beige flag
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Forms: form: beige flags
Etymology: By analogy with red flag and green flag, due to the perception of beige as a boring or bland colour. Popularized on TikTok in 2022.
Senses: examples: text: just seen someone on tiktok saying people talking about pineapple on pizza on dating apps is the biggest "beige flag" and i could not agree more
ref: 2022 May 10, @edenyoung__, Twitter, archived from the original on 05 Jun 2023:
text: Jana Hocking says having a standard profile picture on a dating app is a "beige flag."
ref: 2022 September 1, en, “Jana Hocking on why ‘beige flags’ are the new dating trend to watch out for”, in New York Post, New York, N.Y.: News Corp, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 11 Oct 2022:
text: Like their red and green cousins, beige flags start popping up everywhere once you know what they are (that's called the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon). For example, having strong opinions about, say, peanut butter is probably a beige flag. Surely anybody with a moderately interesting life would have better things to talk about than whether or not blended peanuts should contain slightly whole peanuts.
ref: 2022 September 22, Romano Santos, “Move Over, Red: Beige Flags Are the Newest Dating App Warning Signs.”, in VICE, archived from the original on 03 May 2023:
glosses: A clue or indication (especially on an online dating profile) that a person is boring or unoriginal.
examples: text: my bf's beige flag is he'll constantly tell me he has ocd but then proceed to cut the brownies like this 😭😭😭
ref: 2023 May 29, @wrldhars, Twitter, archived from the original on 06 Jun 2023:
text: Though the video went viral a year ago, you've probably been seeing the slang term all over your FYP since late May 2023. In fact, the hashtag #beigeflag has amassed over 269.6 million views and counting, and it's all thanks to a new trend where users (lovingly) expose their partners' beige flags.
ref: 2023 May 30, Jillian Giandurco, “On TikTok, Users Are Celebrating The "Beige Flags" In Their Relationships”, in Bustle, archived from the original on 03 Jun 2023:
text: This is the definition inspiring a TikTok trend for "my boyfriend's beige flag..." or "My girlfriend's beige flag is...", where people in relationships share quirky details about their partners, like the fact they always ask the waiter what they should order and then follow suit; or sleep-talking about their golf game; or mispronouncing words; or their refusal to put their phone on silent during the night in case they miss their alarm (I mean this one might grate personally but…)
ref: 2023 June 1, “Beige flags are the latest dating phenomenon that are dividing the internet”, in Glamour, Greenwich, C.T.; […]: Condé Nast Publications, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 03 Jun 2023:
text: He's not alone in his beige flags. My girlie group chat was readily available with an arsenal of them when I called upon the roundtable for their boyfriends' offending habits. Like a set of magicians pulling earth toned strings of handkerchiefs from their sleeves, they offered a plethora of beige flags: one friend's boyfriend makes plans with her in his head, doesn't tell her, and then gets upset when she "double books" him, despite her not knowing they had plans at all.
ref: 2023 June 1, Maddy Mussen, “Beige flags: have we reached peak 'flag' fatigue?”, in Evening Standard, London: Evening Standard Ltd., →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 04 Jun 2023:
glosses: A mundane but mildly unusual quirk or habit of one's romantic partner.
examples: text: That guy is a huge beige flag.
text: You set up a dating profile to stand out from the crowd, but you've filled it with the same basic, unexceptional cookie-cutter observations and interests as everyone else. Nothing about you stands out. You are a walking, talking beige flag. Why should I waste my time on you?
ref: 2022 September 12, “Beige flags: the warning signs that announce you're too boring to date”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 24 May 2023:
text: It was a question Christchurch woman Tamzyn, 29, asked herself when she found her Bumble matches drying up. "I just blamed the fact that I was in Christchurch for a while, to be honest!" she laughs. "But then I took a look at my profile with a different lens, and I realised I was one giant, walking beige flag.
ref: 2022 December 8, “The Bumble Diaries: Gearing up for hot girl summer”, in Stuff, archived from the original on 17 Dec 2022:
text: Perhaps if you're confident that your behaviour is unproblematic and you're at best, a beige flag, there's no reason for anxiety.
ref: 2023 May 26, Emilie Lavinia, “The Dark Side of 'Are We Dating the Same Guy' Groups”, in VICE, archived from the original on 31 May 2023:
glosses: Someone who has a beige flag (in either sense).
examples: text: Lenny looked down at his clothes. He was wearing a pair of beige pants and a green shirt. He'd dressed himself without his book of flags. There were no beige flags. Not yet anyway. But someday there might be.
ref: 2007, Kate Banks, Lenny's Space, New York, N.Y.: Frances Foster Books, →ISBN, page 150:
glosses: Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see beige, flag.
Coordinate terms: sense: colours of flags
word: black flag
sense: colours of flags
word: blue flag
sense: colours of flags
word: chequered flag
sense: colours of flags
word: green flag
sense: colours of flags
word: orange flag
sense: colours of flags
word: pink flag
sense: colours of flags
word: red flag
sense: colours of flags
word: white flag
sense: colours of flags
word: yellow flag