite quote of the ones above is the genitals/pendant one. What a comedic genius Mike Myers is.

[uppityperson]

42. It has seriously deteriorated.

Used to stand for something, then all the wanna-bes jumped on board and oh, woe is me, no one understands just how hard life and and how MUCH I feel and flop, sigh, deep sigh, ohhhhh, never mind, I'm just being emo.

Like hippies and punk used to stand for things then got deteriorated.

[smtpgirl]

46. Exactly

[Starbucks Anarchist]

45. Trust-fund hippie blues.