A while ago I decided that I needed to replace some of my spiraling social media time with something more productive and decided to give Duolingo another go. Duolingo has a lot of problems and I could probably complain about it for the better part of an hour, but all of those problems are mere pebbles in the shoes of life compared to Lily who is a giant boulder falling directly on your car at the exact same moment your engine caught on fire and Ed Sheeran came on the radio.
God, I hate this bitch so much.
Why is she even here? What, exactly, is her purpose? All of the other characters are encouraging and supportive. They do little dances when you get answers right and try to give you a high five through the screen. Even the fucking bear manages a little shoulder wiggle. Meanwhile, the only reactions correct answers elicit out of this caustic Daria-wannabe is a huge fucking eyeroll, or – and this is the one that really makes me want to strangle her to death – an over-the-top sarcastic ooooo and hand wave. Not only does Lily not give single half-shit that you’re learning a new skill, she actively hates you and is probably waiting for this lesson to be over so she can go talk shit about you on TikTok.
God help you if get an answer wrong in front of her. I am 1000% certain this girl has a knife on her somewhere and is simply biding her time.
I tried to do some lessons in Duolingo to get screenshots for this article and all the characters were suspiciously absent from the questions. What are you trying to hide Duolingo?
Oh. Never mind, I know. How much Lily is a garbage person.
Like, I get that these people exist. I think I was one for a while in high school, although I definitely didn’t have the confidence to be this bitchy. I just don’t understand why you would want to create a person like this in a very specific situation where someone is trying to learn something very new, and very hard, and they need a lot of encouragement.
And they definitely could have made her that bitchy teenager and still made her encouraging. Or at least neutral. Which I think she used to be, basically a non-reaction. But now it’s obvious that she doesn’t want to be there and she hates her life and she hates you and she would prefer it if you didn’t do stupid things like ‘learn a new language’ around her and instead went off somewhere and died.
Do you know how hard it is to learn something new, especially as an adult? You have to find the time to do it, make the habit and keep it, and – this is probably the most important piece – get over the embarrassment of trying something new and failing for a while. Humans will do anything to avoid embarrassment, and even the possibility of embarrassment, up to and including trying literally anything that might make them seem foolish in front of other people. Even if they think they might like it, even if it looks fun, a fully grown adult might still decide not to try it because they would be trying it front of other people and what if they look silly? What if they can’t do it right away? What if they fail in front of other people? It’s a ridiculous mental block but that doesn’t make it any less tough to get around and we all have it.
The nice thing about a learning app like Duolingo is that you get to try and fail at something new in the comfort and privacy of your own home, so why the fuck would the creators include a character who has all the reactions people are afraid of? Who is this helping?
The lore (yes, there is Duolingo Lore) says that Lily and Zari are friends, and I mean, absolutely the fuck not. I’m not saying I’m a Zari, but I would need two hands to count all of the Lily’s I’ve cut out of my life. That sort of constant negativity can sour your own outlook, even if it’s not directed at you. And I refuse to believe that Lily isn’t somehow also being a complete bitch to Zari every now and then. If they’re both teenagers this is probably that situation where they’re friends simply because they’re stuck together in high school, and then second Zari goes to college and meets people she actually wants to hang out with she’ll realize that Lily was completely toxic to her their entire school career and she’ll start to do the slow fade.
Yes. That’s correct. I have fucking head-canons about the fucking Duolingo characters because I hate Lily so much and want so much better for Zari. I don’t think about the other characters like this. I don’t even know their names because they’re all exactly the sort of bland, personality-less cheerleaders I expect from this sort of bullshit. I don’t know why Lily needs a personality, and I don’t know why Lily needs this personality, but the only thing she’s motivating me to do is learn ‘Please fuck off and die’ in every language possible and I don’t need Duolingo for that. I can Google that shit.
