The '__ Math' trend explained

‘Boy Math’ is old news. ‘Girl Math’ is positively ancient. ‘Celeb Math’ is where it’s at, thanks to Justin Beiber dropping US$5K on recreating his wife’s longing texts.

More importantly, what’s the bigger shift behind the use of these related terms?

For the uninitiated, Girl Math is, “an invented set of “rules” that women supposedly keep to when justifying impulse spending. For example, any item under five dollars is considered free, as is anything bought with cash. Concert tickets bought in advance are also free (at least, by the time said concert rolls around).”

It originated in August this year and caught fire, being embraced all over the world. What was originally meant as a joke has sometimes been taken more seriously. This then evolved into ‘Boy Math’, which is less about justifying purchases and more about making fun of men’s hypocritical habits.

While #GirlMath has 1.1 billion views on TikTok and #BoyMath has 271 million, #CelebMath has none of this momentum, at least not yet. But perhaps it indicates that ‘___ Math’ will be an ongoing part of our vernacular, rather than a temporary trend. After all, we’ve also seen #MomMath gain 14 million views.

What will be next? ‘Fashion Week Math’? ‘Pay Day Math’? ‘Coffee Snob Math’?