Kamala Harris And The British Slang Terms "Brat" And "Brat Summer" (videos & information)

India Today, Jul 25, 2024  #KamalaHarris #uspresidentialelections #memes

Brat is the latest song by British pop star Charli XCX.

But why has the 'Brat Girl' buzz surrounded Kamala Harris? Let us break it down for you.

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Edited by Azizi Powell

This pancocojams post showcases three YouTube videos and presents several article excerpts about the contemporary British slang term "brat", with a focus on how that term has become associated with presumptive United States Democratic Presidential nominee Kamala Harris.

The content of this post is presented for socio-cultural, linguistics, and political purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to Kamala Harris, Charli XCX, all those who are associated with theses showcase videos and all those who are quoted in this post.
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Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2024/07/what-coconut-tree-and-coconut-pill-mean.html for the related pancocojams post entitled "Kamala Harris And The Terms "Coconut Tree" & "Coconut Pill" "

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PANCOCOJAMS EDITOR'S NOTE
This pancocojams blog isn't neutral about the 2024 national election in the United States. I strongly support Kamala Harris for President of the United States and will only publish content that is positive about Kamala Harris and the 2024 Democratic campaign for President/Vice President of the United States.

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SHOWCASE VIDEO #2 - What is 'Brat summer'? Kamala Harris campaign using phrase to connect with Gen Z voters

KVUE, July 24, 2024

Harris has been using memes to connect to young voters as she kicks off her campaign trail.

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SHOWCASE VIDEO #3 - Kamala Harris' 2024 campaign embraces Charli xcx "brat" memes

Face the Nation, Jul 23, 2024

Multiple videos have surfaced online over the last two days referring to likely Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris as a "brat." So how did this viral sensation begin, and why is her campaign embracing it? Abigail De Kosnik, associate professor for the Berkeley Center for New Media, joins "America Decides" to explain how British pop star Charli xcx's album has become a part of the 2024 race.

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TRANSCRIPT OF SHOWCASE VIDEO #1
This is the complete auto-generated transcript of the first video that is embedded in this pancocojams post. This transcript includes my additions of punctuation, capitalizations, and corrected spelling.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-tgRFGz_4s

The internet has spoken and Kamala Harris is officially a brat.

Soon after British pop star Charlie XCX posted "Kamala Is brat" the official Biden HQ campaign
account [was] rebranded to "Kamala hq" using green color and brat font.

Looks like the administration understood the assignment.

"Brat" is the name of Charlie's recent album whose cover has a lime green background with the word "brat" in simple font. The "#brat summer" trend has taken social media bi a storm with many adopting the lime green theme. This has become a symbol of rebellion against the clean girl aesthetic.

Now netizens are editing viral videos and memes using songs from the album with clips of Harris throughout her career. The Kamala campaign is embracing memes and pop culture appealing to younger voters who now see her as the cool girl option. This rebranding has fully embraced Harris'
internet appeal and her campaign raised a record-breaking $81 million in its first 24 hour.

Maybe it's brat girl Summer after all. What do you think? Tell us in the comments.

For more informative videos like this keep watching India Today news".

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ARTICLE EXCERPTS, TWEETS, AND COMMENTS ABOUT "BRAT", "BRAT SUMMER", AND OTHER "BRAT" MEMES IN RELATION TO KAMALA HARRIS

These excerpts are presented in no particular order and are numbered for referencing purposes only.

ONLINE SOURCE #1
From https://ktla.com/entertainment/what-does-brat-summer-mean-and-whys-the-internet-obsessed-with-it/  "What does ‘brat summer’ mean and why’s the internet obsessed with it?" by: Russell Falcon, : Jul 23, 2024 / 02:17 PM PDT

"(NEXSTAR) — You may feel out of the loop if you’ve been on X, Instagram, TikTok and Reddit as of late, wondering: “Why do people keep talking about brats?” Other new catchphrases you might have come across include “So Julia,” “365 party girl,” “bumpin’ that” and last but not least, the pop culture moniker of summer 2024: “brat summer.”

