It’s 2012. A picture of Anne Hathaway's new pixie cut for her upcoming movie “Les Misérables” just popped up on your iPod touch.

“That is SO cringe,” says your friend, peering over your shoulder.

When people think about the word cringe, their thoughts usually flashback to 2016-2018. The world was filled with dabbing, Pokémon Go, killer clowns and over-the-knee boots.

The word peaked again around 2021-2022, as the internet was full of lingering trends and fads closely correlated to stepping back into the social scene after the 2020 coronavirus pandemic shutdown.

“To cringe at something is to yield a battle of the soul—and instinctively to contort one’s body to match,” said Caleb Madison, in an article for The Atlantic. “The proliferation of online public embarrassment necessitates a new, informal way to describe it—and in skulks cringe, a word already well suited to express instinctual contortions of public shame.”

While “cringe” might be on the downward right now, the societal meaning of the word is still very prevalent in our culture today, even leaving some with a textbook reaction when they hear the word itself.

To demonstrate the impact the word has created, I have broken up “cringe” into four, subjective, categories: Pure cringe, relationship cringe, situational cringe and ironic cringe.

Pure cringe

This is the hardest category to escape. Pure cringe is a fundamental part of someone’s personality. It’s who they are.

This doesn’t mean they’re bad, or even annoying, just that the things they do tend to make you shake your head a little more than others. Posts on Tumblr from 2014, e-boys and the shy finger twiddling meme are great examples of what pure cringe could look like.

While they might cause an occasional involuntary reaction, being around them is not boring in the slightest. As long as you love them, this type of cringe can be an absolute delight, and the giggling can last all day.

Situational cringe

“That’s so swanky… Actually cringe why did I say that,” said Jillian Mayne, who acted as a perfect example of the next category, situational cringe.

Situational cringe is what happens when you try to be ironic cringe and it doesn’t end up working out. You try to make a joke, maybe use a new emoji or say something sarcastically, but it comes off as too serious, even for you.

After saying something that turns into situational cringe, you might find yourself hanging your head in shame, but don’t fret. If you move right along and don’t dwell in it too much, there will always be another chance to win back your successful comedic aura.

Relationship cringe

Relationship cringe is a little bit like situational cringe. People who experience relationship cringe aren’t pure cringe, and are usually completely different without their partner.

This type of cringe can happen when talking to, or about, a partner. It can also be whenever the couple is close to each other. Think hugging in the Rexburg Rapids lines, sitting uncomfortably close in the Taylor Chapel or staring into each other's eyes during devotional.

Those things aren’t bad on their own, but most people don’t want to see it in public.

Ironic cringe

Ironic cringe is your friend who dressed up to see the minion movie. It’s the person who makes Ed Sheeran merch for the bit. Everything is for the bit. It’s camp.

They’re not afraid to get some head shakes, and somehow they make it work. When you’re ironic cringe you’re either replicating someone who is another category of cringe, or you have original content meant to spark a reaction.

This model can be dangerous because the person in question has to be self-aware for it to still be considered ironic. However, it can’t come off as too serious or forced or it doesn’t work.

These different categories can also be made into a graph with four quadrants to accurately place the full cringe someone is.

While some people can confidently be placed and assigned into these boxes or quadrants, some do not completely fit, and are merely on the cringe spectrum which is more generalized.

There are always exceptions to these categories, and no one person will be exactly like the other.

It is important to remember that many believe to be cringe is to be free, and maybe to be in love is to be cringe.

“This is something that needs to be fully studied and understood,” said Ryan Turner, who is self professed to know “quite a bit” about cringe.

Feature image credit: Pexels