‘Just say expired’: She did the ‘rock on’ sign at a roller derby then said ‘elder millennial’—and the internet went feral
A viral TikTok of a roller derby team has sparked a tidal wave of generational mockery, with elder millennials once again finding themselves the butt of the internet's joke. Although this time, it's...not undeserved. In the now-deleted video, a woman in roller derby gear proudly declares herself an "elder millennial" while flashing a "rock on" hand sign, setting off a flood of memes trolling early-aughts culture and cringey millennials.
What is the 'Elder Millennial' roller derby video?
The "Elder Millennial" meme came from a video created by a roller derby team in Dallas, Texas. The 22-second video, originally shared in February on the Assassination City Roller Derby TikTok account, shows a lineup of roller derby players, each player introducing themselves by age, from youngest to oldest.
Though the original video has since been deleted, the Assassination City Roller Derby has done riffs on the original video (including one where players are sorted by height).
Towards the end, a woman stepped out in her derby gear and utilized a "rock on" hand signal, while announcing her age as "Elder Millennial." The lineup and that specific player became the "Elder Millennial" meme.
@penguin4787 elder millennial 😂☝️ #eldermillenial #meme ♬ lofi beat to chill or study to - realplexxx
One roller derby video, endless millennial cringe
The meme was meant as a succinct and entertaining way to make fun of elder millennial culture. This comes from the prevalent belief—especially among younger online users—that millennials can be cringe or cheugy, unaware of how they act or are perceived online.
@cakeinme1 #core #millenial #fy #joke ♬ original sound - Terri
The hashtag #eldermillennial currently has nearly 138,000 posts, with many videos mocking the age lineup or the "Elder Millennial" herself.
Comments on the "Elder Millennial" video reposts mostly consist of the repeated phrase "elder millennial" and emojis, or tagging friends. Some are jokes on the player's age, including, "the 24 girl does not want to be there," and "just say expired."
What is an elder millennial?
According to Fortune, an "Elder Millennial" (sometimes called a "geriatric millennial") refers to a person born between 1980 and 1985. This microgeneration is the oldest subsection of the "millennial" generation. It straddles the technological divide between Gen X (people born between 1965 and 1980) and younger millennials, including "The Great Recession Millennial," (born between 1985 and 1989) the "Peak Millennial" (born between 1990 and 1993), and the "Cusper Millennial," (born between 1994 and 1996). The generation after millennials, called Gen Z, was born between 1997 and 2012.
Elder Millennials have the distinction of growing up as the world was transitioning into the digital age, and understanding the world both with and without the internet. This has the potential to make them both aware of their digital footprint, or perhaps, not so much.
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