If all of this sounds like gibberish, it is.

But it’s brought the internet — particularly Millennials and Gen Zs — a much-needed sense of frivolous fun and glamour.

The concept began with the June 7 release of “brat,” the bold and brash club-pop/hyperpop sixth album by British musician Charli XCX. Though she’s been very successful — and influential — in the decade since her debut, “brat” marks a significant mainstream success for the 31 year-old best known for hits like “Boom Clap” and “Boys.”

The tracklist of “brat” features a variety of dance-pop and electronic songs, often reminiscent of techno music from the 1990s and early 2000s. The album’s iconic but polarizing neon green cover also helped propel “brat” into meme-status, with several online generators created that mimic the album’s somewhat visually offensive shade of green and black Arial font (see the featured image on this very story for a visual example).

The album received much critical acclaim, including the prized “Best New Music” label by music outlet Pitchfork, and shot to no. 3 on the U.S. Billboard 200 charts. The album and its themes of empowerment through friendship, having fun and partying particularly resonated with women and the LGBTQ community, especially amid ongoing political turmoil that directly affects them. Though it should be noted that listeners of all sexual identities and genders have notably been excited by this album.

Over the weeks since the release of “brat,” the music, the memes and the club aesthetics it references morphed into “brat summer” — which is kind of this year’s big internet phrase named after a kind of mindset and outlook on life. One notable previous version of this is the Megan Thee Stallion-inspired “Hot Girl Summer,” which encouraged everyone (not just girls) to feel confident and proud of the way that they look.

The concept of “brat summer” is much the same, though with a slightly very-Millennial bent. As with anything relating to Millennials’ lives, there’s also a darker meaning behind the partying, too. Essentially, “brat summer” encourages enjoying life as much as you can in spite of the struggles you’re facing.

[…]

Kamala is brat’

Finally, this past weekend, VP Kamala Harris — now presidential nominee Harris — became a major fixture in the world of “brat.”

The Harris-XCX connection occurred after three things happened: 1) social media users began making edited videos (also called fancams) of Harris’ various viral moments with songs from “brat” laid over them 2) the videos spreading so far they made it onto national news broadcasts and eventually the actual Harris campaign embraced the memes and 3) Charli herself repaying the favor by posting on X: “Kamala IS brat.”

The Charli post only sent the memes and videos into overdrive (cue Charli’s previous hit “Vroom Vroom”), with a seemingly endless stream of “coconut tree” and “existing in the context” content taking over social media sites.”…

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ONLINE SOURCE #2
From https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/health-wellness/2024/07/18/brat-summer-charli-xcx-y2k-fashion-music/74430708007/ 'Brat summer' is upon us. What does that mean? Kamala Harris is game for it., by Alyssa Goldberg, July 18, 2024, update July 23, 2024 USA TODAY
" “Brat summer” is upon us. We're dancing at the club until sunrise − unabashedly, of course. Painting our nails neon green. Working it out on the remix. Staying up late having an existential crisis and loving our lives anyway. We’re everywhere, we’re so Julia.

Even Vice President Kamala Harris is embracing it.

Confused? For those of you who are not chronically online, we can clue you in to the phenomenon that has taken over pop listeners since the release of Charli XCX’s album "BRAT" on June 7, which has fans declaring this is a "Brat summer." USA TODAY called the album an embrace of “a hot-mess pop star aesthetic, prioritizing club culture at its core but still offering introspective lyrics on aging, womanhood, grief and anxiety.” That's a good starting place to understanding what this trend is all about.

[…]

What is a brat summer?

Brat summer is the lifestyle associated with being a "brat," and not in the way you may think. Charli XCX fans aren't throwing tantrums like a badly behaved child; being a brat to them means indulging in pleasure and not concerning yourself with societal expectations. Rather than conforming to the status quo − on matters of aging, clean living or etiquette − brats focus more on having fun, embracing their community and unapologetically embracing individuality.

