Mall goth
From Free net encyclopedia
Mall goth is a disparaging colloquialism for someone who is supposedly not a "real" Goth and whose commitment to the Gothic scene is seen as poserish, i.e., shallow, materialistic, trendy, and/or dependent on commercially purchased, mass-marketed Goth clothes from high street stores such as Hot Topic. The term is mainly limited to the United States. Other terms include M&M's (for their tendency toward the music of Marilyn Manson), spooky kids, nu-goth, babybat, baby/kiddy/kinder goth, emo goth, or wannabe goth.
Typically, a mall goth is aged from 13 to 18, the attire of mall goths includes hoodies, over-sized t-shirts often bearing the name of a nu-metal band (sometimes worn over fishnet arm warmers), black leather trench coats/dusters. Baggy pants with chains on them are also common, for either gender. Dyed hair, eyebrow, nose and lip piercings, and the use of black eyeliner, lipstick and mascara is also common. Mall goths can usually be found loitering in indoor shopping malls across the United States and Canada (another reason behind the name).
They are found to a lesser degree in the United Kingdom (where terms such as mansonite and spooky kid are more likely to be used) and Japan. In general, popular activities for mall goths are going to arcades (DDR is especially popular), smoking, and sometimes causing chaos within the mall. There is often a war between the mall goths and the "mall cops", or mall security guards. The guards will often try to remove them for their rowdy behavior, while the mall goths resist because they view the security guards as having no real authority, as compared to a real police officer.
The term is often used in conjunction with "mallcore", a derogatory term for nu-metal music, since many who are termed as mall goths are fans of this style of music.