" Basic " is a slang term in American popular culture , used pejoratively to describe culturally unoriginal people, particularly young women, who are perceived to prefer products, trends, and music that will make them look upper class even though they are not. "Basic bitch" originated in hip hop culture and rose in popularity through rap music , songs, blogs, and videos from 2011 to 2014. The male counterpart can often be put under the " bro " label.
28-401: Similar labels to "basic bitch" or " airhead " in other English-speaking countries include: contemporary British, " Essex girls " and " Sloane Rangers "; and Australian, "haul girls", known for their love of shopping for designer gear, and uploading videos of their purchases on YouTube . Before the 1980s, "airhead" was general American slang for a ditzy, clumsy or stupid person. With the rise of
56-478: A "gold-tap owner", i.e. a person who insists on displaying (sometimes non-existent) wealth through conspicuous consumption of luxury goods such as clothes, jewelry, cars etc. Displaying awards or talents in a rude manner, boasting, is a form of snobbery. A popular example of a "snob victim" is the television character Hyacinth Bucket of the BBC comedy series Keeping Up Appearances . William Hazlitt observed, in
84-547: A culture where deference to class was accepted as a positive and unifying principle, "Fashion is gentility running away from vulgarity, and afraid of being overtaken by it," adding subversively, "It is a sign the two things are not very far apart." The English novelist Bulwer-Lytton remarked in passing, "Ideas travel upwards, manners downwards." It was not the deeply ingrained and fundamentally accepted idea of "one's betters" that has marked snobbery in traditional European and American culture, but "aping one's betters". Snobbery
112-646: A manifestation of conspicuous consumption , was key to being popular. The term basic bitch was coined in 2009 by comedian Lil' Duval . Over the next two years, it appeared in several American rap songs. In the songs "Hard in the Paint" by Tyga and "I'm not a Human Being" by Lil Wayne , the singers insist that they are not basic bitches, while in the song "Basic Bitch" by the Game , the singer warns others to avoid basic bitches because they are fake. In 2011, rapper Kreayshawn debuted her song "Gucci Gucci", which included
140-521: A variation of the dumb blonde / bimbo persona, with references to the Estuary English accent, white stiletto heels , mini skirts , silicone- augmented breasts , peroxide blonde hair, over-indulgent use of fake tan (lending an orange appearance), promiscuity, loud verbal vulgarity, and socialising at downmarket nightclubs. Time magazine recorded: In the typology of the British, there
168-544: A woman's interests and habits based on her sex". The implication of this claim is that material possessions and consumption are, in fact, markers of femininity. Widespread usage of the term to mock the behavior and interests of girlfriends or wives "conforms to the most bland and uncreative stereotypes of late capitalist femininity" and suggests a misogynistic attitude toward all women, according to Michael Reid Roberts in an article in The American Reader . Since
196-415: Is a defensive expression of social insecurity , flourishing most where an establishment has become less than secure in the exercise of its traditional prerogatives, and thus it was more an organizing principle for Thackeray's glimpses of British society in the threatening atmosphere of the 1840s than it was of Hazlitt, writing in the comparative social stability of the 1820s. Ghil'ad Zuckermann proposes
224-450: Is a special place reserved for Essex Girl, a lady from London's eastern suburbs who dresses in white strappy sandals and suntan oil , streaks her hair blond, has a command of Spanish that runs only to the word Ibiza , and perfects an air of tarty prettiness. Victoria Beckham – Posh Spice and her childhood friend Laura Efi, as she was – are the acknowledged queens of that realm ... As mentioned above,
252-514: The Prioress among the Canterbury pilgrims : And French she spoke full fair and fetisly After the school of Stratford atte Bowe, For French of Paris was to her unknowe. William Rothwell notes "the simplistic contrast between the 'pure' French of Paris and her 'defective' French of Stratford atte Bowe that would invite disparagement". Snobbery surfaced more strongly as the structure of
280-451: The valley girl and preppy subculture however, the term was applied to cheerleaders and nouveau riche or middle class hangers-on who imitated the uptalk speech and clothing of the upper class popular girls. These airheads, material girls or gold diggers were stereotypically viewed by their classmates as unintelligent, gossipy bimbettes who were interested solely in spreading rumors about their rivals and entering relationships with
308-464: The 1980s, the airhead or popular clique have often been cast as the antagonists in high school and teen movies. Examples include Valley Girl , The Clique , Heathers , Girl Fight , A Cinderella Story , Odd Girl Out , Frenemies , Pretty in Pink , Mean Girls , and Clueless . The sitcom The Good Place (2016-2020), which takes place in a fictional afterlife, famously popularized
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#1732775538289336-669: The 2010s. Other items of clothing formerly fashionable in the 1990s, such as polo shirts with popped collars , have gone out of style. Common amongst this subculture is a love of brunch (often with Prosecco) and sweet, modern cocktails such as porn star martinis . Popular girls in Britain, Australia, New Zealand, the United States and Canada are often accused of meanness, gossip, snobbery , narrowmindedness, homophobia , intolerance, flaunting their apparent wealth, backstabbing, shallowness, body shaming , slut shaming , contempt for
364-549: The House of Commons on the issue, encouraging a boycott of The People tabloid, which has printed several derogatory references to girls from Essex . The Essex Women's Advisory Group was set up in 2010 to combat the negative stereotyping of girls living in Essex by supporting Essex-based women's charities helping those in need as well as by funding projects that promote women's and girls' learning and success in science, technology,
392-562: The arts, sports and business. The charitable fund is administered by the Essex Community Foundation. On 6 October 2016, Juliet Thomas and Natasha Sawkins of The Mother Hub launched a campaign on social media to draw attention to the negative definition of Essex girl in the Oxford English Dictionary and Collins Dictionary . Their main goal was to raise awareness and to open a dialogue around
