About

Jay Maynard (a.k.a Tron Guy) is an American computer programmer who became internet famous for his homemade electroluminescent costume inspired by the 1982 sci-fi film Tron. Maynard first became a subject of online discussions in April 2004 after uploading pictures of his costume on his website, which quickly spread across tech news sites and humor forums like Slashdot and FARK. Since his rise to stardom as a nerd icon, Maynard has appeared on the late-night talk show Jimmy Kimmel Live and remains a regular attendant in many tech-related conference circuits, particularly in advocacy of network neutrality.

Origin

The TRON suit was built by Jay Maynard from scratch for the annual sci-fi and fantasy convention Penguicon in 2004. The photographs of DIY Tron suit were posted on his website¹ (now defunct) and re-published via Slashdot² on April 18th, 2004, apparently inspired by another “Make Your Own TRON Costume” thread posted on Slashdot³ two weeks prior:

“When this story on making your own TRON costume was posted two weeks ago, I was deep into making my own for the masquerade at Penguicon 2.0. Its debut at the Masquerade won the Workmanship award. I kept notes and took pictures as I was going along, and the page that resulted is now available for your viewing enjoyment. No, I didn’t spend any time with straws up my nose while making it, either. I think the results were quite good, and so has everyone who’s said anything to me about it here at the con.”

Spread

The Slashdot post eventually led to over 300 comments (as of 4/17/2011) and the buzz quickly spread across other forums and humor-related blogs like FARK⁴, BoingBoing⁵ and CG Forums⁶ throughout April.

In early May 2004, Maynard made his very first mainstream media debut on late night talk show Jimmy Kimmel Live and turned his notorious nerd fame into a series of appearances in internet and tech-related conference circuits.

In 2006, Maynard guest-starred in a music video entitled “We Are The Web,” along with several other internet celebrities like Lesile Hall and Randy Constan to advocate the concept of network neutrality:

On April 2nd, 2008, Maynard’s internet fame was parodied in South Park’s Episode 4 Season 12 “Canada on Strike,” along with other characters resembling microcelebrities like Gary Brolsma (Numa Numa Guy), Star Wars Kid, Chris Crocker and Tay Zonday:

On October 8th, 2009, Maynard was a special guest on the television show Tosh.0 for the Web Redemption segment.

Tron: Legacy

In December 2010, Disney released the sequel film titled Tron: Legacy, revamped in 3D feature and soundtrack composed by Daft Punk. Maynard, who had played a significant role in revitalizing the public interest in the 1982 sci-fi film, published a review of the film in Wired magazine⁷, mostly criticizing Disney’s lack of engagement with the original film’s fans like himself.

Disney’s marketing machine has pulled out all the stops for Tron: Legacy. I believe this one will escape being thought of as an expensive flop, the way the first one was. It deserves to. It’s enough to make me really, really disappointed Disney didn’t ask me to have anything to do with the sequel’s production or marketing.

There’s already talk of a third Tron movie. Disney, could you throw me a bone for being in some part responsible for awakening the franchise from the dead in the minds of the public? Please? Maybe an official Tron: Legacy costume of my very own so people who ask me to make appearances get the new film in their heads. That would give fans a much more direct connection to the movie.

In addition, TMZ⁸ reported that Maynard was barred from seeing the film at his local movie theater when he insisted on wearing his iconic suit during attendance.

External References

¹ TronGuy’s Homepage – All About Jay Maynard, The TRON GUY / Site defunct; as archived on 11-5-2004

² Slashdot – Another Fan Made TRON Costume / Posted on 4-18-2004

³ Slashdot – Make Your Own TRON Costume / Posted on 4-3-2004

⁴ FARK Forum – Tron Guy to make second Jimmy Kimmel Live appearance tonight / Posted on 5-14-2004

⁵ BoingBoing – Tales of a Tron Tailor / Posted on 4-26-2004

⁶ CG Talk Forum – The TRON Costume Guy / Posted on 4-18-2004

⁷ Wired – Tron Guy Reviews Tron: Legacy, Says Sequel Almost Drove Him to Tears / Posted on 12-16-2010

⁸ TMZ – Tron Guy’s Costume Banned From Movie Theater / Posted on 12-21-2010

About

“Milhouse is not a meme” is a paradoxical statement and a well-known debate on the imageboard site 4chan about what makes an internet meme and what doesn’t, using The Simpsons character Milhouse Van Houten as an example. Since the birth of the debate on 4chan in 2005, the phrase has been typically used to initiate a chain post of recursive nature. Due to its recurrence over time, “Milhouse is not a meme” is often referred to as a forced meme.

Origin

Milhouse Mussolini Van Houten is a character from The Simpsons^[1] who first appeared in Season 1 Episode 1 entitled “Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire.” In the show, the character is portrayed as Bart Simpson’s best friend who is extremely nerdy and desperate for peer approval. Because of his nearsightedness and gullibility, Milhouse is oftentimes treated an easily exploitable target throughout the series. Naturally, his inability to fit in complements the fact that he is seen as a forced meme, making it all the easier for online audiences to single him out as a loser.

