Pete Buttigieg tweet regarding "Un-grammable Hang Zones"...

[IcyPeas]

Buttigieg:

Staff member trying to explain “un-grammable hang zones” to me and I’ve never felt so old

...

Un-grammable Hang Zone: Places that feel welcoming, lived-in, and unpretentious but whose pleasant aura is impossible to capture on Instagram

Link to tweet

[yankee87]

1. Boomers

Boomer here and I had no idea

[jaxexpat]

10. Boomer here who suffers angst when people treat me like I blew up something as a child.

Oh, the un-grammity.

[dewsgirl]

2. I'm 45 and feel like this often.🤦 Especially around the Gen Z

groups. I may love them, but they make me feel I need an app like Duolingo to understand what they are talking about, some more than others.

[Sympthsical]

3. Sheesh!

[liberalguilt57]

4. I'm one of the oldest people in my work place...

I’m one of the oldest people in my work place… and I use Urban Dictionary at least four or five times a week just to figure out what my coworkers are talking about.

[yardwork]

24. Thank the goddess for urban dictionary.

[OnDoutside]

5. "Stand up the story" is another.

[ShazzieB]

14. What does that mean?

I tried googling and it was zero help.

[muriel_volestrangler]

20. Presumably you're talking about something other than the normal dictionary definition

"If a journalist stands up a story, they provide evidence or proof that it is true" https://www.macmillandictionary.com/dictionary/british/stand-up_1

What's the context?

[James48]

6. Got it!

“ The Blackbird Spyplane newsletter recently made a valuable contribution to the pantheon of essays about how the internet has transformed the physical world: a hopeful manifesto in praise of the “Un-Grammable Hang Zone,” the definition of which will be obvious if you’ve spent enough time in the Instagram-optimized settings that have proliferated in cities during the past decade—places that BBSP describes as a “high-efficiency, low-humanity kind of eatery where you point yr phone at a QR code and do contactless payment before eating a room-temp grain bowl under a pink neon sign that says ‘Living My Best Life’ in cursive.”

[…]

Affirming the interchangeability of “millennial” and “Instragrammable” as descriptors, Fischer pinpoints the force that really drives them: Instagrammable “does not mean ‘beautiful’ or even quite ‘photogenic’; it means something more like ‘readable.’ The viewer could scroll past an image and still grasp its meaning, e.g., ‘I saw fireworks,’ ‘I am on vacation,’ or ‘I have friends.’” If Instagram as a medium demands readability, in other words, it puts pressure on the physical environment to simplify itself accordingly, at least in the long run.”

[KPN]

7. Huh?

[Irish_Dem]

11. I don't even understand the definition of the term.

[ShazzieB]

16. I think I sort of understand it, but...

I don't get why it matters if something is instagrammable or not!

Like, that's not something that even goes through my mind, EVER!

[Irish_Dem]

21. Yes that is the essence of the situation. It is important that something can be represented online?

An event which is quite pleasant but cannot be adequately captured when posted online.

We cannot wrap our heads around it because we didn't grow up with an online presence.

We don't care if we cannot adequately capture our reality on line so everyone else can see it.

[Captain Zero]

25. I never GOT Instagram

I never got the point.
I like DU and reddit.

[Irish_Dem]

26. I've never even seen instagram.

So I cannot comment on it.

Yes I like DU and reddit.
Also some international forums.

My daughter tells me if twitter goes belly up, I can watch pet videos on tictoc.
I have no idea where to find it.

[Beartracks]

30. Well, it's "TikTok"... but that's all I know.

==========

[Irish_Dem]

32. At least I now know the correct spelling.

That is a step in the right direction.

I am well on my way to pet videos.

[Beartracks]

34. Lol. That is the true purpose of the internet.

[Irish_Dem]

35. Basically it all boils down to pet videos. Yes.

[ShazzieB]

39. You don't even need to go to TikTok, though.

Just go to YouTube. It's loaded with 'em!

I have avoided joining TikTok because of security concerns I read about when if first became popular. Haven't heard if those have been fixed, but haven't felt the need either way.

[True Dough]

8. Good to know

But I cannot imagine myself using the term, personally.

[Irish_Dem]

27. I'm sure my daughter will be impressed if I use the term in a conversation.

Actually she will fall on the floor laughing.

[Jskudris55]

9. Probably because it's not a real thing

And is just created my simpletons on social media.

[Boomerproud]

12. 66 years old here and have never heard the term.

nt

[Retrograde]

13. I presume "ungramable" means you can't show it on Instagram

and a hang zone is where one hang's out. Of course, I had to read the definition before coming up with this etymology

[Celerity]

15. It means the essence of the place cannot be imparted via an Instagram post

[ShazzieB]

17. This is how I know I that (a boomer) do not think like a zoomer.

It was absolutely never, ever occur to me to even think about whether the essence of a place can be captured on Instagram...or care!

