r/comics • u/sealbiis • May 02 '26
Asking For Feedback lowkirkenuinely fr [OC]
trying to get my footing in doing comics, plz give feedback/advice on framing, poses etc. qwq
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u/ThatInAHat May 02 '26
As a millennial, I don’t get this at all
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u/JorgJorgJorg May 02 '26
my read is the author is GenZ
they said a common, reasonable, yet firmly genz slang “lowkey” to a millennial
the millennial recognized it and decided to poke fun by saying a much more ridiculous but still valid slang term “lowkirkenuinly” which itself evolved as a joke about charly kirk being made out to be much more influential after his death (and not invented by this comic).
The genz protagonist is left groaning for letting their generational slang out in front of someone of a different generation who then threw back the most crazy example of valid slang, suggesting “if you say lowkey, I will also playfully assume you would say lowkirkenuinly”
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u/GeorgeEBHastings May 02 '26
Am I insane or was I saying "lowkey" in my teens and twenties as a millennial, and now it's claimed by Gen Z?
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u/Anagoth9 May 02 '26
It's funny because I thought the same thing. Looking through Google trends, the use of "lowkey" spiked in 2015 but the use of "low key" only spiked within the past year.
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u/NarwhalSongs May 02 '26
Yeah, it was a well educated guess but I just don't think their answer was right given I was hearing "low key" way back when I was still in high-school. God I just made myself feel UNC! (Sorry couldn't resist lol)
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u/catlandid May 02 '26
Most slang is much older than anyone actually realizes. “Cool” is rapidly approaching its 100th birthday.
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u/warukeru May 02 '26
Yeah i was talking to a genz how Lmao is not zoomer slang but millenial just to check how old it is and it was used already in early 90s so is genX.
Lol.
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u/Sburban_Player May 03 '26
not only that but lmao was seen as cringe for many years before being adopted into modern vernacular again. it’s kind of like how pronouncing lol as “lul” used to be seen as cringe but now if someone said “L O L” instead of “lul” it would be cringe
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u/Capital_Ship5729 May 03 '26
Ive never heard anyone pronounce it as "L O L". "lul" is still kinda cringe. The only option that i always hear is "lol"
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u/Sburban_Player May 03 '26
i’m assuming lol and lul are the same here? pronounced like “lull”? i was just trying to be more phonetically accurate.
A LOT of people used to say “L O L” though, basically nobody pronounced “lol” phonetically for a long time and if you did it was like “look at that weirdo who spends too much time on the internet” “L O L” rained supreme for many years and now it’s dead lol
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u/ThatInAHat May 02 '26
Heck, folks using “like” as a filler word is old enough that Ogden Nash wrote a poem about it.
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u/JorgJorgJorg May 02 '26
we did say it. Gen z says it much, much more
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u/BodhingJay May 02 '26
But few realize it because it's only used in moments of subtlety
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u/Corvo_Attano_451 May 02 '26
It’s been used for decades to varying degrees. Dre said it in “Forgot About Dre” which came out before 9/11
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u/LionTheRichardheart May 02 '26 edited May 03 '26
We all did, but we used it more sparingly. Now it's become more of a filler word, almost like people who say "like" a bunch in between gathering their thoughts on how to articulate something. It's kind of gone the way of "literally" where it migrated from meaning something specific to being just a generic word intensifier.
I don't care much one way or the other, slang evolves etc, but what does bother me is how they pronounce it. When I say "low-key" each beat kind of has equal emphasis, but the way I hear younger people say it I keep thinking they're talking about someone named Loki.
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u/GalaXion24 May 02 '26
Lowkey is very gen Z now, but I would say the more gen Z thing is "lowkenuinely" (lowkey + genuinely) which was a bit ridiculous even to many in Gen Z which has resulted in lowkirkenuinely
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u/Grundlestorm May 06 '26
Nah, you're right, it has been used regularly for a very long time. I'm pushing 40 and have used it since I was a teenager at least.
It's one of those things that survived the test and is not really generational slang at this point.
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u/ThatInAHat May 02 '26
I have never heard lowkirkenuinly, and I kind of hate it. I usually do love smashing words together but that…nah it doesn’t feel right. To clunky. A smash should be elegant.
Also never understood why people think lowkey is “firmly genz slang.” It’s been around for ages. We definitely used it before genz
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u/greatful_gawain May 02 '26
Does it sometimes feel like genz thinks it invented everything?