The catchphrase “Milhouse is not a meme” is believed to have originated from 4chan’s /b/ (random) board between 2004 and 2005, as evidenced by the Urban Dictionary^[4] definition for “Milhouse” submitted on January 26th, 2005:

Not a meme. -4chan
“Milhouse is NOT a meme!”
“Milhouse is NOT a meme is NOT A MEME!”

The debate over Milhouse on 4chan began following numerous waves of spam posts containing images of Milhouse. The catchphrase is said to have been in usage since 2005, but the earliest 4chan thread available on record dates back to October 2nd, 2007:

Spread

Google Insights shows that “Milhouse is not a meme” didn’t yield a noticeable spike in search queries until mid 2009.

Usage on 4chan

While recognizing of Milhouse the cartoon character as an Internet meme is generally disapproved on websites such as 4chan, pictures of Milhouse have been often used to indicate that someone is astroturfing, or “forcing,” a meme which did not exist in prior.

Yet another notable usage of Milhouse images on 4chan involves a lottery game thread known as GET, in which the original poster (OP) posts a picture of Milhouse and declares it a meme under one condition that one of the reply posts’" ID number sequence matches up with the digits provided in the post.

Example

Commenter A: Millhouse is a meme.
Commenter B: Millhouse is not a meme.
Commenter C: Millhouse is not a meme, but “Millhouse is not meme” is a meme.

Following the serial comments, someone will eventually call a Combo Breaker to end the mindless Déjà vu.

On Recursion

As shown in the above example posts, the case of “Milhouse is not a meme” demonstrates a mysterious linguistic process known as “recursion,” in which phrases can be embedded within similarly structured sentences to generate infinite regression of a language. Yet another well-known joke that serves as an example of recursive language can be found in the following “definition” of recursion:

Recursion:
(n.) see recursion.

According to the Wikipedia article^[2] on “Recursion”:

To understand recursion, one must recognize the distinction between a procedure and the running of a procedure. A procedure is a set of steps that are to be taken based on a set of rules. The running of a procedure involves actually following the rules and performing the steps.

External References

^[1] Simpsons Wiki – Milhouse Van Houten

^[2] Wikipedia – Recursion

^[3] OhInternet – Milhouse is not a Meme

^[4] Urban Dictionary – Definition for Milhouse is not a Meme

^[5] MemeGenerator – Milhouse

About

Courage Wolf is an image macro series derived from the original Advice Dog series. In contrast to Advice Dog, who might unknowingly lead you to do something you’ll regret, Courage Wolf will help you achieve greatness with often extreme, overwhelming advices.

Origin

Entitled “Snarling Gray Wolf,” the original photograph was taken by nature photographer Jeff Vanuga^[1] in Montana and uploaded to Corbis Images^[2]. The exact date of upload remains unknown, but Google Insights data shows that the meme began to gain traction beginning sometime in December 2008.

According to various accounts including MemeBase^[3] and Encyclopedia Dramatica^[10], the Courage Wolf macro series was reportedly picked up by 4chan’s /b/ (random) board, the birthplace of Advice Dog macro series.

Spread

The Urban Dictionary^[4] entry for “Courage Wolf” was submitted on January 8th, 2009, defined as:

Your only life coach. He knows all, never doubt him. He spawned from the festering cesspool of 4chan, with a hint of Advice Dog DNA and the desire to turn those soft sissy inside things you call emotions into raw manliness. He was spawned from a vortex of awesomeness that spewed chocolate-covered hundred dollar bills and caused it to rain naked woman for 1000 years.

Throughout late 2008 and 2009, the series quickly grew into a large collection of image macros across other 4chan boards. On MemeGenerator^[5], the number of Courge Wolf submissions surpassed that of Advice Dog series on April 11th, 2009 and spawned a number of spin-off versions like Sir Courage Wolf Esquire, Monsieur Le Courage Wolf, Baby Courage Wolf and Intellectual Courage Wolf.

On July 18th, 2009, single topic blog Fuck Yeah Courage Wolf Tumblr^[6] was launched to document the meme. On February 18th, 2011, the macro generator site Ask Courage Wolf^[7] became available online.

Characteristics

The standard Courage Wolf template has a courageous and brave looking wolf that is against a colored background wheel or radiant beams coming out from behind him against the color wheel. The first line is something that may be problematic/a challenge (e.g. The doctor told you that you had cancer), but the second line is designed to inspire you to overcome the challenge (e.g. You, however, will call it a challenge).

Notable Examples

Derivative: Insane Wolf

In 2009 a macro named Insanity Wolf began appearing. Instead of offering courage for solving your problems, he offers insane and often murderous options. He is often referred to as the insane cousin of Courage Wolf.

Search Interest

Google Insights search shows that search queries began around November/December 2008. In May 2007, there was a small search percentage, but its is likely due to only a few error searches.

