本文约3363字，阅读需11分钟
In a viral audio clip on TikTok, a white-haired man in a baseball cap and polo shirt declares, “The millennials and Generation Z have the Peter Pan syndrome, they don’t ever want to grow up.”
在一个爆火的抖音视频片段中，一个头戴棒球帽身穿着马球衬衫的白发老爷爷宣称：“千禧一代和Z世代有彼得潘综合征（永远长不大），他们根本不想长大。”
千禧一代：指1982年-2000年出生的人
Z世代：1995-2009年间出生的人
婴儿潮一代：指在美国1946年初至 1964年底出生的人
Thousands of teens have responded through remixed reaction videos and art projects with a simple phrase: “ok boomer.”
成千上百的青少年制作了各种鬼畜视频，仅用“ok boomer”这个简单的词组作为回应。
@ 什么是OK boomer?
“Ok boomer” has become Generation Z’s endlessly repeated retort to the problem of older people who just don’t get it, a rallying cry for millions of fed up kids. Teenagers use it to reply to cringey YouTube videos, Donald Trump tweets, and basically any person over 30 who says something condescending about young people — and the issues that matter to them.
Ok boomer成了数百万受够了指责的孩子们的战斗口号。他们不断重复着这句话来反驳那些不理解自己的年长者。青少年们用它来回复YouTube上令人尴尬的视频、唐纳德·特朗普的推文、基本上是任何超过30岁的人说一些关于年轻人的倚老卖老的话，以及其他对他们来说重要的事情。
Teenagers have scrawled the message in their notebooks and carved it into at least one pumpkin. For senior picture day at one Virginia high school, a group of nine students used duct tape to plaster “ok boomer” across their chests.
青少年们把这句话涂在笔记本上，还把它刻在了不止一个南瓜上。在弗吉尼亚高中高年级学生的照相日上，一组九名学生用胶布在他们胸前粘出“ok boomer”字样。
The meme-to-merch cycle is nothing new, but unlike most novelty products, “ok boomer” merch is selling. Shannon O’Connor, 19, designed a T-shirt and hoodie with the phrase “ok boomer” written in the “thank you” style of a plastic shopping bag. She uploaded it to Bonfire, a site for selling custom apparel, with the tagline “Ok boomer have a terrible day.” After promoting the shirt on TikTok, she received more than $10,000 in orders.
表情包商品化已经不是什么新奇事物了，但与其他网络新词不同的是，“ok boomer”已经开始作为商品销售了。19岁的Shannon O’Connor设计了一个印有“ok boomer”的T恤和连帽衫，字体的风格就和超市塑料袋上的“谢谢”一样。她将其上传到Bonfire这个卖定制服装的网站上，并附标语“ok boomer 祝你度过糟糕的一天”。T恤在抖音上推广后许多人订购，她赚了10000多美元。
“The older generations grew up with a certain mind-set, and we have a different perspective,” Ms. O’Connor said. “A lot of them don’t believe in climate change or don’t believe people can get jobs with dyed hair, and a lot of them are stubborn in that view. Teenagers just respond, ‘Ok, boomer.’ It’s like, we’ll prove you wrong, we’re still going to be successful because the world is changing.”
O’Connor 说“老一辈的人总有一种思维定势，而我们有不同的视角。他们中许多人并不相信气候变化，也不相信染发的人能找到工作，而有这样想法的人很多很多。年轻人们就只是用一句‘ok boomer’回应。这像是在说，我们会证明你错了，世界在一直在变，所以（无论你怎么想）我们最终都会成功。”
Ms. O’Connor is far from the only one cashing in. Hundreds of “ok boomer” products are for sale through on-demand shopping sites like Redbubble and Spreadshirt, where many young people are selling “ok boomer” phone cases, bedsheets, stickers, pins and more.
O’Connor并不是唯一一个赚钱的，上百种“ok boomer”系列产品如手机壳、床单、贴画和别针等正在Redbubble 和Spreadshirt等在线网站上售卖。
Nina Kasman, an 18-year-old college student selling “ok boomer" stickers, socks, shirts, leggings, posters, water bottles, notebooks and greeting cards, said that while older generations have always looked down on younger kids or talked about things “back in their day,” she and other teens believe older people are actively hurting young people.
18岁的大学生Nina Kasman在售卖贴画、袜子、T恤、打底裤、海报、水杯、笔记本和感谢贺卡等“ok boomer”周边，她表示她和其他同辈人认为：老一辈经常看不起年轻一代或常常说起“他们那时”的事。这些做法都对年轻人造成了伤害。
@为什么年轻一代喜欢用
OK boomer?
