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The funny thing is that Kevin is not a very praised name in general either: https://www.reddit.com/r/StoriesAboutKevin/ https://www.reddit.com/r/StoriesAboutKe

The funny thing is that Kevin is not a very praised name in general either: https://www.reddit.com/r/StoriesAboutKevin/ https://www.reddit.com/r/StoriesAboutKevin/ “What is a Kevin? A Kevin is someone who consistently or greatly shows a complete lack of intelligence through incompetence of social and societal norms, or is purposefully antagonistic in their poor decision making. Remember the kid in your class who would constantly get in trouble for really dumb things? He was probably a Kevin. Family members, friends, coworkers, and classmates can all become Kevins.”

benj111 7y ago
As a Brit, this is the Kevin that springs to mind https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_the_Teenager https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_the_Teenager Or perhaps an example is better https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=dLuEY6jN6gY https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=dLuEY6jN6gY
- Lio 7y ago
  Even that meaning of "Kevin" has changed. Harry Enfield's Kevin the Teenager has very middle class parents (for those not from the UK we regard "middle class" as describing a much wider social group than say in the USA where it might be based on income. It's basically not working class and not a member of the aristocracy. Could be a QC, a CEO or school teacher.) The earlier meaning was more pejorative and something closer to a being a "chav". Like chavs in the early 00s were supposed to wear fake Burberry check products, kevs were supposed to wear white socks and black shoes. I have no idea why.
  - msla 7y ago
    The American middle class is pretty broad, too. MDs are middle class, as are contractors and most, if not all, office workers; there's a divide between upper middle class and lower middle class, however. > for those not from the UK we regard "middle class" as describing a much wider social group than say in the USA where it might be based on income. It's basically not working class and not a member of the aristocracy. Could be a QC, a CEO or school teacher. I don't know what a QC is, but a CEO of a non-Fortune 500 company would probably be upper middle class, and a school teacher would be lower middle class unless they're in a very expensive private school. I don't know that it's strictly based on income, necessarily, as much as how much independence the job provides; whether it's a job or a career, in other words.
    - Lio 7y ago
      A QC is Queen’s Council[1] Actually your definition is not that dissimilar to what we’d understand too. I think it’s not too different to white collar vs blue collar. Attitude to education fits in there somewhere too. 1. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen's_Counsel https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen's_Counsel
- peteretep 7y ago
  Growing up, "kev" was a synonym for chav, townie, ned. At my waaaaaay-over-privileged rugby-playing school, we called football "kevball".
  - ljf 7y ago
    Where I grew up, before chavs they were called 'Car Park Kevs' (though in my wife's town they were called 'Barrys'
ohashi 7y ago
As a Kevin, reading the original story that spawned that subreddit (https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/219w2o/whos_the_dumbest_person_youve_ever_met/cgbhkwp/ https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/219w2o/whos_the_...) is pretty entertaining. I don't know that I've ever felt discriminated based on my name, but I've had people tell me things (namely in Germany/Germans) about the association.
amyjess 7y ago
Y'know, I'm aware that the "Kevin" meme originated with an askreddit story (which someone else linked below), but I'm wondering if the reason it took off the way it did had anything to do with Kevin from the US version of The Office, who fits that stereotype to a T. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_Malone https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_Malone

benj111 7y ago

As a Brit, this is the Kevin that springs to mind https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_the_Teenager https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_the_Teenager Or perhaps an example is better https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=dLuEY6jN6gY https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=dLuEY6jN6gY

Lio 7y ago
Even that meaning of "Kevin" has changed. Harry Enfield's Kevin the Teenager has very middle class parents (for those not from the UK we regard "middle class" as describing a much wider social group than say in the USA where it might be based on income. It's basically not working class and not a member of the aristocracy. Could be a QC, a CEO or school teacher.) The earlier meaning was more pejorative and something closer to a being a "chav". Like chavs in the early 00s were supposed to wear fake Burberry check products, kevs were supposed to wear white socks and black shoes. I have no idea why.
- msla 7y ago
  The American middle class is pretty broad, too. MDs are middle class, as are contractors and most, if not all, office workers; there's a divide between upper middle class and lower middle class, however. > for those not from the UK we regard "middle class" as describing a much wider social group than say in the USA where it might be based on income. It's basically not working class and not a member of the aristocracy. Could be a QC, a CEO or school teacher. I don't know what a QC is, but a CEO of a non-Fortune 500 company would probably be upper middle class, and a school teacher would be lower middle class unless they're in a very expensive private school. I don't know that it's strictly based on income, necessarily, as much as how much independence the job provides; whether it's a job or a career, in other words.
  - Lio 7y ago
    A QC is Queen’s Council[1] Actually your definition is not that dissimilar to what we’d understand too. I think it’s not too different to white collar vs blue collar. Attitude to education fits in there somewhere too. 1. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen's_Counsel https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen's_Counsel
peteretep 7y ago
Growing up, "kev" was a synonym for chav, townie, ned. At my waaaaaay-over-privileged rugby-playing school, we called football "kevball".
- ljf 7y ago
  Where I grew up, before chavs they were called 'Car Park Kevs' (though in my wife's town they were called 'Barrys'

ohashi 7y ago

As a Kevin, reading the original story that spawned that subreddit (https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/219w2o/whos_the_dumbest_person_youve_ever_met/cgbhkwp/ https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/219w2o/whos_the_...) is pretty entertaining. I don't know that I've ever felt discriminated based on my name, but I've had people tell me things (namely in Germany/Germans) about the association.

amyjess 7y ago

Y'know, I'm aware that the "Kevin" meme originated with an askreddit story (which someone else linked below), but I'm wondering if the reason it took off the way it did had anything to do with Kevin from the US version of The Office, who fits that stereotype to a T. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_Malone https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_Malone