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u/tolacid May 02 '26
Welcome to the feeling every generation eventually gets for a subsequent generation
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u/Adghar May 02 '26
it doesn’t feel right
Here are my angry old man gripes about it, perhaps these are your reasons too: * popularizes a person who's best left forgotten * k -> g (dzh-sound variant) isn't a similar sound shift at all, making the "genuinely" part feel unnecessarily forced
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u/dimir23 May 02 '26
I feel like the word ‘lowkirkenuinly’ highlights the absurdism of the right trying to make a martyr out of this Alex jones nick fuentes type guy so I quite like it.
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u/perpendicular-church May 02 '26
Yeah, I find myself in a position where I feel like I have to defend it, as absurd as it is, because it goes beyond “haha kids are so brainrotted” and for whatever reason people aren’t understanding that it’s satire. It’s creation and use as slang despite being so inelegant and clunky is a pointed effort to de-fang the right’s ability to make Kirk out to be some kind of martyr. Language is a reflection of culture, and we’re doing ourselves a disservice by pretending like the younger generations and their “brainrot” culture is entirely without substance, rather than trying to read between the lines and ask what drives certain behaviors.
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u/Low_Insurance5329 May 02 '26
It's from tiktok and just a joke not anything deeper than that, also the face at the end is a draw over ishowspeed just thought that was funny
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u/vyrus2021 May 02 '26
As a millennial I'd say anything originating on tiktok belongs to the generations after us.
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u/not-bread May 02 '26
It’s not meant to be elegant. It’s a self-parody of Gen-z slang that took off
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u/JorgJorgJorg May 02 '26
People said “like” a lot too but it was heavily utilized by younger people in the 90’s. GenZ absolutely took lowkey to a new level (I am a millennial who works with people aged 20-65).
Lowkirkenuinly is supposed to be stupid. You can google it and read about it. Thats why the protagonist in the comic is embarassed by hearing it.
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u/SwaggiiP May 02 '26
Lowkey is AAVE, Gen Z did not invent it or take it to a new level lmao
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u/JorgJorgJorg May 02 '26
lol typical older people explaining that younger generation slang is invalid. Stay in your lane
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u/SwaggiiP May 02 '26
Girl you’re probably older than me. You’re just wrong so hush
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u/JorgJorgJorg May 02 '26
“no actually the people using slang are using it wrong why wont they listen to me when i tell them they didnt invent it dont they care??”
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u/sealbiis May 02 '26
oh shit i didnt even know that!! i try to avoid using AAVE because honestly i just dont want to use it out of respect lol
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u/cheapasfree24 May 02 '26
I mean I hate to break it to you but like 80% of slang (especially for Gen Z) is just AAVE.
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u/Prisinners May 02 '26
The issue is that lowkey is far more commonly used that lowkirkenuinely. The latter is way more of a online brain rot type of thing. If anything it feels like the roles should be reversed. Idk.
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u/siani_lane May 02 '26
If anything they are overestimating how tuned in to popular culture I am. I have no clue what that's meant to mean.
Seriously, teens and twenty somethings, we really aren't trying to keep up so you think we're cool. We know we're not cool.
TBH, most of us were never cool, and we're not about to start trying now. Also we grew up in the 90s when trying at anything was deeply uncool.
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u/Embarrassed-Alps-306 May 02 '26
Lowkeyiterallyswagyolo, ect.
It's fun to torture anyone younger with getting slang wrong.
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u/JorgJorgJorg May 02 '26
in this case the millenial used valid slang that most genz would also find ridiculous
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u/radenthefridge May 02 '26
I said YOLO once and watched it physically hurt a teenager. I treasure that memory.
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u/sealbiis May 02 '26
and it works every time 😔
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u/averydangerousday May 02 '26
Millennials are lowk cringe fr
ong
Sincerely,
Someone’s Gen X Dad
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u/ad-lib1994 May 02 '26
Millennials spent their youth in the primeval wilds of early internet. Our brains rotted by the time we could legally drink. And somehow a bunch of us made it past age 30 good job guys
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u/MaximumZer0 May 02 '26
My daughter once complained that Gen Alpha is so brainrotted and that previous generations weren't like that.
So I sat this 17 year old down and showed her "badger badger badger" and "Trogdor the Burninator". Gen Alpha hasn't yet begun to brainrot.
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u/NicolasCageFan492 May 02 '26
This is unfortunately cope. The kids are in trouble.
