Forums & Reddit

☠ Deadn.✎ 1

Longcat

A white cat held vertically, described as long. Its real name was Nobiko, and it lived until 2020, eight years after anyone had posted it.

▸ 2006peak 2007†2012

● Aliven.✎ 3

Microtransaction

A small purchase inside a game — first a horse's armour for $2.50 in 2006, then everything — and the word that gamers say with a specific bitterness. The record's entry for the horse armour, which is where it started, and the loot box, which is where it went.

▸ 2006peak 2018still up

● Aliven.✎ 3

Redditor

A Reddit user, and, since about 2019, a type: pedantic, atheist, fond of a pun, 'well actually' — 'you're such a redditor'. The record's entry for the demonym that became a diagnosis, and for the 'average redditor' drawing, which is unkind and accurate.

▸ 2006peak 2019still up

▲ Fossiln.✎ 3

Rules of the Internet

A numbered list of joke commandments, of which only 34 and 63 survived. The rest are of interest to archaeologists.

▸ 2006peak 2008†2012

● Aliven.✎ 4

Subreddit

A community on Reddit with its own name, rules, moderators and flavour of insanity, written r/something. Reddit added the first topic sections in 2006 and let anyone create one from 2008, which is when the site stopped being a link list and became a city of neighbourhoods: r/AskReddit for questions, r/WallStreetBets for regret, r/AmITheAsshole for being told. The word now means any self-governing corner of the internet, and 'there's a subreddit for that' is a sentence that is always true.

▸ 2006peak 2015still up

☠ Deadn.✎ 3

Bebo

The British teenager's MySpace, sold to AOL for $850 million and bought back for $1 million. Relaunched twice since, each time for a smaller audience of people who remembered.

▸ 2005peak 2008†2013

☠ Deadphr.✎ 2

Boom Headshot

'BOOM, HEADSHOT!' — the catchphrase of a fictional gamer in a 2005 web series, shouted by every real one for five years and by the record, once, in a car. The record's entry for the phrase that was a parody of gamers and was adopted by them without irony.

▸ 2005peak 2007†2011

● Alivev.✎ 2

Carry

To win a game for a team that did not deserve it — to carry — and 'carried' as the state of the teammates who were. The record's entry for the verb of doing everyone's job, which has left games entirely and is now said about group projects.

▸ 2005peak 2015still up

☠ Deadn.✎ 1

Chuck Norris Facts

Hyperbolic claims about a martial artist's power, generated in their thousands. Died when the martial artist began reading them aloud at events and the dads at those events laughed.

▸ 2005peak 2006†2008

◐ Dyingphr.✎ 2

Do a Barrel Roll

Peppy Hare's advice from a 1997 game, posted under any image of a plane, a car, or a person who could plausibly roll, and, in 2011, the Google search that spun the page. The record's entry for the instruction that the internet followed for a decade, and for the rabbit who gave it.

▸ 2005peak 2011still up

◐ Dyingphr.✎ 2

First World Problems

A trivial complaint, acknowledged as trivial — 'my phone charger won't reach the bed, first world problems' — as the mid-2000s phrase that became a 2011 macro of a crying woman. The record's entry for the guilt that was also a joke, and for the hashtag that let people complain anyway.

▸ 2005peak 2012still up

◐ Dyingn.✎ 2

GET

A milestone post number — the millionth, the ten-millionth — and the race to claim it, on a board where the number was the only thing anyone could own. The record's entry for the GET as a trophy, and for the posts that claimed it, which were mostly bad.

▸ 2005peak 2010still up

● Alivephr.✎ 3

Inb4

'In before' — pre-empting a predictable reply by posting it first: 'inb4 someone says skill issue'. The record's entry for the reply that arrives before the reply, and the forum's way of taking the fun out of the obvious.

▸ 2005peak 2012still up

● Alivephr.✎ 3

It Is What It Is

Acceptance, in five words — 'it is what it is' — from sports interviews into everyone's mouth by 2020, when a lot of things were what they were. The record's entry for the tautology as a philosophy, and for the shrug that became a caption.

▸ 2005peak 2020still up

● Aliven.✎ 3

Karma (Reddit)

Points from upvotes, which cannot be spent and are pursued anyway — karma — and 'karma whore' for the person who reposts for it. The record's entry for the number that means nothing and is displayed next to your name, and for the accounts with a million of it.

