Your boyfriend is not a golden retriever, sorry
I love when the internet goes absolutely batsh*t. The latest trend to make me look up from my phone, aghast, and sense check with the nearest IRL human that I’m not the one losing it is ‘golden retriever boyfriends’.
Like most viral zeitgeist categorisations, this took off on TikTok, with girls and young women referring to their ‘nice’ boyfriends as golden retrievers. Yes, as in the dog breed. This is not some niche trend- with 182.2M views on the hashtag at present- the term has become common verbiage amongst gen-zers.
Like the dogs they are named after, ‘golden retriever boyfriends’ are defined as loving, affectionate, always wanting attention, a little dim and - crucially- excited to see you. The core characteristic of a ‘golden retriever boyfriend’ is simply that he loves his partner and isn’t afraid to show it.
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