Comment by robocat
7 months ago
> boomer
Is usually used as an derogatory term. The offensiveness is because it's based on age and it is deemed acceptable by some within one age group to use it - while racism is usually less acceptable. I haven't yet seen zoomer get used similarly.
Disclosure: I'm between younger and older
Boomers got weirdly defensive these days. It's no more derogatory than a Millennial is.
The connotations of words changes - our worst epithets were often benign to begin with. I'm not a boomer - so my reaction to usage varies.
Context: I'm from New Zealand, and the US words are becoming more popular here due to US media and social media influence. They are words I've learnt far into adulthood (and I have no natural feel for them - I couldn't even define millennial or know which of my friends are millennials). I wonder how the words get translated to other languages like Mandarin?
The irony is that we all become old, and boomer is so often used as a synonym for old or retired.
In forty years time, zoomer might have the same meaning as boomer now has. If not, there will be a new equivalent that has the same derogatory sense as boomer now does.
In theory anybody over 25 should have experienced enough to have the insight to know they are insulting themselves. We learn.