High Urban Fantasy Jazz 
Wow I have been searching through reddit threads looking for people who feel the same about this straight-up abusive character. I’ve even written to them because she has GOT TO GO I don’t understand how anyone could possibly find anything appealing about this character we do not need her! She is a hinderance to learning! I have survived a lot of awful sometimes abusive educators to get here and seeing her asshole messages when I get notifications from the app are so discouraging I cannot bring myself to use the app when she appears. There must be a way to get rid of her. Thank you so much for this lol.
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Honestly so glad to find there are at least a few of us who hate her. She makes me depressed.
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And here I thought I hated Lily as passionately as anyone could! Haha thank you for this, you’ve made my day!
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I’m so glad I’m not the only one who thinks she’s sooo annoying!
She demotivates me a lot and her voice.. like she doesn’t give a fuck? All the other characters are so much fun. But lily… she doesn’t deserve such a lovely name tbh
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I hate this character more than all of you. This character shares the “nickname” I was given to because I’ve long since hated the name ever since 4 or 5 years old. Why the fuck did they have to name this bitch “LILY?” She’s more the lines of a Vivian.
Seeing so many characters with the name “Lily” or “Lillian” (thanks GamerGate) with negative connotations to those names and then downloading duolingo to practice my Spanish (as a Latina who embarrassingly isn’t fluent in her father’s native tongue) and then seeing this bitch with her emo sarcastic bullshit made me reflect on my favorite cartoon character in all of existence who is similar except with his existential nihilism, he’s actually lovable. And that character is SQUIDWARD from SpongeBob SquarePants. A show that has long since worn-out its welcome even before the death of its creator.
This bitch is nothing like my squishy man. This bitch further reminded me that I am glad that I came around to the decision in 2018 to drop any forms of “Lily” and instead demoted it to middlename status, but as the Spanish “Lilia.” Parents of course were upset, but I don’t care. Names are special and should resonate with you. The moon resonates with me so I go by Luna. So parents and everyone will eventually get over my dead names, Lillian and of course Lily. Fuck Lily. Seriously.
Unlike Squidward who has his kind golden moments, there are none for “Lily.” When she does the sarcastic “Ooohh!” I wish I could punch my phone and that punch transcends to the moron who came up with this unpleasant character.
Duolingo devs, hope you see how much we fucking hate ..Hate…HATE this character.
I’ve never been a fan of getting rid of characters (PowerPuffGirls 2016 looking at you) but I can safely say this toxic character on a language app that should uplift and encourage ignorant Americans especially, will NOT be missed.
Luna M.
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Agreed that she’s an absolutely HORRENDOUS piece of shit. But you just gotta ignore her. She is basically just an animation, so think of her in that way. Don’t let something that doesn’t exist hinder your learning of a new language.
I guess the developers wanted a ‘different’ character. Maybe to have some variety.
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Thank God I’m not the only one who doesn’t understand why she is so moody and mean. Your essay, is one of the best things I’ve read recently. She is so annoying and I wanted to know why she has such a stank personality. I try to pay no mind to her though.
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Thank God, I’m not the only one who thinks she is so moody and mean. I literally googled “why is Lily on duolingo so mean” I don’t even know how I known her name. She is really annoying and I’m trying to find out why they gave her such as stank personality. I just try to pay her no mind. But i’ve got to say, your essay is incredible. This is the best thing I have read recently.
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Seeing this blog made my day. I really want to slap that bitch in the face everytime I see her.
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I’m so glad that other people feel the same way as I do about her. It’s like having one of my middle school bullies imported into the program. I’ve noticed that a lot of other people dislike a certain character – one that happens to have a louder voice, for example, or one with poor recording quality. I wonder if there’s a way to petition Duolingo for a way to “switch off” a particular character? Maybe we could convince them, and enjoy Lily-less learning forevermore.
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OMG – I was so fed up with Lily today and decided to see if I was the only one. lol I’ve started just saying random shit to her because I’m so done with her caustic attitude. Glad I’m not alone!
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