External References

^[1] Jeff Vanuga – Jeff Vanuga Photographer

^[2] CorbisImage – Snarling Gray Wolf

^[3] MemeBase Wiki – Courage Wolf

^[4] Urban Dictionary – Courage Wolf

^[5] MemeGenerator – Courage Wolf

^[6] Tumblr – Fuck Yeah Courage Wolf Archives

^[7] Ask Courage Wolf – AskCourageWolf.com

^[8] Encyclopedia Dramatica – Courage Wolf

About

In January 2009 a young GaiaOnline user named “BoxxyBabee” posted several hyperactive, seemingly innocuous videos to YouTube. Discovered via a post on i-am-bored, the division between Boxxy h8rs and those declaring her “Queen of /b/” culminated in a civil war that crashed 4chan in March of 2009.

Her most notable & final video:

Center for Boxxy Control and Restriction

The CBCR was a group dedicated to ending Boxxy’s pervasive online presence, and was able to hack into her YouTube account in January 2009. They made all of her videos private, but left up one explaining that she should never make another video. Shortly after the group reportedly disbanded and made her videos public again.

InuYasha Ebay Auction

After becoming Internet famous she abandoned most of her online presence until an eBay auction popped up on November 18, 2010. The item was reported to be “Boxxy’s own Collectible InuYasha shoulder mail book bag”, and was accompanied by this picture:

As of 5 PM eastern on November 19th, 2010 the bid is up to $ 800,100.

According to Urlesque:

Last night, she showed up on an anonymous imageboard called Unichan with a message encouraging people to… send her money?
Boxxy wanted to sell a bag on eBay. In order to drum up attention for the auction, she posted this photo on Unichan, an anonymous message board similar to 4chan. The photo included her PayPal info and a veiled invitation for the nerds of the internet to send her cash.

Search

Boxxy search history spiked in January of 2009 correlating with the release of her first video.

About

“I’m an Anteater” is an image macro series that combines pictures of anteaters and captions that are decidedly written in proper English as to set itself apart from the rest of LOLcat and FAILdog macros composed in faulty grammar, mainly for the lulz.

Origin

The original “Fuck You, I’m an Anteater” image first appeared online in spring of 2008, as a witty protest against the massive amounts of cute cat and dog pics circulating around internet humor sites, while many other species had largely been neglected.

The anteater’s proper manner of speech certainly stood out and caught on quickly, appearing on the front page of Digg.com on May 10th, 2008. On the next day, Single Topic Blog “fuck-you-im-an-anteater.com”:
http://fuck-you-im-an-anteater.com/ was launched. The same instance of “Fuck You, I’m an Anteater” was reposted on Fotolog.com on May 11th, followed by another reblog two days later on Boredom.net on May 13th.

Usage

An interesting phenomenon among anteater image macros is the discontinuation of LOLspeak. While most other animal-based macros employ lolspeak, “I’m an Anteater” macros generally use correct spelling as means of protest against the widespread nature of other animal-based memes. Although the species is still less popular than its feline and canine counterparts, it remains a notable mutation of animal image macros, like the Bukkit Walrus.

About

To Bel-Air, when used as a verb, means to copy a story that another Inter user has posted online and switch out the last half of the story with the lyrics to opening theme song of “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,” an American sitcom series starring Will Smith as a street-smart teenager from West Philadelphia who lives with his relatives in Bel Air. On 4chan, the lyrics of opening theme song became a popular “bait and switch” copypasta.

Origin

The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air is an American sitcom series starring Will Smith as a fictionalized version of himself, a teenager from West Philadelphia who is sent to move in with relatives in affluent Bel Air area. The first episode was aired on September 10th, 1990.

Lyrics

The opening theme song “Fresh Prince” was written and performed by Will Smith and composed by QD3. At the beginning of each episode, an abridged version of the song is used to explain the context of the show during the opening sequence. Due to the general popularity of the TV series, Smith’s song and his character had been a topic of online discussions prior to its usage in trolling, such as the YTMND tribute site “Fresh Prince of Bel Air”^[12] originally created on October 13th, 2004.

Now, this is a story all about how
My life got flipped-turned upside down
And I liked to take a minute
Just sit right there
I’ll tell you how I became the prince of a town called Bel Air

Bait and Switch

According to several references including OhInternet^[13], the Bel-Air copypasta originated on 4chan circa 2004 when someone on /b/ (random) board started telling a serious story but then halfway through, suddenly derailed into the lyrics of the show’s opening theme song. The earliest recognition of using “Bel-Air” as a verb can be found in an Urban Dictionary^[1] entry posted by user Astroman on October 19th, 2006.

“Bel Air,” when used as a verb, means to copy a story that another person has posted to the Internet and replace the last half with the lyrics to “Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.”