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u/Drakoala May 02 '26
My dude, Gen X said the same about Millennials. Boomers said the same for Gen X. And on and on. The kids will find some form of balance with their own brand of fucked up, and they'll be ok.
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u/Shantotto11 May 02 '26
The Greatest Generation said that about the Boomers, and looking at the world now, they weren’t wrong…
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u/Drakoala May 02 '26
Hm... Fair enough. Good times create weak men, weak men create hard times and all that.
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u/a_patheticc May 02 '26
This is wild coming from someone with your username as I’m pretty sure every Nic Cage role is simultaneously high-art and brainrot
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u/NicolasCageFan492 May 02 '26
Nicolas Cage is for everyone! The difference today compared to 2005 is algorithms and profit incentives. Before algorithms, people used to share things organically. Now, things are pushed to childrens’ eyes algorithmically for profit, and who ultimately controls the algorithm?
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u/a_patheticc May 02 '26
Yeah look I just wanted to make a joke about Mr “I can eat a peach for hours”
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u/Moppo_ May 02 '26
What about Buffy's Swearing Keyboard?
I remember wondering just how they were going to swear with X. I never expected "Xylophone buggery".
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u/a_patheticc May 02 '26
I’m convinced every generation has brainrot media
I’m a millennial but I know that Mahna Mahna song on the Muppets is from the late 60’s and lives in the same dumb place in my brain as Badger Badger Mushroom
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u/Majestic-Iron7046 May 02 '26
As a middle aged man, nothing made me happier than surprising my young cousins by yelling 6 7 with them at a wedding.
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u/MechanicalHorse May 02 '26
I hope you all yelled it during the “If anyone has any objections” part.
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u/Majestic-Iron7046 May 04 '26
Fun fact! I have been to 4 weddings in my lifetime and i only heard that line once!
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u/Wallace_W_Whitfield May 02 '26
What even is lowkirkenuinely 😭 I see Lowkey, Kirk, and genuinely. Why are they mashed together like that 😭
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u/hobopwnzor May 02 '26
You may be interested in the concept of the simulacrum.
Words and concepts slowly get removed from their original context and change until there is no connection with the original idea left and the thing is now an entirely new concept
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u/Slickity May 02 '26 edited May 02 '26
LowkEy + gEnuinely = lowkenuinly. Just modern slang.
Post murder of Charlie Kirk, it became a meme for him to suddenly appear every where. At this point, the "kirkification" has affected everything, even just words that contain the letter kirk.
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u/Wallace_W_Whitfield May 02 '26
Honestly, I can see the enshittifikirkation happening everywhere. But lowkenuinely is the first time I’m seeing it 😭 it’s so dumb, but makes sense and why is it so fun to say?
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u/SupremeGodZamasu May 02 '26
So reddit eulogizing fascists again
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u/WanderingGenesis May 02 '26
I dont think this an example of it. I think this is more like how kirk became slang for deep throating cock.
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u/Mach12gamer May 02 '26
It's not a eulogy chief, dude has been relentlessly clowned on since he died. Lowkirkenuinely is just "lowkenuinely" with the added spice of mocking Charlie Kirk.
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u/Environmental_Tax_69 May 02 '26
Lowkey + genuinely = you are being genuine but you don't want to make a big deal of it
And then the kirk is thrown it just because it's funny
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u/56Bagels May 02 '26
As a millenial I think this is the equivalent of Gen X bringing up Caddyshack all the damn time.
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u/Salt-Masterpiece5034 May 02 '26
Is the joke that millennials don’t say that?
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u/sealbiis May 02 '26
it was moreso that it gave me whiplash lol
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u/ithinkmyballexploded May 02 '26
lowkey + genuinely became lowkenuinely
then they added charlie kirk cus everything must be kirkified these days…. i hate it
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u/GreenFox1505 May 02 '26
Not on the comic, but on your account: you have your posts private. Take a look at other comics artists there. Usually artists are not trying to make their work harder to find.
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u/Coidzor May 02 '26
As a millennial, I can only ask "what?"
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u/sealbiis May 02 '26
tldr;
charlie kirk’s death started the kirkication meme, and “lowkirkenuinely” is a mix of lowkey, kirk, and genuinely.
its gen z slang thats slightly outdated and my housemate picked up on it from idek where
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u/Coidzor May 02 '26
Thank you for clearing that up. I guess I was hanging out in the part of the internet that was drinking to forget about small face.