“Everybody in Gen Z is affected by the choices of the boomers, that they made and are still making,” she said. “Those choices are hurting us and our future. Everyone in my generation can relate to that experience and we’re all really frustrated by it.”
“Z世代的每个人都受到婴儿潮一代过去和现在做出的选择的影响”，她说。“这些选择正在伤害我们和我们的未来。我们这一代的每个人都有这样的经历，我们都为此感到沮丧。
“Gen Z is going to be the first generation to have a lower quality of life than the generation before them,” said Joshua Citarella, 32, a researcher who studies online communities. Teenagers today find themselves, he said, with “three major crises all coming to a head at the Gen Z moment.”
“Z一代将是第一代生活质量低于上一代的人，” 32岁的网络社区研究人员Joshua Citarella说。他表示，如今的青少年发现自己有 “Z世代正面临的三大危机”。
“Essentials are more expensive than ever before, we pay 50 percent of our income to rent, no one has health insurance,” said Mr. Citarella. “Previous generations have left Generation Z with the short end of the stick. You see this on both the left, right, up down and sideways.” Mr. Citarella added: “The merch is proof of how much the sentiment resonates with people.”
“生活必需品比以往任何时候都要贵，我们50%的收入都用来租房，没人有医疗保险，” Citarella说。“前几代留给Z世代的是最不公平的结果。无论从哪一方面看都是这样。Citarella补充道:“印有‘OK boomer’商品的大卖证明了许多人都有这样的想法。”
Rising inequality, unaffordable college tuition, political polarization exacerbated by the internet, and the climate crisis all fuel anti-boomer sentiment.
日益加剧的不平等、负担不起的大学学费、互联网加剧的政治两极分化，以及气候危机，都助长了反婴儿潮一代情绪。
And so Ms. Kasman and other teenagers selling merch say that monetizing the boomer backlash is their own little form of protest against a system they feel is rigged. “The reason we make the ‘ok boomer’ merch is because there’s not a lot that I can personally do to reduce the price of college, for example, which was much cheaper for older generations who then made it more expensive,” Ms. Kasman said. “There’s not much I can personally do to restore the environment, which was harmed due to corporate greed of older generations. There’s not much I can personally do to undo political corruption, or fix Congress so it’s not mostly old white men boomers who don’t represent the majority of generations.”
因此，Kasman和其他销售反婴儿潮一代产品的青少年们说，利用强烈抵制婴儿潮一代这段时期赚钱，是他们对操纵自己的体制的小小抗议。“我们推出 ok boomer项目的原因是，我个人在降低大学学费方面能做的不多，比如对过去几代人来说，大学学费要便宜得多，而这几代人让现在的学费变得更贵，” Kasman说。他表示:“我个人在恢复环境方面无能为力，过去几代人的贪婪破坏了环境。我个人也无法消除政治腐败，无法改变婴儿潮时代出生的老年白人男性掌控国会的局面，尽管这些人不能代表大多数世代。
Ms. Kasman said she plans to use proceeds to pay for college. So do others.
Kasman说，她计划用收入来支付大学学费。其他人也一样。
“I’ll definitely use the money for my student loans, paying my rent. Stuff that will help me survive,” said Everett Solares, 19, who is selling a slew of rainbow “ok boomer” products. “I hadn’t seen any gay stuff for ‘ok boomer,’ so I just chose every product that I could find in case anyone wanted it,” she said.
“我肯定会用这笔钱来做一些能帮助我活下去的事情，比如还学生贷款，付房租。”19岁的Everett Solares说。Everett Solares 正在卖彩虹主题的“ok boomer”产品“我发现ok boomer系列商品中一件同性恋题材的东西都没有，所以我就选了我能找到的所有相关产品，万一有人想要（就可以买得到了）。”她解释道。
Gavin Deschutter, 17, reimagines famous logos for companies like FedEx, Budweiser, Google, and KFC with the catch phrase, and has been selling shirts and phone cases emblazoned with the message. He hasn’t made very much — “I sold a hoodie yesterday for $36,” he said — but his designs have been shared across meme pages on Instagram.
