With the rise of the Karen, a queer-run print and design company based in Wexford have taken it upon themselves to design and develop a Karendar.
For anyone not in the know, Forbes Magazine explained the Karen as a “not-so-nice nickname for a middle-aged woman who complains endlessly and exhibits entitled behaviour — like demanding to speak to the manager”.
So what is a Karendar, you may ask? Well, obviously it’s a calendar with a strongly worded complaint for every month of the year combined with a drawing of an angry chihuahua. Obviously.
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Created by WeirdWatercolours, a Wexford-based print and design company, the Karendar also doubles as a set of twelve postcards, allowing for reuse (and sharing the spirit of The Karen) at the end of each month.
“It’s all a bit of fun,” said Audrey Gleeson, WeirdWatercolours co-founder, “and it seems to be a hit already as we’re getting pre-order requests for it from the UK, Canada, Australia and Ireland of course.”
“We’ve seen the growth of calling someone a Karen in the past few years,” said Abigail Denniston, the other half of the LGBTQ+ couple behind WeirdWatercolours, “and with the decline of people being named Karen in Ireland, we thought it’d be fun to create a calendar about these people we’ve all experienced.”
Believe it or not, there is actual data to back this up. According to CSO figures, only three people born in 2020 were named Karen, suggesting that the name has become tightly linked with the image of the entitled white woman. But wait, there’s more!
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Bionic is a UK business comparison company and they conducted a study (yes, a real study) on the prevalence of Karens around the globe. They looked at which countries you’re most likely to come across a Karen, which American states are the richest in Karens and what are the most likely real-life names of Karens.
Hilariously, this study found that the name Karen did actually rank as one of the top ten names of women who made complaints to businesses, sitting nicely at number eight on the list.
“All small business owners need to deal with negative feedback at some stage,” said Dani Weller, Bionic customer service team leader.
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“We ran our report to find out if location had a bearing on the number of complaints, and during our research we found the Karen phenomenon was a real thing, with Karen ranking in the top ten names for people who complain the most.”
Interestingly, Louise actually came in as the most common name from a complaining Karen, making up 4.8% of the complainers. Ann, Jane, Marie, Anne, Margaret and Susan all came in ahead of Karen on the list, with Maria and Julie making up the final of our top ten most likely Karens.
If your desktop is looking a little bare and could use the visual of an angry chihuahua (whose wouldn’t?) grab yourself a Karendar for 2022 here.
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