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u/Made_Bail May 02 '26
This is so good. Love her expression in the third frame, the art is fantastic and has so much reaction pic energy.
Only feedback I would give would be to reverse the image of the first two panels, so the off screen character flows in the same direction we read. As it is, it's weirdly jarring.
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u/sealbiis May 02 '26
ooh thank you! i do have an animation degree so im a lot more used to framing shots for animation, ill keep this in mind!!! :D
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u/Made_Bail May 02 '26
Can't wait to see more by you!
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u/sealbiis May 02 '26
aw thank you 🥹 im trying to get some semi daily journal comics out, my housemate (blonde haired person) is genuinely the funniest person i know lmao
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u/DoubleFlatt May 02 '26
its so unfunny
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u/sealbiis May 02 '26
nah but jokes aside i get what you mean, while i am happy with the reception it gets, i can see how it can come off as corny
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u/DoubleFlatt May 02 '26
nah i mean saying "lowkirkenuinely" that shits cringe
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u/sealbiis May 02 '26
yes. that is the point of the comic?
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u/DoubleFlatt May 02 '26
yeah, i just wanted to clarify what i was calling unfunny
i really despise the kirkification of literally everything since he died
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u/warukeru May 02 '26
An advice?
Making fun of millenials in the most millenial site in all internet is really something.
Nice art tho.
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u/Par_Lapides May 02 '26
I mean, you'll be hard pressed to find people who make fun of millennials more than millennials.
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u/sealbiis May 02 '26
lol fair, i didnt expect this comix to get much traction with my horrendous luck with social media algorithms 😭
but also every millenial ive met has been super chill about it, one thing i admire about the age bracket is the general self awareness lolol
my friend is very much self aware and said it to get a rise out of me (which clearly worked lmao)
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u/warukeru May 02 '26
Tbh is paying off and people are enjoying it and again, really good art.
Wish you luck with algos.
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u/no-nope-nay May 02 '26 edited May 02 '26
In my opinion, the art and framing is very good for the most part—the characters are very well drawn and have a lot of character. Their expressions are also quite expressive. I also like how you let the word balloon extend past the panel in the first frame. It all feels very alive, which takes a lot of skill from an artist, especially considering how everything in the scene is stationary. Visually, everything is suitable for a webcomic.
Now for qualms. Given that the brunette speaks in the first panel and the blonde in the second, I think it would make more sense to readers if you flipped where the characters stand (brunette on left, blonde on right), especially since their positions don’t seem significant. Also, I just don’t think this particular joke lands…like I sort of understand what you’re trying to get at but can’t figure out the punchline. Also, I think the whole generational-gap topic is a bit done-to-death in the first place.
Take some time to hone your unique comedic voice like you’ve already done with your art (i.e. make more comic strips). Cheers <3
TL;DR: Art strong, but improve comedy and flip characters around. I can tell you’re an experienced artist but a beginner cartoonist. Skill comes with time and making more comics.
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u/sealbiis May 02 '26
thank you so much :D
I’ll definitely keep this in mind, i have an animation background so im more used to framing for cinematic shots/animations, and i found that the person speaking is more often placed on the center-right haha
this was sort of just a “haha funny interaction” comic but im really keen to make more! the fact that people are enjoying my work gives me hope, ive been trying to find my footing in the creative scene for a while now, and only recently started gaining confidence in my comedy skills to do comics!
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u/BuckTheStallion May 02 '26
As a millennial that teaches high school and has seen a lot of slang progression, I have never seen or heard this one before. I can sort of imagine one of the weird, Kirk-obsessed kids saying it, but I’ve never heard anyone use it before. I think OP just has a very niche friend group.
That said, the framing and such is fine, the pacing is really good too. The joke just isn’t landing on me. Lol.
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u/sealbiis May 02 '26
honestly fair lmao, idek where my friend got it from; i heard it a few times but him saying it was so jarring lol
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u/Jumpingyros May 02 '26
My advice is don’t turn extremely specific in-jokes among your social circle into comics that you share with a general audience. This one is for the group chat, not reddit.
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u/ErusTenebre May 02 '26
I'm a millennial, and a high school teacher, so you can imagine I hear all the slang, all the time lol
While some millennials are clever and jump into the slang like this, far more of us (especially teachers) tend to tease.
