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Goth Classification



Many of our beloved colonial cousins have asked "What is a Didi-Goth?" The excellent vampirefreaks.com has a run-down of the main Goth classes here, but they do seem to miss the definition of a Didi-Goth. I've found the original interpretation:

Didi-Goth  /gɒθ/ [after Diddy]–noun
1. one of a Teutonic people who in the 3rd to 5th centuries invaded and settled in parts of the Roman Empire, but left after two weeks as their visa had expired.
2. a young or fledgling Goth, too depressed to consider him/herself part of the rest of school, but too happy to become full immersed in Goth culture. Writes particularly awful poetry, usually about how no-one understands them, or why the boy in Year 12 won't snog them.

Origin:
bef. 900; ME Gothe (after G. Chaucer): "There was a Wif of Bathe, she was-a gat toothed and prood, black did she wear, and depressive; yet Goth she was-a not, morever a Didi, owning nought but one Cure album, and that alone being a Greateste-Hits."
(Note: best read in Chaucerian English for full effect; if you are unfamiliar with the style then I commend Bill Bailey to you.

23 comments:

  1. lmao this really got me laughing! esp about the greatest hits cure album!

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  2. cute :)

    Part of being Goth should be never having to pigeon-hole ourselves. Oh well.

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  3. We call those Baby Goths in these parts.

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  4. Gothlets? Gothlings?

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  5. ...and if the little darlings are now referred to as "Didi-Goths", then what on earth is an Emo?

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  6. Emo's are too easy a target - I'll save that for the next blog ;)

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  7. DJ Consumptiva8 June 2009 at 22:46

    Ah, yes, I recall learning that passage when we studied The Canterbury Apocrypha in English Lit...later that summer, we found our teacher in a steaming puddle of latex and black lace. So tragic!

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  8. We mostly called them "baby-goths"

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  9. Kindergoths in foggy SF (perfect goth breeding grounds)..

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  10. Don't argue with the Queen's English. Didi-Goths they are and Didi-Goths they shall always be. Although Kindergoths is win.

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  11. FWIW...

    Hereabouts (South Island, New Zealand) I often hear the term "Gothlings". They're not Emo, but are a tad young and not quite as hardcore as an older "I was a goth in the 80s and 90s" goth.

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  12. LOVE your homage to Chaucer. Brilliant.

    (or is that too upbeat, the word homage?)

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  13. Surely that's just an emo?

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  14. Note that it seems "Didigoth" is not the same creature as a "Perky Goth". The former is more of a germinating stage, still in its infancy. The latter is a fully developed form, one that will do the PPIB* appearance but still cannot hide her spunky, unicorn-loving demeanour.

    Often, the Perky Goth in later years may mature into the Weekend Goth, the office worker who dons the Goth look only when it fits her calendar.

    *Pale Person In Black.

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  15. Perky Goth! I like it. Add that one to the list Igor...

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  16. The "greateste hits" got me (at work, so I had to supress laughter). Love the Chaucer thing.

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  17. I shall do nothing of the sort and don't call me Igor. Do Perky Goths end up being Happy Goths? Or does all that Perkiness end up making them Avril Lavigne?

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  18. Hi, the word "didi" is from old Norfolk, meaning small or little.

    For example, I went to school with a Didi Venables, my friends daughter is called Didi, because she is smaller than her older brother.

    Thank you for a great website.

    Regards,

    An Old Retired Goth from the early 80's.

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  19. We have alot of glitter-goths in these parts...
    ...No relation to GARY glitter, though...*shudder*

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  20. A Baby Bat? ^^
    Love the Chaucer bit, laughed a lot!

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  21. In eighties Essex we called them mini-goths

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Thanks for your comment Goth lover!