17岁的Gavin Deschutter用这句话重新设计了联邦快递、百威、谷歌和肯德基等公司的著名商标，并一直在卖印有这句话的t恤和手机壳。他没赚多少钱——“昨天我以36美元的价格卖掉了一件连帽衫。”但他的设计已经在Instagram上的表情包页面上分享了。
OK boomer并不代表恶意
而是一种态度
Every movement needs an anthem, and the undisputed boomer backlash hymn is a song written and produced by Jonathan Williams, a 20-year-old college student. Titled, inevitably, “ok boomer,” the song opens with: “It’s funny you think I respect your opinion, when your hairline looks that disrespectful.”
每一场运动都需要一首圣歌，而毫无疑问，婴儿潮一代的反对圣歌是一首由20岁的大学生Jonathan Williams写下并制作的歌曲。这首歌的名字不可避免地叫《ok boomer》，开头是这样唱的：“真是滑稽，在你的发际线看起来不尊重人时，你竟觉得我会尊重你的意见。”
The chorus consists of Mr. Williams screaming “ok boomer” repeatedly into the mic. Peter Kuli, a 19-year-old college student, created a remix of the song, which has seen 4,000 TikToks made from the track. The two planned to split the revenue earned through streams of the song on Spotify.
副歌部分，Williams对着麦克风反复大喊“ok boomer”。19岁的大学生Peter Kuli对这首歌进行了重新混音。他的重混版本歌曲已经在抖音被用了4000次。两人计划将这首歌在Spotify上的流媒体收入分成。
“The song is aggressive and ridiculous, but I think it says a lot about Gen Z culture,” said Mr. Kuli. “I think because of the internet, people are finally feeling like they have a voice and an outlet to critique the generations who got us into this position.”
“这首歌很有攻击性，也很荒谬，但我认为它很好地体现了Z世代的文化。”Kuli说，“我认为，因为有了互联网，人们终于觉得他们有了发言权，也有了一个出口来批评让我们陷入这种境地的那几代人。”
“Millennials and Gen Xers are on our side, but I think Gen Z is finally putting their feet in the ground and saying enough is enough,” he said.
他说：“千禧一代和X世代站在我们这边，但我认为Z世代最终会脚踏实地，说适可而止。”
1960年代之间出生的世代，定义为X世代。也就是过去称为婴儿潮一代的下一世代。
Teens say “ok boomer" is the perfect response because it’s blasé but cutting. It’s the digital equivalent of an eye roll. And because boomers so frequently refer to younger generations as “snowflakes,” a few teenagers said, it’s particularly hilarious to watch them freak out about the phrase.
青少年说“ok boomer”是最完美的回应，因为这种回应是满不在乎的，但又尖酸刻薄的。这相当于数字版的翻白眼。还有，因为婴儿潮时期出生的人经常把年轻一代称为“雪花”，所以，一些青少年说，看到婴儿潮时期的人对“雪花”抓狂就特别搞笑。
“If they do take it personally, it just further proves that they take everything we do as offensive. It’s just funnier,” said Saptarshi Biswas, 17.
“如果他们真的认为这是针对个人的，那就进一步证明他们认为我们做的一切都是冒犯性的。这就更滑稽了。”17岁的Saptarshi Biswas说。
“Instead of taking offense to them, you’re just like, ha-ha,” said Julitza Mitchell, 18.
“你不会对他们生气，而是会说，哈哈。”18岁的Julitza Mitchell说。
In the end, boomer is just a state of mind. Mr. Williams said anyone can be a boomer — with the right attitude. “You don’t like change, you don’t understand new things especially related to technology, you don’t understand equality,” he said. “Being a boomer is just having that attitude, it can apply to whoever is bitter toward change.”
最后，boomer只是一种心态。Willians说，只要有正确的态度，任何人都可以成为婴儿潮一代。“你不喜欢改变，你不了解新事物，尤其是与技术相关的新事物，你不了解平等。”他说，“作为一个婴儿潮时期出生的人，只要有这种态度，就能适用于任何对改变感到痛苦的人。”
“We’re not taking a jab at boomers as a whole — we’re not going for their lives,” said Christopher Mezher, 18. “If it’s a jab at anyone it’s outdated political figures who try to run our lives.”
“我们并不是挖苦整个婴儿潮一代，也不是对他们人身攻击。”18岁的Christopher Mezher说，“对所有人攻击，只有试图操纵我们生活的过时政治人物做得出来。”
“You can keep talking,” Ms. Kasman said, as if to a boomer, “but we’re going to change the future.”
“你们可以继续空谈。”Kasman仿佛在对一个婴儿潮一代的人说，“但我们这代人要改变未来。”
- END -
新闻来源：https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/29/style/ok-boomer.html
编译：穆沁阳 周筱楠 刘佳月
排版：刘佳月