P.S. My autocorrect evidently doesn't think "zoomer" is a word. It wants to change it to "zoomed." Ah, the joys of technology!

[Celerity]

18. A picture is worth a thousand words......

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

36. "Zoomer" is not a word; it is a cat.

They zoom, chasing hallucinations.

[Irish_Dem]

22. Yes that is my read of it.

I personally don't care if the internet people don't understand my environment.

[Beartracks]

31. Good to know some real places still exist that must truly be experienced in person. n/t

[Solly Mack]

19. I grok.

Sometimes words nor photos can do something justice. You have to experience it yourself. Not just hear it described or see it in a picture.

Lingo is a context of time and place. An age. An era. Language - and thought - grows as we grow and not simply from child to adult (though certainly included), but societal shifts as well. Those shifts can be industrial, technological, social, etc...


Language is the cat's pajamas.

[Irish_Dem]

23. Yes but the point is that young people care about this.

They care if their environment is not adequately represented to the internet people.

[Solly Mack]

28. Imagine that. Younger people caring about a concept that older people don't understand

the need for or the importance of. Must be a first. I'm a boomer/generation "Jones", btw.

If the internet is used to communicate across time and space to make a connection, then a language that conveys those concepts is needed and sometimes a new word or phrase comes into being because of it - a shorthand for a fuller expression of the feelings a person wants to express. Such is true in all forms of communication. Such is true of all generations.

Oppressed groups do it as well. All groups do it. For the purpose of safety, in some cases. For inclusion in some cases; exclusion in others. For a sense of belonging in all cases.

Language evolves. Not all of it passes on. Some words and phrases belong to the generation, the era they were born in. Some cut across time.

I fully understand (or grok) the reasons behind telling someone a photo or even a written description doesn't do something or someone justice. That's all Un-grammable Hang Zones really means. That you can't capture the essence in a photo. Whether or not that is important to someone is another thing.

That it would be important to capture how someone feels about something to be able to convey that feeling is important and it isn't the first time or the last time a word or phrase will be cobbled together from the external - Instagram (and all it means), in this case - to convey the internal.

Instagram isn't my thing, but I do enjoy photography, so I do get the concept of talking about/showing/exploring life through photos. Photos don't always capture what the naked eye is seeing though - because of how one feels about what they are seeing. Words can fail too, so new words/concepts come into being.

I'm an internet person. You're an internet person. Everyone reading this site is an internet person.

We use words but not just words. We use internet memes - and those memes act as commentary whether social or political, cultural or about current events. Often symbolic.

Internet memes are language evolving to be easier expressed over the platform of their birth. The internet - which gave us all yet more additions to language.

[Irish_Dem]

29. I think we understand the concept.

That a picture cannot adequately express the entirety of a given situation.

The fact that someone wants the rest of the world to understand clearly every nuance
of one's life seems a bit absurd and self focused.

I understand individual and social psychology quite well.
And the need for understanding and acceptance.

But today people constantly post mundane, trivial daily events in excruciating detail.
And want the entire world to understand it perfectly.

Seems like a recipe for disappointment.

Maybe the current state of world politics is not an accident.
The adoration of narcissist leaders is a reflection of the development of the self.

[Solly Mack]

37. Some will experience growth, some won't.

The best of anything can retard growth for some, while it expands and accelerates growth for others.

Lot of lonely people in the world. Lot of people who feel misunderstood.

Some will engage in harmless or silly pursuits, and some will turn ugly.

Children have to learn they aren't the center of the universe. Some find out earlier than most.

Some conditions prolong that sense of entitlement. Sometimes well into adulthood.

People do overshare on the internet, and some do demand complete acceptance (on the net and IRL) no matter what.

I think of life on the internet as another plane of existence. Not everyone gets that the reality of one isn't necessarily the same reality as the other.

That's scary.

It's a tool, like any mode of communication, that can be used for both good and bad.

That people elevate it above actual life, that requires actual living in the physical world, is a source for the negative.

Going out to eat with friends to enjoy good company and good food should be satisfaction enough. Going out simply to get material to post online is well, sad. You miss the moment. The real moment. Life becomes about how you curate the experience instead of actually experiencing it. I don't think everyone posting food pictures is cultivating a persona/brand instead of actually living a life though.

I think the posting of the minutia of one's life is a sign of a very lonely person or someone who remains in the entitled stage of early childhood.

I agree, it could be linked to a rise in narcissism.

All that said, I still enjoy the evolution of language to describe what is happening.

[Beartracks]

33. Awesome post.

=========

[Solly Mack]

38. Thank you. Language is a tool, sometimes a weapon - but its evolution is something to behold.

It's fascinating. It's a teller of time, of place, of events. It's the keepsake of experience. I have a thing for it. Can you tell?