Spread

This bait-and-switch method soon spread over to YTMND on January 27th, 2007, when user ATape created a site with a misleading title that read “Scarlett Johansson’s Tit-slip picture.”^[2] In naive hopes of seeing pictures of naked celebrities, other users on YTMND clicked on the link, only to be immediately disappointed by a picture of Will Smith’s face covering the private areas of the actress and accompanied by the “Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air” theme song. Within days the prank inspired dozens of derivative YTMND sites^[3] claiming to contain naked celebrity pictures, such as “Shannon Elizabeth Nude,”^[4] “Elisha Cuthbert Tits”^[5] and “Lindsay Lohan Side Boob Of The Year Award.”^[6]

With its spread beyond 4chan, the meme gained much notoriety as a trolling scheme throughout 2007. As the copypasta became an increasingly common sight on 4chan imageboards^[7] and other discussion forums, the bait and switch schemes also became more elaborate and unsuspecting. On June 26th, 2007, geek culture blog InternetSeriousBiz^[11] reported on the booming phenomenon of Bel-Air copypasta in an article titled “Fresh Prince of Bel Air Fad.”

Variations of Bel-Air copypastas and stories have been archived by Partyvan Wiki^[8], an Anonymous imageboard closely affiliated with the 4chan community. Similar to the evolution of Rickroll, the Bel-Air copypasta has been also adapted into different mediums or various occasions including YouTube videos, 4chan combo threads^[9] and IRC chats among others.

Usage

A “Bel-Air” story typically begins with an engaging hook like a confession of personal drama or legal trouble and goes in-depth with the storytelling to entice the readers, but after a few paragraphs, the topic creator suddenly transitions into the lyrics of the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.

Bel-Air Stories

Cyanide Belair

at 9:45am on the morning of November 15th, 2007, at Fox News’s headquarters in New York City, there will be a brief power outage, then everything will appear to return to normal. i will have used the outage, however, to sneak myself and 4 2L bottles of potassium cyanide and a container with .5L as i combine the two deadly ingredients and release a noxious gas that will poison everyone in the lobby. people will shriek in horror, children will cry for their lives, my mom will get scared and say “You’re movin’ with your auntie and uncle in Bel-Air.” I whistled for a cab and when it came near The license plate said fresh and it had dice in the mirror If anything I could say that this cab was rare But I thought, “Nah, forget it. Yo home to Bel-Air!” I pulled up to the house about 7 or 8 And I yelled to the cabby yo holmes smell ya later Looked at my kingdom I was finally there To sit on my throne as the prince of Bel-Air.

Sex Belair

When I was 12 I had my first sexual experience. At the time, I lived in a little suburb outside of Cleveland and anyway, the girl next door and I were really good friends. Our parents were both gone for the day and she was over playing Transformers with me. So anyway, we kinda got.. Bored I guess? And we started playing truth or dare, which turned into ‘you show me yours, I’ll show you mine". So anyway there I Was, 12 years old, heart pounding, blood rushing in my ears, and the chick (who was a year older than me actually) takes off her panties and hikes her little skirt up. so What did I do, you ask? I whistled for a cab, and when it came near, the license plate said “fresh” and there were dice in the mirror. If anything I could say that this cab was rare, but I thought “naw forget it, yo home to bel-air!” I pulled up to the house about seven or eight and I yelled to the cabbie “yo homes smell ya later!” Looked at my kingdom, I was finally there. To settle my throne as the prince of bel-air.

Murder Belair

You’ve got to help me, /b/. I’ve done something horrible. I caught my girlfriend cheating with my best friend. When I saw them together, I got so furious, I slit their throats with my pocketknife. Then, I buried the two bodies and my mom got scared And said, “You’re movin’ with your auntie and uncle in Bel-Air.” I whistled for a cab and when it came near The license plate said fresh and it had dice in the mirror If anything I could say that this cab was rare But I thought, “Nah, forget it. Yo home to Bel-Air!” I pulled up to the house about 7 or 8 And I yelled to the cabby yo holmes smell ya later Looked at my kingdom I was finally there To sit on my throne as the prince of Bel-Air.

Prank Calling / Emailing

Another very popular example of this is calling and e-mailing Christian shows with fake confessions or questions inspired by the lyrics of the theme song.

Verbose Bel Air

Some Bel-Air enthusiasts have apparently attempted to include the lyrics of “Fresh Prince” into their academic essays and school papers, which were met by mixed responses from the grader; the authenticity of these examples remain unknown.

Reverse Bel Air

On August 18th, 2008, xkcd published a comic strip^[10] introducing the concept of “reverse bel-air,” which entails beginning a conversation with opening verses from the theme song and suddenly derailing into something far more serious, such as a plea to break up:

Image Macros

External References

^[1] Urban Dictionary – Bel-Air

^[2] YTMND – Scarlett Johansson Naked

^[3] YTMND – Search Results for Bel-Air

^[4] YTMND – Shannon Elizabeth Nude

^[5] YTMND – Elisha Cuthbert Tits

^[6] YTMND – Lindsay Lohan Side Boob Of The Year Award

^[7] 4chanarchive – Bel Air Copypastas

^[8] Partyvan Wiki – Copypasta: Bel-Air

^[9] 4chanarchive – Bel Air Combo Thread+ (NSFW)

^[10] xkcd – RBA

^[11] InternetSeriousBiz – Fresh Prince of Bel Air Fad

^[12] YTMND – Fresh Prince of Bel-Air

^[13] OhInternet – Bel-Air

About

Awesome Face, also known as “epic smiley”, refers to a drawing of a round yellow-colored smiley face with upturned eyes. It has been predominantly used on sites and web forums like Something Awful and 4chan as a reaction face indicating approval, but can also be used ironically to convey disdain.

