Has a Gen Zer in your life recently used the word “Demure” in your presence? Are you forced to scroll through 14 TikToks of people showing examples of things that are “very demure, very mindful” on socials, even though you don’t even have a TikTok account? That’s very, very demure of you. Very mindful. But what does it mean.
A popular makeup TikToker who goes by Jools Lebron recently posted a clip of herself on the platform where she explained what she wears for a work-appropriate look. “You see how I do my makeup for work? Very demure. Very mindful. I don’t come to work with a green-cut crease. I don’t look like a clown when I go to work. I don’t do too much. I’m very mindful while I’m at work,” she says in the clip, which has been watched over six million times on TikTok alone. The clip made the rounds and was quickly met with reenactments made by JLo, Olivia Rodrigo, and even Joe Biden. Just try and imagine him attempting to open TikTok.
Demure, according to Merriam-Webster, means “affectedly modest, reserved, or serious.” It’s not a new word, but it’s being given a nice boost thanks to TikTok. Suddenly, The New York Times got in on it. Soon, the internet was flooded with various examples of the phrase from pop culture. Gilmore Girls is very demure, by the way. Hopefully, Emily In Paris gets her own demure moment soon.
After Lebron’s video made the rounds, the TikTok creator said she is able to “finance the rest of my transition” as a result of her fame and various brand deals. “TikTok has changed my life,” she added.
It’s only a matter of time before the demure gets into the wrong hands like, say, the hands of a TV killer trying to justify his own actions. That’s NOT very demure or mindful.