An Out-of-Touch Adult’s Guide to Children’s Culture: What Does “Nothing Ever Happens” Mean?
This week we’re taking a deep dive into the common internet phrase “nothing’s happening” and what it means when young people say it. There’s also new slang to learn, a TikTok scare to start, and a surprisingly popular Christmas album to listen to.
What does “nothing happens” mean?
The phrase “nothing ever happens” has been floating around the internet for several years now, but it has been rapidly gaining popularity in the past few days due to current events in South Korea.
This phrase actually has two different, related meanings, depending on how and where it is used. The first use refers to how people communicate in online communities. When someone posts an image or description of something even slightly unusual, the Internet often responds with, “That didn’t happen.” But if you think “this kind of thing happens all the time,” you might write a sarcastic “nothing happens.” Some examples can be found in the r/nothingeverhappen community on Reddit.
The second meaning of the phrase is somewhat deeper and relates to recent history. “Nothing Ever Happens” is shorthand for the idea that no major global events have occurred since the end of the Cold War, and that nothing will happen in the future. It is often used as a response to people predicting imminent doom by excitedly declaring, “It’s happening!” or it is used as an expression of general dissatisfaction with a stagnant culture. Some examples of what hasn’t happened recently include the imprisonment of Donald Trump, significant changes in society due to the Covid or George Floyd protests, and, most recently, the attempted coup in South Korea, which ended within a couple of years. hours. without a revolution. As an older and (perhaps) wiser person, I think this is a petulant reaction to the historically unprecedented comfort and safety of American citizens. For example, no one in Ukraine will say that nothing is happening. But in the United States, we have been absorbing stability for so long that “there will be enough food for everyone” and “you are unlikely to be drafted” seem to be the norm, not an anomaly.
I would like to explain to every cynical Western youth why they should be grateful every day that nothing happens, and that making sure nothing happens has been the goal since the late 1940s because the world is very tired from what is happening. But alas, they will eventually understand what I mean, one way or another.
What does “when you’re on pole” mean?
Memes with the phrase “when you’re at the pole” have become increasingly popular lately. The word “pole” is slang for “gun”. “Up” means raising a gun at someone. So memes are meant to illustrate people’s reactions when you brandish a firearm. Like most modern slang, the word “pole” originated in AAVE. It was popularized by rapper Chief Keef in his 2012 track “Love SOSA.” Chief Keef’s influence on modern pop culture cannot be overstated (For more definitions of Gen Z and Gen Alpha, check out our slang guide.)
Soulja Boy’s ‘Crank That’ Is Coming Back and Causing Controversy
Time, as they say, is a flat circle. Case in point: People are listening to Soulja Boy’s “Crank That” again. The song was inevitable when it came out in 2007. It went so viral that more than half a billion people watched the “Crank That” video on YouTube alone. Then they forgot about Soulja Boy (not entirely, of course). But now it’s back in the form of TikTok. TikTokers have recently been creating dances to the track and adding Superman-inspired flying to Soulja’s original moves. It seems simple enough, but there is drama . First of all, it’s music. The track that accompanied the dance moves didn’t seem to actually be credited to Soulja Boy, so the tune was removed and the dance videos are now silent, although they often have tens of millions of views . Then there is danger . Some of the new “Crank That” dances involve people falling over . In Israel, it is believed that 19 children have already been hospitalized due to dancing. Even though I find this report online , I find this report quite suspicious – do Israeli hospitals collect statistics on what dances children were doing when they were injured? – but it doesn’t really matter because now people know there’s a dangerous problem. TikTok responded to this by putting a “this may be dangerous” disclaimer on the Superman videos, and if enough people get concerned, I’m sure they will remove the videos.
Viral Video of the Week: “Very Christmas 1999.”
While the mainstream music world is hyping up Christmas albums from artists like Jennifer Hudson and Little Big Town, kids online are gushing over Jschlatt’s “A Very 1999 Christmas . ” The collection of big band Christmas standards was streamed 1.6 million times in the first couple of days of its release on YouTube. It’s hard to understand why at first – it’s a well-executed collection of well-known holiday songs, but why does anyone under 50 care? It turns out that the backstory of the record is more interesting than the music itself.
Jschlatt is not a singer. He is a 25-year-old video game streamer and recorded the album as an experiment. He hired vocal coaches to teach him to sing in a style influenced by Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin, hired real-life saxophonist Tom Scott, a founding member of the Blues Brothers Band, to write new arrangements, and assembled a full orchestra at the Sound Factory in Los Angeles. studio. The dude basically spent the last year making an album for no reason.
The result is pretty good. It’s not annoying, and it’s nice to hear real musicians play the instruments. My favorite track on the album is the lesser known Christmas song “ Happy Holidays.” But there’s still a strange mystery to the whole project. What does this have to do with 1999? And why bother when there are so many better recordings of these songs? J. Schlatt is good, but if you compare Ray Charles’ rendition of ” Baby it’s Cold Outside ” to J. Schlatt’s version , the lack of edge becomes apparent. However, kids love it as much as they love Laufey over Ella Fitzgerald. Young people preferring watered-down echoes of art over the genuine article is nothing new, and hopefully this will encourage some of them to seek out the source material.