420-572: The basic bitch's love of bland, boring products like Ugg boots and Starbucks pumpkin spice lattes is a rhetorical technique that allows the singer to appear cooler by comparison. In an article in The Guardian titled "Why I'm proud to be a 'basic bitch'", British journalist Daisy Buchanan criticizes the cultural trend of using "basic bitch" as an insult, pointing out that those who label other women as basic bitches are "dismissing all cultural feminine signifiers" and "mak[ing] assumptions about
448-452: The chorus: "Gucci Gucci, Louis Louis, Fendi Fendi, Prada ... basic bitches wear that shit so I don't even bother." In 2014 CollegeHumor released a parody video of a wife being diagnosed by a doctor as a "basic bitch", to the horror of her husband. From the 1990s until the early 2010s, both boys and girls from the popular clique often combined budget preppy clothes with supposedly edgy elements of mainstream hip hop fashion , in imitation of
476-642: The derogatory "Essex girl" stereotype. Their campaign centred on changing the definition of "Essex girl" to "a girl from or living in Essex" by encouraging women to use the hashtag #IAmAnEssexGirl and included a petition to change or remove the dictionary definitions. The campaign reached the national press. In December 2020, after campaigning by the Essex Girls Liberation Front , the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, used to teach non-native English speakers, removed
504-492: The other two are completely unaware of the term. Essex girl Essex girl , as a pejorative stereotype in the United Kingdom , applies to a woman viewed as promiscuous and unintelligent, characteristics jocularly attributed to women from the county of Essex . It is applied widely throughout the country and has gained popularity over time, dating from the 1980s and 1990s. The stereotypical image formed as
532-457: The outfits worn by early adopter black rappers such as Kanye West . Miniskirts, Nike brand sneakers, pastel colors like pale blue or baby pink , expensive Aeropostale , Hollister Co or Abercrombie and Fitch clothes, designer clothes or accessories purchased by one's parents, grey marl sweatpants, crop tops, white Converse sneakers , leggings, and Ugg boots remained common among American airheads, Aussie haul girls and Essex girls during
560-442: The phrase when the main character Eleanor Shellstrop (played by Kristen Bell ) comically told her boyfriend "Face it Chidi: ya basic!" In a later season, the character Michael (played by Ted Danson ) uses the same epithet against two other characters. The show then satirized the then-common confusion about the term as Michael then finds himself having to explain what "basic" means ("It's devastating. You're devastated right now.") when
588-458: The poor, and openly bullying other girls to maintain their own privileged position. Referring to an object or a person as "basic" has a variety of connotations. When used to refer to people, it can mean a criticism of shallow materialism ; in songs that use the term, popular luxury brands like Gucci and Prada are referenced to suggest that the people who wear them are buying, rather than earning, their fashionability and social status . Decrying
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#1732775538289616-419: The primary interests of snobs is a distinction, and as its definition changes, so, naturally and immediately, will the objects of the snob's admiration. Snobbery existed also in medieval feudal aristocratic Europe when the clothing, manners, language, and tastes of every class were strictly codified by customs or law. Geoffrey Chaucer , a poet moving in the court circles, noted the provincial French spoken by
644-428: The society changed, and the bourgeoisie had the possibility to imitate aristocracy . Snobbery appears when elements of culture are perceived as belonging to an aristocracy or elite, and some people (the snobs) feel that the mere adoption of the fashion and tastes of the elite or aristocracy is sufficient to include someone in the elites, upper classes or aristocracy. The term "snob" is often misused when describing
672-453: The stereotypical Essex girl has an Estuary English accent, but with a very modern element to it. It has some pronunciation features of the Cockney accent but without the traditional element, and a very modern prosody . Here are some examples of pronunciation features of the Essex girl stereotype: In 2004, Bob Russell , Liberal Democrat MP for Colchester in Essex, appealed for debate in
700-539: The term snobbative to refer to a pretentious, highfalutin phrase used by a person in order to sound snobbish. The term derives from snob + -ative , modelled upon compar ative s and superl ative s . Thus, in its narrow sense, a snobbative is a pompous (phonetic) variant of a word. Consider the following hypercorrect pronunciations in Israeli Hebrew : A non-hypercorrect example in Israeli Hebrew
728-552: The term. Snob Snob is a pejorative term for a person who feels superior due to their social class , education level, or social status in general; it is sometimes used especially when they pretend to belong to these classes. The word snobbery came into use for the first time in England during the 1820s. Snobs can through time be found ingratiating themselves with a range of prominent groups — soldiers ( Sparta , 400 BCE), bishops (Rome, 1500), poets (Weimar, 1815) — for
756-489: The traditionalist upper class preps. At the time, many wealthy white jocks and younger preppies had begun imitating urban fashion trends, eschewing the semi-formal conservative look of the 1980s and 1990s in favor of gold bling , expensive designer clothes , sneakers , dark jeans, and sweatpants . Rich girls who dressed this way were known as Queen Bees and their followers were known as plastics , or airheads . Members of this clique believed their designer clothing, as
784-580: The wealthy jocks. "Basic" was used as a person descriptor in 1992 on the show The Wonder Years, Season 5, Episode 6 (Episode "Triangle"), at time index 11:57. "Basic" was also used as a person descriptor in 1994 on the show Reboot, Season 1, Episode 10 (v1.10, "The Great Brain Robbery"), at time index 12:10. During the late 1990s and early 2000s, airheads began to be regarded as a distinct, middle class subculture in many suburban American high schools, although appearance-wise they initially differed little from
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