What are beige flags and why is the relationship term trending on TikTok?
While you’ve likely heard of red and green flags when it comes to relationships, what about a 'beige flag'?
The flag terms are generally used when entering a relationship or dating someone for the first time, with green flags being positive attributes you notice about your potential partner and red flags being warning signs that this may not be a relationship for you.
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Beige flags, on the other hand, are currently trending on TikTok. Videos mentioning the term have 49 million views, and the term has evolved from when it was first introduced a year ago.
The term was originally coined by TikTok user @itscaito, who described beige flags as signs on a dating app profile that the person is probably boring. Some examples she used were someone who wears loud novelty suits and people who have an opinion on whether pineapple should be a pizza topping.
However, as all good things do, the term has now evolved to take on an entirely new meaning. Now, TikTok users in long-term relationships are using the term 'beige flags' to highlight something their partner does that annoys them, but it tends to be a 'quirk' they're prepared to overlook.
A beige flag, in this new sense, is not a warning sign like a red flag, nor is it a positive sign like a green flag, but it sits somewhere in the middle.
One TikTok user, called Ruby said that her husband's beige flag was that no matter how mad he gets while driving he will "never flip someone off. Instead, if he's really upset he'll make eye contact with the bad driver and slow clap. It's not a good thing. It's also not a bad thing. It's just a thing he does."
Another, Bella Moncada says her husband's beige flag is that every time she's watching a show he will join her, watch an episode and then proceed to call it 'their show'. "Which means I cannot watch it without him. I have zero shows I can watch on my own."
User @sam_the_snack said her boyfriend’s beige flag was that he safety pins his socks together in the drawer and then the laundry so that he only needs to unpin them when he wears them. "He’s never lost a sock," she adds.
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When someone in the comments asked what the difference between a red, yellow, green and beige flag was, another user responded: "Green flag is a good thing. Yellow is a 'hmmm that may be a problem in the future' thing. Red flag is a bad thing. Beige flag is just a quirk."
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