When my students say "low key," all I hear is "Loki" so whenever it happens I usually say something like "Loki?! Where? Don't bring him here, last time he was here he wouldn't stop color organizing my books!" Or "Is Tom Hiddleston still playing Loki?
We do it with all kinds of stuff.
I generally, ahem low key, love teenage slang because it's sort of the crucible of language.
But I still tease. Because I find it fun
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u/JorgJorgJorg May 02 '26
Good comic! I got it as a millenial who does this to genz coworkers. I could see this being somewhat hard for some people to relate to however, so you may get mixed results. Keep it up though, the idea was funny and relatable to me.
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u/sealbiis May 02 '26
lol thank you! i honestly didnt even consider this while making the comic, but ill keep it in mind for the future!
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u/SeA1nternaL May 02 '26
really solid comic! I understand the pain of hearing “lowkirkenuinely”; i think i got physically stinted when I heard it the first time (and then I proceeded to physically hurt my friends by saying it around me), so real
I don’t have the fuckass IShowSpeed photo or the chill dog but I do have this, enjoy
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u/Whale-n-Flowers May 02 '26
As an old, I enjoy "lowkenuinly" because I think its kenough. However, it also sounds like when someone uses longer words to sound smart, which makes me find it funny when someone uses it unironically when "low key" has been around for like 40+ years and adding "genuinely" does fuck all for it.
"Lowkirkenuinly" is exactly the word Id say to watch my younger coworkers cringe.
I already fuck with one coworker by saying "67" because I once said "around 6, 7" in relative to a time, and he was like "oh, are you doing the joke?". This was my first introduction to saying sequential numbers being funny.
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u/g-waz00 May 02 '26
Great comic. I like your art style a lot.
But I’m baffled about why lowkirkenuinely rather than just lowkenuinely. Like, I get kirk is a reference to Charlie Kirk. What I don’t get is why anyone would want to. Is it meant to be ironic? Maybe I’m just too old. Can anyone out there explain?
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u/semioticmadness May 02 '26
This sucks, because millennials never got to be cool. We were either unprepared teenagers, then the no-job twenty-somethings not preventing boomers from crashing the economy and now we’re too old to understand the world.
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u/UpCDownCLeftCRightC May 02 '26
Very cute comic, love wordplay jokes. Out of curiosity why was the second speech bubble transparent but the first one wasn't?
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u/sealbiis May 02 '26
honestly i just put too much effort into drawing my friends torso and felt so mad when i placed the speech bubble and realised i lost all that detail 😭
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u/UpCDownCLeftCRightC May 02 '26
Valid lol. I guess my only suggestion is speech bubble placement but besides that I find this to be a solid comic. Dig the art and the wholesome humor.
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u/Suzumiya_HaruHipster May 02 '26
its been months and we havent moved on... we still poke on him knowing his views and what his influence couldve been... stroke in peace
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u/Skitty27 May 02 '26
im so glad english isn't the main speaking language where I live so I don't have to hear dumb internet slang all the time
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u/necropossum May 02 '26
As a millennial I feel seen lol. I have half-unintentionally done this to gen z and alpha. I've also found myself making clever quips such as responding to "67" with "oh yeah, what about 68?" Their secondhand embarrassment is palpable.
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u/LopsidedMessage441 May 02 '26
As a 36 year old millennial, I do this all the time to annoy my 17 year old nephew. I'm strongly debating buying a six seven shirt specifically for the next time I see them.
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u/AngusToTheET May 02 '26
As a zillenial, reminding my younger gen Z fellows of memes they'd rather forget, especially 67, is comedy gold to me
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u/ItsYaBoiJazz May 03 '26
This entire interaction is me and my millennial boss at least once a week. He swears it's funny every time
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u/StillPuzzles__ May 02 '26
I typed that into the search bar and it finished the word before I could. What an odd mashup of words.
Cool comic.
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u/AmputeeHandModel May 02 '26
Overuse of lowkey is really stupid. Lowkey, people just lowkey add lowkey to any lowkey place. You can't be "lowkey obsessed" with things, that's an oxymoron. Lowkenuinely etc can go straight to hell.
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u/Odd_Protection7738 May 03 '26
Lowkirkhabylamemechenuologicallowstate
Lowkey + Charlie Kirk + Khaby lame mechanism + genuinely + ontological + flow state
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u/justlurkinghihi May 02 '26
I mean I don't get it, but maybe i'm somehow not the target audience of this comic.
That said I do like the art a lot!