Origin

According to Chris Ainsworth of the gaming blog Driph^[1], the Awesome Face was part of a series of emoticons designed and illustrated for the Pokemon-related web forum Pokemopolis. He claims to have contacted the creator of the image, and published the following correspondence:

I drew the icon years ago as part of an emoticon set he wanted for their new forum software, and I think he showed you all the other ones that were designed along with it. I’m not really sure what exactly I wanted it to represent but I think the ‘ridiculous childish glee’ that it now signifies is probably close!

I’m also a member at Something Awful and the first time I saw it posted I did a double take… I even remember my mind racing as to why and HOW someone had picked up a crappy lil’ icon off a tiny website, and I’m still not sure to this day… I assume a Pokemopolis member posted it on 4Chan. At that point I thought its posting would be a one time thing, but then I saw it more and more. It got to the point where I couldn’t read SA because everytime I saw it I’d just be completely freaked out, and naturally I came to hate it! I hoped every day that it would become bannable to post it, but the next best thing was replacing the VBCode. I also posted in BYOB in a thread Whalley made saying that I had made the icon originally, trying to get him to divulge where he had gotten it from. Most of SA assumed it was a ‘BYOB thing’ which was probably good because they’d probably want to lynch me if they actually knew where it was from.

I never expected it to become such a widespread meme, and I can’t say I even understand why its popular or why people want to make bag pins of it (Sure wish I could get some commission for the design though haha). It still weirds me out when I see webcomics use it though I’ve grown used to it now, sometimes I even tell nerdy neckbeard types that my dirty secret is psst I drew THAT smiley, which makes them say “MOAR!” or whatever is cool on 4Chan this week.

Though just for clarity sake my excuse for being on a Pokemon site in the first place was that I was young and stupid. But that’s the price of Internet fame!

Spread

The Awesome Face gained popularity through popular forums and image boards, most notably on the SomethingAwful forums and 4chan’s image boards. On January 30th, 2007, a forum thread was posted to SomethingAwful titled “NEW EMOTICON HITS SOMETHING AWFUL – BUT HOW POPULAR IS TOO POPULAR?”^[2] that complained about how the emoticon and its derivatives were becoming too prevalent on the SA forums. The face spread to 4chan where it was often featured in wallpaper threads^[3] dedicated to awesome face desktop backgrounds.

A Facebook^[4] fan page has 42,649 likes as of August 26th, 2011. An awesome face Firefox browser theme is available on the site Get Personas.^[5] On Newgrounds^[6] an entire flash game dedicated to the face was uploaded by creator juegos.

Examples

Videos

Portraying Other Emotions

Numerous derivatives of Awesome Face have been seen portraying emotions other than “awesomeness”, such as sadness, pain and surprise.

Examples

Templates

Search

External References

About

“That’s what she said” is a catchphrase used in response to a statement that has the potential to sound sexual if taken out of context. On the Internet, it has been used in parody videos and image macros.

Origin

The phrase was first popularized by Canadian comedian Mike Myers in the 1992 blockbuster comedy Wayne’s World^[1]. During a scene where they film their local access show in Wayne’s basement, he uses the phrase in response to Garth.

Garth: “Hey are you through yet? Cause I’m getting tired of holding this.”
Wayne: “That’s what she said.”

Spread

Urban Dictionary has at least 48 definition entries submitted to the term “that’s what she said,” with the earliest instance dating back to August 26th, 2003^[2]:

A response you can say after just about anything to turn it into a sexual inuendo.
Hard to explain in writing, just try it out when you’re hangin around your friends.

On TV Tropes, it is listed as a stock phrase and subtrope of “Nudge”^[3], a device used to indicate that a double entendre has been delivered.

In April 2009, single topic blog TWSSstories^[4] was launched. The site provided a platform similar to FML where people can share their personal “that’s what she said” moments in everyday conversation.

On January 31st, 2010, Funny Or Die posted a mockumentary video about the origin of “that’s what she said,” starring Megan Mullally and Tom Lennon:

Usage

It is a fairly flexible joke that can turn a wide variety of phrases into a double-entendre.

Person 1: “I didn’t feel a thing.”
Person 2: “That’s what she said.”

The flexibility of the phrase is noticeable in the many ways it can be used. In the above example, TWSS is used as an insult. However, it can also be used as a compliment.

Person 1: It’s so big!
Person 2: That’s what she said.

The Office

“That’s what she said” was chosen as a favorite catchphrase for the socially feeble character of Regional Manager Michael Scott for the US version of The Office which first aired in March of 2005. Michael Scott is known for often behaving in ways that are viewed by others as inappropriate, ignorant and dated.

Precursors

“Said the actress to the bishop” was a term used in nearly the exact same manner, and may have been British in origin dating as far back as Edwardian times^[5].

The phrase is frequently used (in various contexts) by the fictional character Simon Templar (alias “The Saint”) in a long-running series of mystery books by Leslie Charteris. The phrase first appears in the inaugural Saint novel Meet the Tiger which was published in 1928.