One of the trademark mantras of brat summer is to be "so Julia," a reference to Charli's song "360" and actress and model Julia Fox, who was featured in the single's music video. On the Zach Sang Show, Fox said being "so Julia" means "just being that girl."

It's "being confident, putting yourself out there, being out, being about, being the center of attention.

[…]

Dressing for a brat summer: Y2K fashion and green galore

Brat summer also uses fashion as cultural signifiers, uplifting styles that are bold, colorful and sometimes provocative, often inspired by Gen Z’s revival of Y2K fashion."

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ONLINE SOURCE #3
https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/internet/kamala-harris-brat-meaning-mean-slang-charli-xcx-what-does-hq-rcna163026 "How Kamala Harris became part of Charli XCX's 'Brat' summer" By Kat Tenbarge and Daysia Tolentino,  July 22, 2024, 8:43 PM EDT

Charli XCX’s very online fanbase has quickly embraced Vice President Kamala Harris.

"Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination has been bolstered by an unexpected group of supporters: Charli XCX fans.

Excitement around the Harris campaign grew on social media after people began editing viral videos and memes fusing songs from British pop star Charli XCX’s album “Brat” with clips of Harris throughout her career.

After Charli XCX appeared to endorse Harris on Sunday, writing “Kamala IS Brat,” Harris’ campaign embraced the moment, reposting the show of support, using the album’s signature green color and typeface in one of its social media profiles and posting “Brat”-themed memes.

“Brat,” which touches on womanhood, insecurity, competition, motherhood, relationships, partying and other topics, debuted June 7. Since then, social media users have declared that they are celebrating a “brat summer,” meaning they are embracing being earnest and unapologetically themselves.

The pairing of Harris memes with “Brat” fandom has surged since Sunday, when President Joe Biden announced he was dropping out of the race, but the idea had been percolating for at least the last several weeks.

[…]

The “Brat”-Harris crossover trend was popularized by creators like University of Delaware senior Ryan Long, who went viral after he posted a mashup of the Charli XCX song “Von Dutch” with clips of Harris on July 3.

[…]

“I’ve never seen people so excited for a candidate,” said Long, who described himself as an enthusiastic Harris supporter for years. “People were pessimistic about Joe Biden, but there is so much enthusiasm right now over Kamala. I really hope that she can capitalize off of it and get a landslide win.”

Long said he believes the Harris memes signal that young voters embraced her as a candidate even before Biden endorsed her presidential campaign.

The “Brat” Harris edits have taken over TikTok, X and Instagram, sometimes paired with the hashtag “Brat election.” Sound bites of Harris laughing have been used in video edits, as well as her memorable quotes like “I love Venn diagrams” and “You think you just fell out of a coconut tree?”

[…]

“‘Brat’ is one of the top albums in the world, and it’s been going super big online,” Long said. “Kamala does such a good job at embodying what people call ‘Brat summer.’ The way she presents herself, she’s happy, laughing, she’ll dance. She is like a walking content farm.”…

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Did The Slang Use Of "Sick" Meaning "Really Good" First Come From Trinidad & Tobago?

Edited by Azizi Powell

Did the slang use of "sick" meaning "really good" first come from Trinidad & Tobago?

