If You Read Brooklyn Magazine, You Might Be a #BrooklynNeck
Potential #BrooklynNeck Mike Birbiglia.
Since tickets are now on sale for his upcoming show at BAM, comedian Mike Birbiglia has set off a flurry of jokes on Twitter (in a thinly veiled marketing ploy, we might add), in the style of the impossible-to-forget Jeff Foxworthy, all of which end in “…you might be a #BrooklynNeck.” A lot of the jokes sound like a table read for Portlandia, or something off the Conflict-Free-Plaid Collar Comedy Tour, but in spite of itself, the hashtag is accidentally astute.
#BrooklynNeck could indeed represent a significant shift in the way we talk about Brooklyn and the people who populate it. Now that the borough has been invaded accepted by the sorts of New Yorkers in the habit of labeling everything unusual or creative as “hipster,” which as a result now means virtually nothing, #BrooklynNeck may serve as a new distinction, one that denotes the particular twee of Bedford L Williamsburg that is acknowledged but eschewed by most of the rest of the borough.
If you use your NPR tote bag to carry homemade pickles, you might be a #BrooklynNeck
— Mike Birbiglia (@birbigs) August 7, 2014
@birbigs If you’ve ever not hooked up with someone because it meant taking the G train, you might be a #BrooklynNeck — Mike Revenaugh (@MikeRevenaugh) August 7, 2014
@birbigs If the name of the coffee shop business you want to open is Chai Guevara, you miiight be a #BrooklynNeck — Marty Mercado (@martymerc) August 7, 2014
@birbigs if you say “Bushwick is the new Williamsburg,” you could be a #BrooklynNeck
— Lindsay Jacobsen (@lajacob) August 7, 2014
If your meals are best described by what it *doesn’t* contain, you might be a #BrooklynNeck #GlutenFreeGrainFreeDairyFreeMeatFreeCarbonFree
— Jessica M.H. Smith (@jessicamhsmith) August 7, 2014
Or, it could just be another way for every/anywhere people to shit on Brooklyn and its “hipsters.” Either way, this one’s on you, Mike.
Follow John Sherman on Twitter @_john_sherman.