External Links

^[1] Internet Movie Database – Wayne’s World: Memorable Quotes

^[2] Urban Dictionary – That’s What She Said

^[3] TV Tropes – That’s What She Said

^[4] TWSS Stories – That’s What She Said Moments and Jokes

^[5] Wikipedia – “Said the actress to the bishop”

About

“Zalgo” has come to represent decay and chaos, and is typically explained using garbage characters (e.g. ͡҉҉ ̵̡̢̛̗̘̙̜̝̞̟̠͇̊̋̌̍̎̏̿̿̿̚ ҉ ҉҉̡̢̡̢̛̛̖̗̘̙̜̝̞̟̠̖̗̘̙̜̝̞̟̠̊̋̌̍̎̏̐̑̒̓̔̊̋̌̍̎̏̐̑ ͡҉҉ ) and by shooping popular images into looking decayed (like Robocop On A Unicorn, pictured above).

Zalgo’s overtones are not dissimilar from Cthulu, the cosmic embodiment of fear created by H.P. Lovecraft in the 1920s.

Origin

On July 27th, 2004, SomethingAwful Goon Shmorky uploaded a number of adult humor parodies of classic syndicated comic series including Nancy, Archie and more. The word Zalgo first appears in Nancy parody comic #3 of the set.
Due to the graphic nature of this content, you can view by clicking here

On August 22nd, 2009, Shmorky set the record straight in this post on the SomethingAwful Forums:

I like how people who try to figure out the origin of the “meme” don’t even know where it came from originally. I’ll tell you where it came from. From me. I just made it up. Zalgo is something horrible. Zalgo is something that’s coming. It’s coming soon. It has nothing to do with Lovecraft. I’m not nerdy enough to make those kind of references.

Seeing it become a meme kinda killed doing further Zalgo edits in the future (for me anyway) but maybe I’ll do one when you least expect it.

oh yeah, and what the fuck is this? http://zalgoapproaches.com

ah ha ha ha ha!

Zalgo is again mentioned in Shmorkey’s Archie Parody #11.

Although the Zalgo comic was relatively well-known on SomethingAwful, search traffic for Zalgo did not peak until March of 2009.

Other resources

Urbandictionary.com on Zalgo:

To invoke the hive-mind representing chaos.
Invoking the feeling of chaos.
With out order.
The Nezperdian hive-mind of chaos. Zalgo.
He who Waits Behind The Wall.
ZALGO!
The entire room is filled with Zalgo.

Per Grim Reviews (Dec 2008):

Zalgo is an unusual internet phenomenon confined to a few select off-beat forums and image boards. Its relevance here lies in its Lovecraftian edge. The objects of Zalgo are mostly popular, innocent comics turned ruthlessly to the dark side of Lovecraftian horror—and humor… Some would contend that Zalgo isn’t necessarily Lovecraftian at all. While it isn’t always explicitly so, it certainly holds many of the features common to peripheral Lovecraftian parodies, which is good enough to place it in the realm of weird inspired humor.

• Zalgo Text Generator on eeemo.net.

Example Usage

T҉̵̞̟̠̖̗̘̙̜̝̞̟̠͇̊̋̌̍̎̏̐̑̒̓̔̊̋̌̍̎̏̐̑̒̓̔̿̿̿̕̚̕̚͡ ̒̓̔̕̚o invoke the h҉̵̞̟̠̖̗̘̙̜̝̞̟̠͇̊̋̌̍̎̏̐̑̒̓̔̊̋̌̍̎̏̐̑̒̓̔̿̿̿̕̚̕̚͡ ̒̓̔̕̚ive-mind re҉̵̞̟̠̖̗̘̙̜̝̞̟̠͇̊̋̌̍̎̏̐̑̒̓̔̊̋̌̍̎̏̐̑̒̓̔̿̿̿̕̚̕̚͡ ̒̓̔̕̚presenting chaos. Invoking҉̵̞̟̠̖̗̘̙̜̝̞̟̠͇̊̋̌̍̎̏̐̑̒̓̔̊̋̌̍̎̏̐̑̒̓̔̿̿̿̕̚̕̚͡ ̒̓̔̕̚ the feeling of ch҉̵̞̟̠̖̗̘̙̜̝̞̟̠͇̊̋̌̍̎̏̐̑̒̓̔̊̋̌̍̎̏̐̑̒̓̔̿̿̿̕̚̕̚͡ ̒̓̔̕̚aos. With out ҉̵̞̟̠̖̗̘̙̜̝̞̟̠͇̊̋̌̍̎̏̐̑̒̓̔̊̋̌̍̎̏̐̑̒̓̔̿̿̿̕̚̕̚͡ ̒̓̔̕̚order.҉̵̞̟̠̖̗̘̙̜̝̞̟̠͇̊̋̌̍̎̏̐̑̒̓̔̊̋̌̍̎̏̐̑̒̓̔̿̿̿̕̚ ̌̍̎̏̐̑̒̓̔̊̋̌̍̎̏̐̑̒̓̔̿̿̿̚̕̕̚̕̚͡ ͡҉҉ ̕̚͡ ̒̓̔̕̚ The Nezperd҉̵̞̟̠̖̗̘̙̜̝̞̟̠͇̊̋̌̍̎̏̐̑̒̓̔̊̋̌̍̎̏̐̑̒̓̔̿̿̿̕̚̕̚͡ ̒̓̔̕̚ian hive-mind of chaos. Zalgo. He w҉̵̞̟̠̖̗̘̙̜̝̞̟̠͇̊̋̌̍̎̏̐̑̒̓̔̊̋̌̍̎̏̐̑̒̓̔̿̿̿̕̚̕̚͡ ̒̓̔̕̚ho Waits Behind ҉̵̞̟̠̖̗̘̙̜̝̞̟̠͇̊̋̌̍̎̏̐̑̒̓̔̊̋̌̍̎̏̐̑̒̓̔̿̿̿̕̚̕̚͡ ̒̓̔̕̚The Wall. ҉̵̞̟̠̖̗̘̙̜̝̞̟̠͇̊̋̌̍̎̏̐̑̒̓̔̊̋̌̍̎̏̐̑̒̓̔̿̿̿̕̚̕̚͡ ̒̓̔̕̚ ҉̵̞̟̠̖̗̘̙̜̝̞̟̠͇̊̋̌̍̎̏̐̑̒̓̔̊̋̌̍̎̏̐̑̒̓̔̿̿̿̕̚̕̚ ͡ ̒̓̔̕̚,

