But then I didn't know that there was a "twee culture".
> twee, a. (and n. 3) colloq.
> 1. Originally: `sweet', dainty, chic. Now only in depreciatory use: affectedly dainty or quaint; over-nice, over-refined, precious, mawkish.
> 1905: Punch 8 Mar. 178/1, “`I call him perfectly twee!' persisted Phyllis.”
> 1917: M. T. Hainsselin Grand Fleet Days xv. 91 “Girl: Oh, here's another little gun; isn't it a darling! Isn't it just too twee for words!”
> 1947: E. Hyams William Medium viii. 164 “`Isn't he twee!' said Mary, and pinched his cheek.”
> 1956: G. Durrell Drunken Forest x. 193 “`What twee individuals?' `Those knowledgeable sentimentalists who are forever telling me that it's cruel to lock up the poor wild creatures in little wooden boxes.'”
> 1962: Observer 25 Mar. 25/3 “She has a small and, it must be said, pretty twee cottage.”
> 1967: E. Short Embroidery & Fabric Collage iv. 102 “The best of our designers who have abandoned the rather `twee' decorative type of embroidered picture.”
> 1973: G. Robyns Wimbledon xxix. 192 “There is..a twee Arcadian outdoor studio complete with white trellis and plastic flowers.”
> 1983: Listener 21 July 33/1 “Mike Nichols's thriller-fantasy about dolphins should be as nauseatingly twee as the worst Disney—but it isn't.”
Chambers 11th (because they give an origin)
> twee
> twee /twē/ ( informal)
> adjective
> 1. Small and sweet
> 2. Affectedly or sentimentally pretty or quaint
> ORIGIN: tweet for ‘sweet’, and later tiny and wee
It’s interesting though as it’s the complete opposite of previous generations where kids wanted to be treated as adults as soon as possible (request for responsibility), focused on improving their lot in life, and their passion project was raising a family.
“Cool” was something previous generations also dispensed with in very early adulthood and maybe replaced it with “respect” as something more useful than fetishizing a personality trope.
Not sure if the shift is good or bad but if it is bad you can’t really blame the kids.
https://snl.fandom.com/wiki/Bein%27_Quirky_with_Zooey_Descha...
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2014/07/the-twe...
" Twee’s core values include “a healthy suspicion of adulthood”; “a steadfast focus on our essential goodness”; “the cultivation of a passion project” (T-shirt company, organic food truck); and “the utter dispensing with of ‘cool’ as it’s conventionally known, often in favor of a kind of fetishization of the nerd, the geek, the dork, the virgin.”"