• News
  • Film and TV
  • Music
  • Tech
  • Features
  • Celebrity
  • Politics
  • Weird
  • Community
  • Advertise
  • Terms
  • Privacy & Cookies
  • LADbible Group
  • LADbible
  • SPORTbible
  • GAMINGbible
  • Tyla
  • UNILAD Tech
  • FOODbible
  • License Our Content
  • About Us & Contact
  • Jobs
  • Latest
  • Topics A-Z
  • Authors
Facebook
Instagram
X
Threads
TikTok
YouTube
Submit Your Content
People are just learning where the term 'Debbie Downer' was invented and it's left them mind-blown

Home> Film & TV> News

Published 17:25 8 Mar 2024 GMT

People are just learning where the term 'Debbie Downer' was invented and it's left them mind-blown

People are refusing to believe it

Emily Brown

Emily Brown

They say that every day's a school day, and today's lesson is all about the term 'Debbie Downer'.

While not exactly the nicest way to refer to someone, it's probably a term you've heard or used a few times in life when someone's being particularly pessimistic, and constantly reminding you that the glass is half empty, rather than half full.

It's used in day-to-day conversation, in books and on TV shows, proving that it's successfully made its way into our terminology.

But how did it get there? Was there just some woman called Debbie who constantly moaned about everything back in the olden days?

Advert

As it turns out, the phrase is much more recent than that. It actually came from a TV show - one I'm sure you'll have heard of.

One X user blew people's minds when they made the revelation, writing: "finding out the term “Debbie downer” was coined on SNL is one of those real facts that do not seem congruent with the world."

Yep, the nickname originated from a sketch on Saturday Night Live, and if you're a fan of the show you might even be familiar with it already.

X users have been blown away by the revelation.
X/@noahpasaran

Advert

The sketch focuses on Debbie Downer, played by Rachel Dratch, as she presents herself as just about the most miserable person out there. She even managed to make Disney World terrible.

While you might have thought you'd grown up hearing your parents use the term Debbie Downer, it was actually first used in a 2004 episode of SNL hosted by Lindsay Lohan.

The glass-shatter realization that the term is only 20 years old has left people well and truly stunned - so much so that some are refusing to believe it was invented by Saturday Night Live.

"It just really feels like it has its origins in the persecution of a late 1890s irishwoman named Deborah O’Malley or something and not a Rachel Dratch character. And yet?," the original X post read.

Advert

Another person responded: "i feel like i’m being gaslit because i definitely used that term (along with Negative Nelly) years and years before SNL."

Rachel Dratch embodied Debbie Downer.
NBC

However, while the nickname 'Negative Nancy' - or 'Nelly', if you're that X user - did seem to predate Debbie Downer, there really doesn't seem to be any evidence of the term being used before 2004.

Dictionary.com explains: "While a downer has been used to refer to a “depressing person” since at least the 1970s, the name Debbie Downer was popularized by a hit Saturday Night Live sketch starring Rachel Dratch, who played a character named Debbie Downer. This character consistently ruins a group’s fun by sharing unsolicited sad remarks.

Advert

"The original Debbie Downer sketch aired on May 1, 2004 with Dratch’s character interrupting a family vacation to Walt Disney World with negative contributions to each conversation topic."

So there you have it - your fun fact for the weekend!

Featured Image Credit: NBC

Topics: Saturday Night Live, Film and TV, Viral

Emily Brown
Emily Brown

Emily Brown is UNILAD Editorial Lead at LADbible Group. She first began delivering news when she was just 11 years old - with a paper route - before graduating with a BA Hons in English Language in the Media from Lancaster University. Emily joined UNILAD in 2018 to cover breaking news, trending stories and longer form features. She went on to become Community Desk Lead, commissioning and writing human interest stories from across the globe, before moving to the role of Editorial Lead. Emily now works alongside the UNILAD Editor to ensure the page delivers accurate, interesting and high quality content.

Advert

Advert

Advert

Choose your content:

5 hours ago
6 hours ago
7 hours ago
9 hours ago
  • 5 hours ago

    Haunting footage reveals final moments of woman who went missing onboard cruise ship

    Amy was just 23 years old when she went missing on a Royal Caribbean cruise in 1998

    Film & TV
  • 6 hours ago

    Stranger Things fans are worried about a 'happy ending' after seeing new trailer with shocking details

    Fans have reacted to the new Stranger Things teaser online

    Film & TV
  • 7 hours ago

    Paranormal investigator who died on 'Annabelle' doll tour had Netflix show watched for 26 million hours

    Dan Rivera used his paranormal expertise to help produce a popular TV series

    Film & TV
  • 9 hours ago

    What 'Balloon Boy' is doing now as Netflix documentary details bizarre hoax claiming he'd floated away in hot air balloon

    Falcon Heene was said to have flown away in 2009, with rescue efforts tirelessly trying to help save him

    Film & TV
  • Bill Hader reveals he was fired from theater job after controversial act on movie-goers
  • Wicked fans are only just finding out what 'Elphaba' actually means and it's left them stunned
  • People left mind-blown after discovering what the white dots on strawberries are
  • People mind-blown after learning the person in The Scream painting is not actually screaming