H҉̵̞̟̠̖̗̘Ȅ̐̑̒̚̕̚ IS C̒̓̔̿̿̿̕̚̚̕̚̕̚̕̚̕̚̕̚OMI҉̵̞̟̠̖̗̘NG > ͡҉҉ ̵̡̢̛̗̘̙̜̝̞̟̠͇̊̋̌̍̎̏̿̿̿̚ ҉ ҉҉̡̢̡̢̛̛̖̗̘̙̜̝̞̟̠̖̗̘̙̜̝̞̟̠̊̋̌̍̎̏̐̑̒̓̔̊̋̌̍̎̏̐̑ ͡҉҉

H҉̵̞̟̠̖̗̘Ȅ̐̑̒̚̕̚ IS C̒̓̔̿̿̿̕̚̚̕̚̕̚̕̚̕̚̕̚OMI҉̵̞̟̠̖̗̘NG > ͡҉҉ ̵̡̢̛̗̘̙̜̝̞̟̠͇̊̋̌̍̎̏̿̿̿̚ ҉ ҉҉̡̢̡̢̛̛̖̗̘̙̜̝̞̟̠̖̗̘̙̜̝̞̟̠̊̋̌̍̎̏̐̑̒̓̔̊̋̌̍̎̏̐̑ ͡҉҉

Z҉A҉L҉G҉O̚̕̚ Z҉A҉L҉G҉O̚̕̚ Z҉A҉L҉G҉O̚̕̚

Quality

Observers have noted that Zalgo-related images tend to be of considerably higher quality than your average meme.1…

Related

For more apocalyptic memes please see:

• Cthulu
• Catnarok [ED] — Longcat vs. Tacgnol, the end is near!

Usage

Exploitables are “empty” images, dying to be filled with your wit & candor. They are used very frequently on imageboards like 4chan.
Characterized most of the time by a template (either a blank space or a slight draft), exploitables are recognizable by their easy-to-replicate look, mainly due to the fact that they don’t need extensive editing knowledge and can be modified by basic programs such as MS paint or GIMP.

Different kinds of exploitables

Mono-pane pictures.

Single-pane pictures are the most common forms of exploitables that can be found on the internet.
Among the most popular are :

Fsjal	I’m 18, do I have potential ?	Give Pikachu a face	Fake CCG cards

4Panes exploitables

Contrary to above, multi-panes pictures allow people to construct a joke or a small story on several panes, pretty much like a small comic page.

For that matter, a specific kind of multi-panes exploitable was quickly rising above all the others, the 4panes comics. They can appear under 2 forms.
Vertical 4panes :

Reaction Guys/Gaijin 4koma	Tenso	The Rock Driving	Dark Night 4pane

Or more traditional square-shaped 4-panes :

Rageguy	CSI 4panes comic	F*ck Yea.	Son, I am disappoint

Multi-panes exploitables

Aside from those kinds of exploitables, multi-panes with various numbers of blank panes exist as well :

• Zombie tools/Zombie Survival Sheet
• Nyu art meme
• No, Joe, No !

About

“It’s A Trap!” is a catchphrase that is often used as a reaction to photos of transsexuals and crossdressers (often referred to as “traps”), or people who appear sexually ambiguous. It usually means that the person in question has male reproductive organs, regardless of their appearance.

Less frequently it can be used as a warning of any potential danger.

Origin

Admiral Ackbar: “Take evasive action. Green Group, stay close to holding sector MD-7.”
Crewman: “Admiral, we have enemy ships in sector 47!”
Ackbar: “It’s a trap!”

