If there’s one thing the internet has taught us, it must be our enduring appreciation of a good cringe. Urban Dictionary defines the term cringe as “when someone acts/is so embarrassing or awkward, it makes you feel extremely ashamed and/or embarrassed.” But the feeling is way better felt than explained in words.
If you’re already a self-confessed cringe addict who dove down the cringetopia hole and experienced the most cringeworthy moments of life, then we've got this new treat for you. Welcome to The Cringiest Posts Twitter page that does exactly what it says in the title – shares the posts that make you curl up like a tortoise out of the sheer cringe and then cringe once more.
Below we wrapped up some of the funniest, I mean cringiest examples, so enjoy with caution!
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If you've ever spent enough time browsing in the land of the internet, you must have inevitably encountered cringe-powered content at some point. It takes only one word, five letters, to be exact, to present the inexplicable feeling known as cringe. For some, it’s a curled upper lip, for others it’s a shake of the head, for the rest, it's curling into a ball that forgets any social norms.
According to Kaitlyn Tiffany, the term cringe took off on forums in the early aughts, when the practice of humiliating oneself online was still somewhat novel. Now, however, it’s absolute mainstream — it’s both an internet genre and a meme, as well as an insult of some kind. It's natural to wonder if we all suddenly became more prone to cringe as a group, or if there’s another reason why there’s so much cringeworthy content out there.
Well, in a piece for The Atlantic, Tiffany argues that “it’s because we’ve been given more opportunities to display our cringeworthy characteristics, and also to point out the cringeworthy behavior of others.” She adds that “Whereas people used to feel secondhand embarrassment on behalf of their friends and family, or wince at their own awkward behavior, they are now exposed to the potentially embarrassing behavior of entire social networks.”
Why am I imagining an obese 15yo with acne who's GF is actually his crush, he never even talked to?
No no, he has a girlfriend but he haven't seen her in person because she lives in Japan
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Scary af, particularly because of that redundant space before the question mark at the end
niceguy, believes he's a demon, weird-a*s astericks... yep, we got a whole cringe bingo, guys! (confetti and balloons pour out from ceiling as dope music plays)
person's probably 15 or so, in ten years they'll realize how cringey they were
Why do I picture a 3 day old kitten with eyes still closed trying to hiss at me ?
I used to online roleplay that would do actions like that, and now I just want to crawl under my desk when I see it occur on regular internet interactions.
I have garlick and silver jewelers so I’ll be laughing even harder mate…
I'd expect this to be on discord lol. unfortunately speaking from experience. :')
This isn't even the first time I've seen people roleplay like this via text message. And I roleplay myself. This is just weird.
plot twist: he is a demon and a hashira is on their way to kill them.
Oh my... Recently, have encountered one of these in the wild. I have a handcart I use to go grocery shopping. Walked behind a car in the parking lot exit, and had to stop and wait ... stopped right before hitting the car in front - not touched it the slightest - and he told me he'd "kick my a*s" if I "did this with him". I didn't do anything to begin with ... huh? What a weirdass, that guy ... told him I doubt anybody wants to know and, in lack of a better response, asked his adjacent girlfriend if threatening strangers is what made her fall in love with that guy, but this went under in the car, abovementioned. accelerating. Cringe? Yeah. Damned, nothing wrong with being weird, but sometimes, being wrong is weird itself...
He must be the type who poses with a katana and a Matrix-style trenchcoat and thinks he's cool.
If you want to play that game then…*pulls out portal gun and sends you to the blender dimension and farts and burps*
Oh that's easy. You'll only need a crystal ball, a shroom picked at midnight and 3 roach heads
As if that wasn’t enough, we have spent years, a decade, if not more, in this kind of environment. No wonder our sense of cringe has become heightened to the point where “we can sniff out the tiniest flaws in someone else’s public performance, dig them up, share them around.” Tiffany calls us “the connoisseurs of cringe,” and you may wonder if that’s even a thing to be proud of.
Meanwhile, according to evolutionary history, cringe is birthed by the fear of social rejection — a feeling similar in intensity to physical pain. Psychology professor Rowland Miller argues that people literally crinkle in embarrassment because the ability to “feel vicarious embarrassment is influenced by our ability to empathize with others.”
Miller argues that people cringe for reasons beyond contempt; it can be compassion, too, for having experienced a feeling similar to that unfolding in real time. Cringe is then about secondhand shame and empathy — human emotions that define anything and everything we do.
Melissa Dahl, a senior editor at The Cut and author of Cringeworthy: A Theory of Awkwardness, suggests that cringe content is “a controlled way of facing this really deep fear.” She argues that “It’s funny to talk about being embarrassed during the year 2020 when there’s such scary things going on,” referring to the height of the pandemic. Cringe content, on the other hand, shows that there’s nothing scarier than being cast out on your own and laughed out of the group.
Extremely cringe, and some were just plain rude. Very good article, though! :)
Ok, I barely understood any of these posts, the responses within the posts nor the comments. Is this really how people communicate? No wonder no one seems to understand anyone else.
Most of them I got, but yes there were a few where I think you have to spend way more time online than I do to be able to understand it.
Load More Replies... Extremely cringe, and some were just plain rude. Very good article, though! :)
Ok, I barely understood any of these posts, the responses within the posts nor the comments. Is this really how people communicate? No wonder no one seems to understand anyone else.
Most of them I got, but yes there were a few where I think you have to spend way more time online than I do to be able to understand it.
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