My dad, a Boomer, is full of ideas. He's a serial entrepreneur who's built his whole life around thinking outside of the box. And he's not shy about offering suggestions about novel ways my sister and I could approach our own career challenges and opportunities.
Why not meld my passions for writing and performing and make a go of it as a rapper, he once proposed to me. Had my defense lawyer sister ever considered talking smack about the prosecutor to the jury?
For years, my sister and I resisted his more colorful suggestions, spelling out why they weren't attractive or even feasible, often leading to long conversations in which he would become increasingly insistent that we were simply being lazy or timid. We'd leave family get-togethers frustrated and drained.
This went on until we found the magic method to instantly defuse the conversation. Now when my dad suggests that I speak to a U.K. director I'm auditioning for exclusively in a British accent (why? "To make her feel at home!"), I respond with a simple "OK!"
"OK, Dad," I'll say, keeping my tone positive and warm, delighted not to have to explain to him why that idea is insane. "I'll think about that!"
I don't intend to insult him or offend him. It is, to me, an affectionate, relationship-saving way of saying, "I recognize and appreciate your desire to confer wisdom and guidance. But I'm going to go ahead and do things my way, while saving both of us from an unproductive argument and hurt feelings."
Could the meme-ified catchphrase "OK boomer" serve the same purpose?
"OK boomer" went viral earlier this year on the social media video platform TikTok, where an audio clip of a Baby Boomer lecturing young people about the folly of their "utopian ideals" inspired thousands of teens to respond with variations on a single retort: "OK boomer."