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Simps

Started by kev67, 02 January, 2021, 04:09:35 PM

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kev67

I liked the recent Judge Dredd story about the Simp woman who tried to rescue her partner from normality re-programming. I particularly liked the last prog. I suppose I am not making too much of a mental leap in thinking the Simps are analogous to the gay community. When did the Simps first appear in 2000AD? I ask because I recently watched a YouTube rant in which men who tried to be over nice to women in the forlorn hope they'd have sex with them were called simps. What is the OED definition of simp?

Funt Solo

M-W has it as synonymous with [pick your favorite]:

Quoteberk [British], booby, charlie (also charley) [British], cuckoo, ding-a-ling, ding-dong, dingbat, dipstick, doofus [slang], featherhead, fool, git [British], goose, half-wit, jackass, lunatic, mooncalf, nincompoop, ninny, ninnyhammer, nit [chiefly British], nitwit, nut, nutcase, simpleton, turkey, yo-yo

Although it does go on to reference a modern meaning of "delusionally lovestruck buffoon".


Dic.com points out that labeling women as manipulative sex objects and any men who care for them as effeminate dweebs is a not-so-stealthy-really form of misogyny blended with homophobia. I see that usage as an incel spin-off: part of the rise of the disturbing "proud boys" world view.
++ A-Z ++  coma ++

TordelBack

#2
Two entirely separate meanings of Simp.

In modern internet parlance, a 'simp' (noun form of 'to simp') is someone who moons/pervs over someone they've encountered on instagram, tiktok, YouTube etc, possibly showering them in lustful notice-me praise or OnlyFans subscriptions. Usage: "Buttonman is simping for Proudhuff again".

Dredd's Simps go back to 1987 and Nobby Glurk, who wanted to be noticed among the faceless millions  and dressed and acted like a complete idiot or indeed simpleton to do so, at no small cost to his relationship (and possibly life).

In MC1 simp is not any kind of in-built orientation, it's just a deliberate desire to stand out. Some subsequent stories play with being a simp as a sexuality analogy or a victimised minority, but I'd argue that it's more akin to an affected sub-culture affiliation (hippie, goth, hipster etc). No-one is born a simp, and simps aren't actually simple.

Professor Bear

But of course, as with all things now, Death Of The Author rules apply and what the original author intends for their work ceases to be the last word once it's been released for consumption by the disgusting ignoramuses that comprise the consumer public and their stupid fucking opinions about anything which are always wrong and always meant in bad faith.

Having said that, if you think "normality reprogramming" doesn't have any real-world analogues, I don't know what to tell you.

TordelBack

#4
Well of course it does. I'm just suggesting that being an MC-1 Simp has hitherto been presented as an attention-seeking lifestyle choice, while sexuality is not, so I think its use as (or interpretation as) an analogy in the recent (enjoyable) strip is... misjudged.

Professor Bear

I haven't read the comics yet, so my first encounter with "simp" as a queer metaphor was enby community talk on Twitter, a reminder that we all interpret what something means through our own lens.

AlexF

Not to stir the pot, but the way Simping in MC1 has been presented over the years, I think there's a case to be made that it may look like a lifestyle choice on the outside, but those within the community may in fact feel they were always destined for it (perhaps a bit more akin to today's trans issues, which no doubt were seen by many as a choice some decades ago). But yeah, as real-world analogies go, Simp=Queer is about as loose as Xavier = Martin Luther King; Magneto = Malcolm X. Sounds obvious on the surface, falls apart the instant you poke it.

TordelBack

#7
It's all the trickier because the presentation of Simps in the strip has shifted since '87. My unease stems mainly from the first two stories. Nobby isn't far from being a version of James Snork or Tony Tubbs (or even Chopper), embracing a weird hobby in order to be someone in a life that otherwise lacks purpose. Nobby goes even further than those others because his motivation in dressing-up and acting daft is simply to be noticed. So using simping as a queer analogy just makes me think uncomfortably of the dismissive accusations of attention-seeking thrown at almost anything LGBTQ-related.

But I accept that it's all open to whatever interpretation. I'd be happy to accept that the wider simp movement has attracted people that are 'born simp', where simping is an opportunity to express an innate compulsion to behave in a range of ways, but one unrelated to actual intelligence or competence.

Professor Bear

I kind of got the impression the issues some people had were with specific elements in the most recent story that changed simps from the attention-seekers they were into something else so that a specific story could be told, so the issues weren't with simps as a tradition within Dreddworld but with one particular treatment of the concept.  Different writers, different themes and approaches.

Quote from: AlexF on 04 January, 2021, 10:24:51 AMSounds obvious on the surface, falls apart the instant you poke it.

To be fair, I haven't seen anyone claim this was a 1 to 1 analogy.