A commenter writing on Wiki Answers wrote that it did:
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Where_does_the_slang_word_sick_originate_from Where does the slang word sick originate from?
"The term sick as slang originated in Trinidad & Tobago in the late 70's early 80's. In use in slang statements as "Dat rell sick"= that is very good or awesome in reference to a place action or event. "He di sickest"= He is the best.This has now in the last 10 yrs slowly moved in to modern western urban slang in all but one of the terms manifestations (properly yet to come), in T&T sick could also be used as the Americans term "dude". As in "Wahapen sick"= How are you. "Yes sick" = Its had been a while or glad you could make it (greeting) etc. "Wahapen to sick" there is something wrong or amiss with X.If this term is still in use by the urban population of T&T is unknown to me as I departed over 20ys+. But ask a Trini aged 33 and over who was rasied in T&T and they should concur with my description as illustrated above. CM"
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I've not found any online collaboration of this comment. For instance, "sick" as a slang term isn't listed in any online Trinidad/Tobago slang dictionary that I've come across. Nor is it listed in this blog listing of “You Know You Trini when [you say or do these things]: http://oletalk.tripod.com/onlytrini.html

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HOWEVER, a commenter on another blog wrote that "sick" was used in the 1990s in South London to mean "very good":
http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/75017/origin-of-current-slang-usage-of-the-word-sick-to-mean-great
"“How and why have some words changed to a complete opposite?

How did 'sick' come to mean 'awesome' or 'really good / cool' in modern U.S. slang? I'm interested in origins and possibly regional patterns, if applicable.

This usage reminds me of the use of 'bad' to mean 'totally awesome' in the 80s. It would be interesting to know how that came about as well, and if the pattern is related...”
Victor Van Hee, asked Jul 18 '12 at 20:15

[Response]
..."Whether or not other usage in youth culture pre-dates it, sick became slang for pretty much the opposite of what it traditionally means in the late '90s in South London, with predominantly black kids into the 'grime' music scene, which in turn spawned the 'dubstep' music scene. Dubstep has since become popular in the USA, and the American kids that use this word tend to be into dubstep, which originally comes from South London. When I was a kid in the '80s, 'wicked' developed in very much the same way." – paradroid Jan 29 '13 at 17:09
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Note that "grime" and "dubstep" music is largely associated with Black Britons of Caribbean descent. Therefore, the South Londoners use of the word "sick" to mean 'awesome", "really good" etc in the late 1990s could have come from an earlier colloquial use of that word in Trinidad & Tobago or elsewhere in the Caribbean.

Also, several commenters who sent in entries to urban dictionary.com for the slang meaning of "sick" = "very good" wrote that that slang came from "chavs" (a stereotypical and pejorative referent used in Britain to refer to anti-social youth..." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chav

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=sick
"sick
used by 'chavs' to state that somethings is good
[comment from]Chav: Ooooo- dat new tune from Timbaland is sick man innit- brrap!
[response from] Law-abiding citizen: Errr, yes.
by Alex_UK December 21, 2007
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Here's a 2005 urban dictionary.com entry for "brrap" which also includes that colloquial use of "sick" to mean "very good"information
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=brrap!
"brrap!
Used mostly by people in the london area where the sound brrap! became known as a vocal representation of a gunshot.
(When the DJ puts a sick song on)
The Crowd: Brrap! Brrap! Badboy! "
by ReZa August 11, 2005
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Here's an excerpt from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_slang about the influence of Caribbean immigrants on London slang:
"The large number of immigrant communities and relatively high level of ethnic integration mean that various pronunciations, words and phrases have been fused from a variety of sources to create modern London slang. The emerging dialect draws influences from Jamaican English and other Caribbean speech.[3] This form of slang was born and is mainly spoken in Inner London[3][4] and has been popularised by UK Rap music. Although the slang has been highly influenced by black immigrant communities, a large number of teenagers of all ethnicities in London have adopted it.[5] Popular slang words include sick ("good")" [and a list of other words].
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Unfortunately, that article didn't provide any dates to document when those listed slang terms were first used in London.

