Is calling someone a “Chad” and insult in the USA?

18 comments

1. I’ve never heard it used to insult someone.

2. I’ve never heard someone say this in person to even know. Online, it usually seems positive but can be negative in a joking way.

3. In my experience, it used to be an insult when I was in college but is a compliment now (or at the very least, a sarcastic compliment). It used to be kind of a way of pointing out someone was a stereotypical frat douche-type guy. That’s been a while though and obviously the Internet has changed things.

4. No

5. Pretty sure Chad was an insult used by incels to describe the guys that get all the girls (if you can call that an insult) along with names for girls like Stacy and Becky….

6. It can be both depending on how you say it.
    

7. It started out as a meme but a lot of people took it seriously. I definitely have a negative opinion on someone based on their usage of it, similar to “alpha males.” In recent years it’s been heavily used by some less than savory groups pushing some less than savory things so I definitely have a negative association to people who take it seriously.

8. Really? When I hear the word ‘chad’ all I do is laugh because that term is funny

9. I’ve never heard this term used offline.

   But then again I’m 41 year old Chad, not some teenage virgin who needs to touch grass.

   But seriously I am 41, so im sure I’m not in or around the demographic that would use it.

10. At least from my experience the term has been popularized now to mean something positive as opposed to the original negative context from incel circles. So these days I would say it has an almost exclusively positive meaning, especially in a casual or social context.

11. Chad and Tyrone. Usually some manlet crying about 6 6 6 getting all the ladies. If they’re insulting you with it they’re telling you what you have was unfairly gifted and you have no agency in your own success.

    It’s pretty funny.

    Ask them about women, that’s even funnier.

12. This is more of an insult on the internet.

    I wouldn’t call someone a Chad in real life though.

13. I knew one Chad in high school. He was not anybody’s idea of a typical Chad. Those of you who went to punk/hardcore shows in the 1990s: you know the unassuming ‘normie’ guy quietly standing at the back? Who was kind of nerdy, and not in the nouveau cool/ironic way that was becoming a thing at the time, but in the old school not-so-cool way? That was the Chad I knew.

14. Jesus, have folks heard this anywhere but online?

    I put it in the category of someone referring to themselves as l33t anywhere in real life.

15. It can have a lot of different meanings depending on who says it.

    “Nerdy guy” calls literally any guy he deems a catch-insult

    Someone’s actual name-neutral

    Average dude calling a “rich guy” that-insult but can be deemed a compliment depending on how they say it.

    Black guy calling a white guy “Chad”-insult

16. The idea of “Chad” is more famous than any actual Chad. The most famous actual Chad is a C-List Canadian

17. On today’s internet, I guess Chad is a more memetastic term of admiration: “The chad x vs the virgin y”. Strong, muscle-bound, and insert-your-philosophy-here.

    20 years ago, though, Chad was the stereotypical college frat-bro douchebag: multiple polo shirts with popped collars, boat shoes, constantly chugging crap beer, sexually harassing girls and/or pledges, and getting a dime-a-dozen business degree that he can sleep through yet *still* barely passes. He’ll get a nice job after graduation anyways solely on the merit of his dad’s/fraternity connections.

18. Okay, in american english literally ANYTHING can be an insult. You can call someone an angel as an insult if you put the right kinda stank on it.

    It’s purely about tone and context.

    So…yeah, it’s not NORMALLY used that way but it certainly can be and sometimes is. Because everything else is, too.