OK zoomer, is that really the best you’ve got?

Every generation and teen subculture likes to put the boot into baby boomers like me. I’ve been physically attacked by skinheads, verbally assaulted by right-wing intellectuals and mocked by millennials. But I never thought I would be subjected to the derision and verbal lashings of Generation Z. The ‘zoomers’ — that is, people born after about 1995 — have come up with a cutting and dismissive retort for older people: ‘OK boomer.’

It all began when an elderly man posted a video on the social media app Tik-Tok denouncing the younger generation. They were, he claimed, suffering from ‘Peter Pan syndrome’ and ‘needed to grow up’. Not exactly an original critique of the young — but something snapped inside thousands of American teenagers who responded with tweets, memes, artworks, doodles, posters and placards bearing the words: ‘OK boomer.’

What does it actually mean? The phrase — aimed at the baby boomer generation, or people born between roughly 1946 and 1964 — is a way of dismissing something an older person has said that is perceived to be out-of-touch, condescending or closed-minded. Last week a young MP for New Zealand’s Green party used it in parliament as a comeback to a heckler. Can’t be bothered to argue? Roll your eyes, and let ’em have it right between the ears: OK boomer!

Generation Z had found its voice — or should I say its catchphrase. OK boomer has gone viral and spawned a whole cottage industry of merchandise: T-shirts, hoodies, shopping bags, notebooks and phone cases. I’m sure it won’t be long before we get OK Boomer: The Movie. I might sound like some oversensitive snowflake boomer, but my complaint is not that Gen Z is too hard on us oldies.