Cringe, Christopher Gouin

Cringe

Christopher Gouin

“OMG That is so Cringe:” Emotion, Social Dynamics, and Adolescent Identity --“Watching that guy get rejected in front of the whole school made me cringe” (Urban Dictionary). --“When I look at myself in the mirror I cringe because I am ugly af [sic]” (UD). --“I got a nosebleed in the middle of a Zoom meeting. I felt cringe on my behalf” (bustle.com). --“This teacher is so cringe” (UD).

The above quotes begin to illustrate the complex tangle of language, emotional responses, social dynamics, and physical responses that get grouped under the word “cringe.” This brief paper traces the historical usage of “cringe” and suggests that it can be useful in thinking about adolescence because of the importance peer groups play in adolescent identity formation. Peer groups rely on systems of norms that are enforced, broken, and reenforced in a dynamic process in which emotional responses play a crucial role. To avoid cringe, adolescents can oftentimes conform their behaviour to avoid breeching norms, whether those norms are ultimately beneficial or not.

The word “cringe” has a long history, first appearing in print in 1225 AD where it was used to describe the action of “contracting the muscles of the body, usually involuntarily” (OED). Its Old English root word, “cringan,” meaning “to fall, perish, die,” first appears in Beowulf in approximately 850 AD. An 1868 issue of Harper’s Magazine includes the first usage of “cringe” to mean: “to experience an involuntary inward shiver of embarrassment, awkwardness, disgust, etc.; to wince or shrink inwardly; to feel extremely embarrassed or

uncomfortable” (OED). Here, the once purely physical response takes on an emotional dimension. Next, a 1984 edition of the Irish Sunday Independent includes the first usage of “cringe” to mean: “acute embarrassment or awkwardness; also, something that causes this” (OED). Finally, a 2001 edition of the Mirror includes “cringe” as an adjective to mean: “causing feelings of acute embarrassment or awkwardness; that makes one cringe” (OED). Cringe, then, can be something one does, something one is, something one feels, and something one says. A recent entry in the Urban Dictionary sums up cringe as understood in this paper: “the feeling of physical discomfort without something physical happening to your body, that is usually caused by: second-hand embarrassment, witnessing physical discomfort happening to someone else, opinions and acts that you disagree with on a fundamental level, and so on.” This confluence of the physical, emotional, and social can be an extremely powerful influence on adolescents who are in the processing of defining their identities in relation to their peer groups. As Teijlinen et al. note, “emotions are not just individual reactions, but are shared in and shaped by groups” (pg. 2). Something that is cringe is such only within a shared context of norms. To avoid the discomfort brought on by feelings of cringe, adolescents will adopt and enact group norms, whether those norms are helpful or harmful. Indeed, cringe, related as it is to embarrassment, can be thought of as one of the dominant “emotions of social control” (pg. 2). In conclusion, despite being a word currently being used by adolescents in novel ways, cringe has a long and complex history in English. Cringe has a special valence for adolescents because of the important role emotions play as they navigate within their peer groups. As a teacher, I need to remember that my students are complicated individuals whose behaviour is often motivated by complicated emotions, including the desire to avoid cringe.

Works Cited “cringe.” The Oxford English Dictionary Online.

“cringe” The Urban Dictionary. “Embarrassment as a Key Emotion in Young People Talking about Sexual Health.” Teijlingen, Edwin, Jennifer Reid, Janet Shucksmith, Fiona Harris, Kate Philip, Mari Imamura, Janet Tucker, Gillian Penney. Social Research Online, vol. 12, no. 2. 2007.