▸ 2005peak 2012still up

◐ Dyingphr.✎ 3

Lurk Moar

'Lurk more' — the instruction to a newcomer to read before posting, in the spelling of the board that gave it. The record has 'lurker'; this is the command, which was the first rule of every forum and is now ignored by every platform's design.

▸ 2005peak 2009still up

● Aliven.✎ 3

Meta (Gaming)

The current best strategy — the meta — as what everyone does because it works, in a game, a card set, or, by extension, a job market. The record's entry for the word that describes the fashion of winning, and for the backronym nobody believes.

▸ 2005peak 2018still up

● Aliveabbr.✎ 3

OC

Original content, as opposed to a repost. The distinction that separates a poster from a curator, and it is drawn very rarely.

▸ 2005peak 2011still up

▲ Fossilphr.✎ 7

Pics or It Didn't Happen

A demand for proof, back when a picture was proof. Retired as a phrase when it became clear the picture was the easier of the two things to fake.

▸ 2005peak 2008†2016

● Aliven.✎ 6

Poe's Law

Without a clear signal of intent, parody of an extreme view is indistinguishable from the view itself. Has aged from an observation into an operating condition.

▸ 2005peak 2010still up

● Aliven.✎ 3

Repost

Something already posted, posted again. Also the mechanism by which everything in this dictionary survived.

▸ 2005peak 2012still up

● Alivephr.✎ 3

This ^

'This' — with an arrow pointing up at the post above — as the forum's way of agreeing without adding, and the record's entry for the oldest one-word agreement in the file, which every platform has tried to replace with a button and none has killed.

▸ 2005peak 2012still up

● Alivephr.✎ 3

[Citation Needed]

Wikipedia's tag for an unsourced claim, adopted by the internet as a joke to attach to anything doubtful — 'the best film ever made [citation needed]'. The record's entry for the bracket that became a punchline, and for the encyclopedia's most-quoted sentence.

▸ 2005peak 2010still up

● Aliven.✎ 2

Anon

'Anonymous', shortened — the name every poster had on a board without names, and therefore the address for anyone: 'anon, are you okay?' The record's entry for the pronoun of the nameless, which became a way of speaking to a stranger with care.

▸ 2004peak 2010still up

☠ Deadadj.✎ 3

Epic (2000s)

'Epic' — the mid-2000s' word for anything good, from a battle to a sandwich: 'epic win', 'epic fail', 'that was epic'. The record's entry for the adjective that meant Homer and came to mean 'I liked it', and for the reddit it was buried in.

▸ 2004peak 2009†2013

● Aliven.✎ 2

Alt Account

A second account, for a second self — an alt — used for a different character, a different opinion, or a second try after a ban. The record's entry for the alt, and for the moment someone replies to their own post from one, which is the internet's oldest tell.

▸ 2003peak 2015still up

◐ Dyingn.✎ 2

Derp

The sound of stupidity — 'derp', 'herp derp' — from a 1998 film via South Park into the rage-comic era, where Derp and Derpina were the faces of everyone. The record's entry for the noise that became a name that became an insult, and for the eyes that go in different directions.

▸ 2003peak 2011still up

◐ Dyingn.✎ 3

Neckbeard

A man with a beard on his neck and not his face, as a type: socially inept, opinionated, online — the neckbeard — as the 2000s–10s internet's word for its own worst self. The record's entry for the insult that describes a grooming choice and means a personality.

▸ 2003peak 2013still up

● Alivev.✎ 1

Necroposting

Replying to a thread that had been dead for years. Frowned upon everywhere and, in this dictionary, the entire methodology.

▸ 2003peak 2009still up

☠ Deadinterj.

O RLY?

A snowy owl asking whether you were serious. The first image macro with a call and response; retired when the response was always YA RLY.

▸ 2003peak 2005†2008

● Aliveabbr.✎ 1

OP

Original poster. Whoever started the thread, and the person to whom all replies are secretly addressed.

▸ 2003peak 2010still up

◐ Dyingn.✎ 3

Sage

Replying to a thread without bumping it — typing 'sage' in the email field — as a way of commenting on something without giving it attention. From a Japanese board's mechanics into a whole etiquette. The record's entry for the reply that does not count.

