It's been a tough year generally, but if your name's Karen then there's been an added level of turbulence.
In 2020, "Karen" has well and truly made the jump from a person's name to a proper noun, an umbrella term for poorly behaving middle aged white women.
Fortunately, another type of Karen - the ethnic group that makes up 10 per cent of Nhill's population - hasn't been swept up in the internet craze.
Of course a key difference is the pronunciation: The name Karen puts emphasis on the first syllable, while the group from Myanmar/Burma that has resettled in Nhill are known as Ka-RENs.
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Thablay Sher, a Nhill-based Karen interpreter, said it was confusing to see social media posts talking about the characteristics of Karens earlier this year, but there were no other effects.
"The Karen are friendly people and they aren't complaining about coronavirus or anything like that."
Annette Creek from the Nhill Learning Centre, which works with the Karen community to make their settlement successful, also said she had not noticed an impact.
"I think people are able to differentiate between a name and the Karen community. I wouldn't have drawn any correlation myself," she said.
Mrs Creek said the centre was using the pandemic to review its programs and create activities to reconnect the community in 2021.
Kate Burridge, a linguistics professor from Monash University, said Karen was one of the more recent names to become stuck in a popular phrase, but by no means the first.
"There have been other ones calling out privilege and bad behaviour," she said. "There have been 'Miss Ann' and 'Becky', I think it just has to do with the popularity of the name that they get pressed into service this way.
"Tom, Jack and John are common names
and they have long histories of appearing in expressions and being a certain type. I find it extraordinary that Jack has come back as a popular name, because it was considered a dirty word due to derogatory remarks like 'Jackass'."
So will Karen become a lasting jibe? Professor Burridge doesn't think so.
"I don't think Karen is that widespread, I think it will be limited," she said.
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Alexander Darling
Alexander has been a member of the Wimmera Mail-Times' editorial team since December 2018, covering politics, business and property among other rounds. He is a passionate St.Kilda and rock and roll fan, and has previously worked as a radio reporter in Port Macquarie and Gosford, NSW.
Alexander has been a member of the Wimmera Mail-Times' editorial team since December 2018, covering politics, business and property among other rounds. He is a passionate St.Kilda and rock and roll fan, and has previously worked as a radio reporter in Port Macquarie and Gosford, NSW.
