bluehair

English

Alternative forms

• blue hair, blue-hair

Etymology

Compound of blue +‎ hair.

The "elderly person" sense, first documented in the 1980s, refers to the blue rinse once used by older women to conceal grey hair.

The second sense emerged from the stereotypical association of dyed blue hair with social-justice activists.

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Noun

bluehair (plural bluehairs)

1. (slang, derogatory or humorous) An elderly person, especially a woman or one viewed as senile, old-fashioned, or out of touch. [since 1980s]
   • 1997, Karin Vonesh, "Who are the worst drivers of all?", Southwords (Maine South High School, Park Ridge, IL), Volume 34, Issue 7, 19 December 1997, page 3:

     I have memories from a young age in which my father is yelling about "blue hairs" and their inability to drive. And everyone remembers that scene in "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" in which the old lady cannot see over the steering wheel and is swerving down the road.

   • 2011, Lola Newmar, Devlin's Beast, page 33:

     He'd recently swiped the little orange bottle of OxyContin from the old hag he often watched on Tuesday nights when her cold, indifferent middle-aged daughter played bingo with the other bluehairs from the strip-mall salon she frequented.

   • 2019, Chris O'Neill, quoted in Jordan Bradley, "Do Something Different: Try These Alternative Recreation Options", Encore (Michigan), June 2019, page 25:

     “Anyone can join,” O'Neill says. “We have age ranges from children to blue hairs.”

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:bluehair.

   Synonyms: fogey, fossil, fuddy-duddy, geezer, old-timer

2. (slang, derogatory) A young or naive supporter of social-justice causes. [since 2010s]
   • 2019 September 29, Pitt Griffin (@pittgriffin), Twitter‎^[1]:

     Trump is demolishing America's institutions - including the media FAKE, FAKE, FAKE - and this chucklehead is worried about offending a bluehair.

   • 2021 January 18, hassiktirbok (@UQSKnotme), Twitter‎^[2]:

     Americans thinking it was based to worship capitalism to own the bluehairs while bitching about big tech silencing them was so embarrassing.

   • 2022 March 24, TAFKAMacM (@TAFKAMacM), Twitter‎^[3]:

     There's a sizeable cohort of gullible bluehairs who'd protest outside a lake if someone told them carp were an anti-trans hate group.

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:bluehair.

   Synonyms: social justice warrior, wokester

See also

• bluenette