▸ 2003peak 2010still up

● Aliveabbr.✎ 3

TAS

'Tool-assisted speedrun' — a run made with save states and frame advance, perfect and impossible, as the speedrunning world's separate category and its argument about what counts. The record's entry for the perfect run that no human did.

▸ 2003peak 2015still up

◐ Dyingn.✎ 2

Screamer

A video or game that lulls you and then screams — a screamer — as the early-2000s prank that put a ghost's face in a maze game and a generation off the internet for an evening. The record's entry for the jumpscare before the word, and for the reaction videos that were its real product.

▸ 2002peak 2007still up

● Aliven.✎ 7

Selfie

A photograph of yourself, by yourself, at arm's length. Word of the Year in 2013 and has survived it, which almost nothing else in this record has.

▸ 2002peak 2014still up

◐ Dyingn.✎ 3

The Game (You Just Lost)

A game with one rule: if you think about The Game, you lose, and must announce it. Spread through forums and school corridors in the 2000s and the record's entry for the meme that can be transmitted by a sentence, including this one. You just lost.

▸ 2002peak 2008still up

● Aliveadj.✎ 2

Permabanned

Banned forever — permabanned, 'perma'd' — as the forum's capital punishment, and the record's entry for the sentence that was, in practice, until the person made a new account. Also 'ban evasion', the crime of doing so.

▸ 2001peak 2012still up

● Aliveadj.✎ 2

Clutch

Winning when it counts, against the odds — a clutch play, to clutch it — from sport into gaming and out again into anything done under pressure at the last moment. The record's entry for the word that means 'when it mattered'.

▸ 2000peak 2015still up

● Aliven.✎ 3

Leecher

Someone who downloads without uploading — a leecher — as the file-sharing world's word for the person who takes and does not give, and the origin of 'ratio' as a moral measure. The record's entry for the sin of the torrent, and for the seeder, who is its saint.

▸ 2000peak 2008still up

● Aliveadj.✎ 3

OP (Overpowered)

'Overpowered' — too strong, unfair, in need of a nerf — as the gamer's complaint about a weapon, a character, or a rival, and, by 2015, about anything effective: 'my mum's lasagne is OP'. The record's entry for the acronym that shares letters with 'original poster' and confuses nobody.

▸ 2000peak 2012still up

● Aliveabbr.✎ 2

RNG

'Random number generator' — luck, in a game, as a thing to blame: 'RNG hates me', 'RNGesus'. The record's entry for the acronym that turned probability into a god, and the god into an excuse.

▸ 2000peak 2015still up

● Aliven.✎ 2

Sticky

A thread pinned to the top of a forum — a sticky — as the moderator's way of saying 'read this first', which nobody did. The record's entry for the pinned post before it was called pinned, and for 'stickied' as a small honour.

▸ 2000peak 2010still up

● Aliven.✎ 3

Aggro

A monster's attention — aggro — and 'pulling aggro' as drawing it, from MMOs into life: 'don't pull aggro from the manager'. The record's entry for the game mechanic that describes office politics exactly.

▸ 1999peak 2010still up

● Aliven.✎ 3

Buff

An improvement to a character's stats — a buff — and, as a verb, to make anything stronger, from games into everyday: 'they buffed the coffee'. The record has nerf; this is its opposite, and the record notes both are now used about real things.

▸ 1999peak 2012still up

● Alivev.✎ 3

Bump

Posting nothing in order to lift a thread. Still done on every forum that has a chronological order, which is fewer every year.

▸ 1999peak 2006still up

● Alivev.✎ 3

Gank

To ambush a player, usually with numbers — to gank — from MMO player-killing into the MOBA's core verb, and the record's entry for the surprise attack that has a sound.

▸ 1999peak 2012still up

● Aliven.✎ 2

Scrub

A bad player who blames the game — the scrub — from the fighting-game community, which borrowed it from a song about a different kind of scrub. The record's entry for the insult with a definition essay behind it, and for the song, which is better.

▸ 1999peak 2010still up

▲ Fossiln.✎ 2

Shock Site

A website existing only to show one unbearable image, linked to the unsuspecting as a prank — the shock site — as the early web's cruellest genre, and the record's entry for the category, without naming any of its members, which the record has seen and would like to forget.

▸ 1999peak 2004†2010