👉 Okay, let’s tackle this wonderfully weird little bit of internet slang – frankly, I suspect there isn't a terribly deep origin, and we just kind of stumbled into it somewhere along the way! Let's unpack what exactly a "pine45,
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Basically, in 2016 (around mid-to late year, really), the hashtag #pine45 started circulating on Reddit and Tumblr as an ironically exaggerated expression for... intense, almost obsessive attraction toward a very visibly, loudly, aggressively attractive middle aged or older male figure. It's basically shorthand for that feeling of “Okay, he’s probably 50, maybe pushing 60, but I am absolutely, undeniably, completely and frankly, quite disturbingly… going to pine for him. Now, here's the humour: it is never actually about the man himself . You don't mean that you are genuinely, romantically into a 60-year-old guy, unless of course your life has gone very, very wonky in the best way. Instead, the whole point is the utter ridiculousness and the almost predatory quality of it. It’s an exaggeration, of course! It’s meant to call out that weird, sometimes unsettling attraction that we all have for a certain demographic, and then really lean into the absurdity of it. The humour comes from the jarring contrast – the older man, the frankly unbelievable level
