If you plan to make a pastime out of TikTok, some reeducation is in order.
For anyone over a certain age, at least. The site-specific vocabulary on TikTok is only getting more robust, with new words and phrases added on a nearly daily basis. Older users are forced to keep Google at the ready, so they can research the latest mystery acronym and keep up-to-date on the ever-growing online vernacular.
Even dates are taking on special meaning on TikTok. The latest date to gain steam on the app—and to develop its own, special definition—is December 3, a date that’s fast approaching in the real world.
What is the special meaning behind December 3?
Videos referencing December 3 on TikTok are largely associated with a song that went viral on the app back in 2020. The song, “Heather” by Conan Gray, begins with the line: “I still remember, the third of December, me in your sweater. You said it looked better on me than it did you.”
The popularity of the song, and this line in particular, is the primary culprit behind the relevance of December 3 on TikTok. The song created an expectation, which soon evolved into an outright trend, and it all revolves around sweaters.
TikTok users now associate the date with fuzzy outerwear and its become an unofficial holiday on which sweaters are exchanged. Hopeful romantics grace their crushes with a well-loved sweater at the outset of December each year, even as their peers desperately hope to receive a sweater for themselves.
The trend hasn’t picked up quite enough steam to reach beyond the bounds of TikTok, but if December 3 continues to expand its reach, we could all be celebrating the day with exchanged sweaters in just a few years.