What Is A Beige Flag? The TikTok Dating Term, Explained
Genuinely terrified of astronauts? Beige flag.
You know those things that just make you go, “huh,” for a second before you move on? Maybe it’s learning someone’s top Spotify artist is Katy Perry. Maybe it’s realizing your friend says, “Live, Laugh, Love,” unironically. Maybe it’s finding out your partner listens to the full intro song for every single Netflix show. According to TikTok, these are beige flags: quirks that are noticeable enough to give you a moment’s pause, but nothing more.
On TikTok, the idea of beige flags first took off back in May 2022, but they meant something a little different at the time. Caitlin Macphail, the original creator, defined them as “signs you’re probably very boring,” aka things you should avoid putting on your dating app profiles. She listed them out, including “any reference to mainstream sitcoms” and “needing ‘someone who can handle my banter.’” (This later prompted Macphail to create an “R U BEIGE?” series on the app, where she rated dating app profiles on beige-ness.)
Now, the #beigeflags hashtag has 6.9 million views, and it has taken on a new meaning. In the latest videos, people are using the term for those harmless (but often funny) idiosyncrasies we all have — and notice more and more the longer we’re in a relationship. “I think my favorite beige flag my fiancé has is whenever there is something remotely cringey or embarrassing happening on TV he has to pause it and give himself a little five second breather before resuming,” one user wrote. “If it’s really bad he will get off the couch and cover his head with his shirt and aggressively scream.” Weird habit? Sure. Red flag? Not quite. This type of behavior falls squarely in the beige flag category.
Here are some of TikTok’s best beige flag videos:
A good ol’ malapropism definitely qualifies as a beige flag — especially if using them becomes a habit.
Some beige flags are things that are completely out of your control.
On the other hand, some beige flags are very specific — like keeping careful track of your socks after losing one too many pairs at summer camp.
In the world of green, yellow, and red flags, beige flags are a reminder that not everything dating-related has to be on a scale of good to bad (or bad to worse) — some things can just be kinda weird.