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HOWEVER, the use of "sick" to mean "very good" was documented in 1983 in the United States:
http://www.wordorigins.org/index.php/forums/viewthread/3312/ "When did ‘sick’ start meaning ‘awesome’?"
Dave Wilton, Posted: 20 September 2011 02:43 AM
"Green’s Dictionary of Slang traces it all the way back to 1983:

1983 Eble Campus Sl[ang] Mar. 5: sick – unbelievably good: The Fleetwood Mac concert was sick."

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Dave Wilton, Posted: 21 September 2011 12:26 PM
"So, OUP traces “sick” in a positive sense back to 1983

I’m sure that’s a reference to Connie Eble’s campus slang study that Green’s cites. Eble’s work on campus slang has been ongoing for decades and is quite well known among those who look at slang seriously."
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OUP= Oxford University Press
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Here's another comment about that 1983 campus usage:
http://www.techques.com/question/32-75017/Origin-of-current-slang-usage-of-the-word-'sick'-to-mean-'great'
"The OED says this slang is now especially used for skateboarding and surfing, and the first quotation is from a 1983 UNC-CH Campus Slang by the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill"
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OED = Oxford English Dictionary
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Of course, it's very possible that whoever used that slang meaning at that University Of North Carolina campus could have directly or indirectly picked it up from elsewhere- including from the Caribbean or from London.

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Here's a comment that dates "sick" = "awesome" to 1987:
http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/75017/origin-of-current-slang-usage-of-the-word-sick-to-mean-great
"I think it was originally a skateboarding slang to express "shock and awe" after seeing something cool. I'm hazarding a guess that it was first used to describe crashes. The only corroboration I can find is from About.com and a Straight Dope forum post. Quoting the latter:

I first heard the word "sick" being used as slang on the 1987 skateboarding video put out by Powell and Peralta entitled "The Search for Animal Chin." A skater did some cool trick or whatever, and a hardcore skateboarder onlooker said, "that's sick". We thought it was hilarious, and I have heard it used ever since, though mainly among skaters/surfers/snowboarders/druggies and the like.

It is my observation that the word not so much means "cool", but carries a connotation more extreme than just that. It is used to describe something that is unbelievable, unprecedented, or just plain mind-blowing."
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An http://blog.oxforddictionaries.com/2011/05/inverted-meanings-sick/ article from 2011 includes the comment that
"The OED records ‘bad’ and ‘wicked’ used in a positive sense as long ago as 1897 and 1920 respectively:
She sutny fix up a pohk chop ‘at’s bad to eat. (George Ade’s Pink Marsh, 1897)

‘Tell ‘em to play “Admiration”!’ shouted Sloane. ‘Phoebe and I are going to shake a wicked calf.’ (F. Scott Fitzgerald’s This Side of Paradise, 1920)

Sick is a more recent arrival, first seen as a US synonym for ‘excellent’ or ‘very impressive’ in 1983:
...it was a sick party and there were tons of cool people there.

It is particularly common in skateboard and snowboard culture, where it can be used to imply an element of risk and danger..."
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The title of a 1998 book about skateboarding includes the slang usage of "sick" in its title:
i(Sick): A Cultural History of Snowboarding by
Susanna Howe, January 15, 1998 http://www.amazon.com/Sick-Cultural-History-Snowboarding/dp/0312170262
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Here's another quote about "sick" being used by skaters:
"Growing up as a skater we often used the term sick as a synonym for "crazy" as well .... as in "You're sick in the head because you did that trick", but it was used to indicate approval."
– Marcus_33 Jul 19 '12 at 14:12 http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/75017/origin-of-current-slang-usage-of-the-word-sick-to-mean-great

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The early use of the slang word "sick" by the skateboard and snowboard cultures is mentioned on several other websites. But I'm just not sure that that slang usage initially came from skateboarders or snowboarders.
I'm curious if any people from Trinidad & Tobago or any other person from the Caribbean can recall the word "sick" being used the ways that the first person I quoted remembered from the late 1970's -early 1980's: to mean "very good or awesome" and to mean the same thing as the Americans term "dude".

If so, please share that information for the cultural record by posting a comment below.

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The content of this post is published for etymology and cultural purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks for visiting pancocojams.

Visitor comments are welcome.