Hello from The Goods' resident internet culture reporter, [Rebecca Jennings](! On Tuesdays, I'm using this space to update you all on what's been going on in the world of TikTok. Is there something you want to see more of? Less of? Different of? Email me at rebecca.jennings@vox.com. Did you know that the cool thing for high schoolers to do right now is theatrically slap their hand over their mouth? âIâm a high school teacher and I see all the trends now, and this is the new thing,â [begins a TikTok video]( featuring a woman explaining to the rest of the adults what random things her students are up to. âItâs usually really hard. I donât know why, I donât get it,â she says. âThey like, slap their face.â Dramatic face-slapping is far from the only Gen Z facial tic that has permeated the culture. Since TikTokâs US debut in 2018, it has spawned a vast network of poses and gestures that Iâve collectively dubbed âTikTok Face,â each with its own meanings and uses. The face-slapping thing, for instance, is all over my TikTok feed, and I have a galaxy brain theory about why: Putting your hand over your mouth in surprise or incredulity is a purely visual way of illustrating the feeling, so on TikTok, where many videos replace the original sound with a different audio, you can clearly tell what emotion is being expressed. Also, fake laughing looks awkward, and teenagers, a notoriously self-conscious segment of the population, love hiding their faces. But I highlight these poses not to gawk at how different teenagers are from the rest of us ([theyâre not](!) but to provide context on some seemingly strange habits youâve seen on the internet. The first one I saw where I was like, âOh, this is TikTok Faceâ was the nose scrunch, sometimes with a simultaneous wiggle. It looks like this: Brittany Tomlinson, a comedy TikToker best known as âkombucha girl,â [explained to me]( that this, among other âthirst trapâ faces, was an expression that people do before performing a TikTok dance. Why would someone scrunching their nose up be a thirst trap? âTikTok has such a different form of thirst trap than Instagram or Twitter,â she explained. âThere's this hyperfixation on being a cute little baby. Like, why? I don't get it. It's like, maâam, you have taxes to pay.â In the same vein of faces to make before doing a dance, thereâs another one where you suck in the corners of your lip to look like a fish. Nobody could tell me why it was popular except for the fact that it is likely because of Charli DâAmelio. (Also, it makes you look like you have great cheekbones. Mystery solved!) [Abby Roberts](, a TikTok-famous beauty influencer, explained to me that a lot of these poses are endemic to the platform. âOn TikTok, everyone loves facial expressions for some reason, because it's quite a young audience and you have to really be emotive and have it go with the music and stuff,â she said. âSo everyone does all these crazy faces; like, sticking their tongue out is a big thing as well. I guess it's just translated into photos.â While the nose scrunch and fish lips are earnest attempts at looking cute, most TikTok poses share at least some degree of irony. âI thought you were gonna ask about the Facebook mom pose that we make fun of,â Brittany said after I asked her to explain a few of them. (Itâs where you take a selfie from a comically high angle.) âItâs like, âI love my husband and guns.ââ âThere's also this one, âwe irritating,ââ she said, referring to the [iconic Snap photo]( of two girls in matching outfits covering their faces with the caption âWe irritating.â âWe haven't done that one in a while though,â she said. âThat was like, last summer.â There are so many more! Thereâs one where you [theatrically tuck your hair](behind your ear and do duckface. Thereâs one where you do [cosplay moves, but ironically](. Thereâs one where you pretend to be Justin Bieber circa 2012 and [stroke your chin]( while looking like youâre trying to fart. Remember that viral tweet of the e-boy dance move where you roll your eyes back into your head while gently tapping your temple (I canât find it, but hereâs [BTSâs Jungkook doing]( it)? That was one, for like five minutes. Itâs annoying that thereâs no real word for what these movements are. âPosesâ feels like the closest term, but thereâs almost always action involved, and the word doesnât really convey that. Perhaps the most accurate way to describe them is âemotes,â a common concept in video games wherein a character performs a specific action. Emotes can be anything from dances to gestures and facial expressions, and thatâs what these things are: Tiny performances for the sake of comedy or cuteness, meant to add some extra flavor to a video. Young people will always have their own slang (remember in the mid-2000s when everyone was describing themselves as âhyperâ and ârandom?â), but the TikTok generation has created a language thatâs far more visually driven, which seems like a natural result of an app designed for staring at peopleâs faces all day. TikTok Face might seem corny or embarrassing, but honestly, so is everything else! TikTok in the news ðï¸ - Surprise! The TikTok ban was [never a serious threat after all]( (this is not a surprise).
- Trump [closed down his voter fraud hotline]( after a TikTok trend encouraged people to spam it with prank calls.
- Pop quiz: Billie Eilishâs TikTok username features what [unprintable slang term](?
- I love this [Hannah Giorgis piece](in the Atlantic about how the best political satire right now is coming from young Black creators on TikTok: âTheir primary vehicles of humor arenât impersonation and caricature; instead, their offbeat sketches employ precise timing and physical comedy in concise vignettes. They prioritize storytelling over slapstick, layering their narrative-driven videos with references to pop culture. Though they might not intend to do so, these creators draw from a long tradition of Black American humor that serves as a kind of artistic resistance to the nationâs evolving racist horrors.â
- Hereâs a [lovely profile of Mark Kanemura](, a dancer beloved by both children and adults on TikTok for his colorful drag costumes and theatrical lip-syncs. One last thing ð - Since todayâs theme is âweird new things people do online,â hereâs Vine star Quenlin Blackwell [screaming about]( the bizarre replacements for the good old fashioned âlol.â Manage your [email preferences](, or [unsubscribe]( to stop receiving emails from Vox Media.
View our [Privacy Policy]( and our [Terms of Service](.
Vox Media, 1201 Connecticut Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20036.
Copyright © 2020. All rights reserved.