The phrase comes from a quote in the film Return of the Jedi said by the Mon Calamari rebel leader, Admiral Ackbar. When the Alliance forces attempt to blow up the DeathStar, they are met with an ambush that leads the Admiral to exclaim, “It’s a trap!”.

Spread

An image macro was created by Something Awful admin “OMGWTFBBQ” featuring a screenshot of Admiral Ackbar with the text overlaid “IT’S A TRAP”.¹ It spread to Fark sometime in 2002 (the earliest Google search results are from August), and was commonly used in photoshop threads as a running joke. It didn’t become associated with transsexuals and crossdressers until later, when it reached 4chan.

Search

It’s a Tarp!

“It’s a tarp!” is an intentional misspelling that spawned one of the more frequently posted derivatives seen above. An Urban Dictionary entry was created on May 20th, 2009:

A phrase based on a misspelling of “It’s a trap” a phrase and meme said by Ackbar in Star Wars Episode VI. It is popularly used sarcastically on message boards and chan sites.
/b/tard 1: It’s a trap!
/b/tard 2: No! It’s a tarp! ²

According to Google Insights, search queries for “it’s a tarp” picked up in April of 2008. Several months later the “Troubled Asset Relief Program” also known as TARP, inspired several derivatives.³

Family Guy Episode

The finale of the 9th season of Family Guy was an hour long episode titled “It’s a Trap!”,and was a spoof of Star Wars: Return of the Jedi that was released on DVD in 2010, prior to it’s expected May 2011 air date.

External References

¹ TVwiki – It’s a trap!

² Urban Dictionary – It’s a tarp! / 5/20/2009

³ LOLfed – It’s a TARP

⁴ Memebase – Admiral Ackbar

YTMNDs

• It’s a trap (OG)
• It’s a trap it’s a trap it’s a trap it’s a trap it’s a trap it’s a trap
• It’s a trap rap
• Trap

About

Depression Dog is an advice animal style image macro featuring a cut out photo of a taxidermic dog on color wheel background with shades of gray. The captions typically present bleak situations with a downtrodden outlook, similar to Forever Alone image macros.

Origin

The dog photo was known on 4chan’s /b/ (random) board as “Staredog” as early as August 2007.^[1] Though its original post date is unknown, the watermark in the upper left corner of the original image is attributed to the Swedish auction site Blocket.se.^[2] The image macro was created some time in early January 2009 on /b/, with the earliest instances using black Arial text instead of the conventional white Impact font. While the original thread was never archived, it apparently inspired the creation of Memegenerator^[5], according to an AMA-style 4chan thread posted in January 2011 by an Anonymous user claiming to be the founder of Memegenerator.

Spread

A custom caption generator for these images was created on January 2nd, 2009 and hosted at DepressionDog.info.^[4] The following day, a handful of image macro examples were reposted on the Kirupa forums.^[3] On the Valentine’s Day of 2009, YouTuber MadThad0890 uploaded a video compilation of Depression Dog (shown below). DepressionDog.com^[6] was launched on January 4th, 2009 to curate notable instances and a Twitter account @Depression_Dog^[12] began tweeting in the style of the macro’s captions in April 2009. Similar compilations have also been featured on the Tosh.0 blog^[13] and humor site Thumbpress.^[14]

Images of the advice animal continue to be shared on Reddit^[7], Tumblr^[8] and Memebase.^[9] As of May 2012, Depression Dog has 186 submissions on Memegenerator^[10] and 683 instances on Quickmeme.^[11]

Notable Examples

Search Interest

The emergence of Depression Dog lead to an increase in search for Staredog, the image’s name before it was used in an advice animal. However, after August 2009, Staredog fell out of use.

External References

About

The Burger King is the advertising mascot for the international fast-food chain Burger King. After appearing in several television commercials, he was used in a variety of YTMNDs, video remixes and image macros often paired with the caption “where is your God now?”

Origin

The Burger King mascot was first introduced on a sign at the original Burger King restaurant in Miami, Florida in 1955. An animated King character was used in a series of commercials in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The animated King was replaced by the red-bearded “Marvelous Magical Burger King” in the late 1970s which paralleled McDonald’s “Ronald McDonald” ad campaign.

On January 22nd, 2004, Burger King announced that the Miami-based advertising firm Crispin Portor + Bogusky (CP+B) will be developing ad campaigns for the chain restaurant. Later that year, the company launched a campaign with a new Burger King character called “the King." According to the news site Slate^[3], the mascot’s oversized head was inspired by a helium tank fixture found on eBay by an agency employee who was looking for inspirations.

The first commercial “Wake Up With the King” aired in October 2004, featuring a man waking up in bed next to the King offering him a breakfast sandwich. After a series of commercials with similar scenarios were aired, the mascot became referred to as the “Creepy King” with one of the earliest references posted on the conservative politics board Free Republic^[5] on October 25th, 2005. The creepy persona was embraced by Burger King and it became a main trait of the King in the promotional XBOX game “Sneak King."

Spread

The first King-related YTMND^[6] was created by user ilpadrino86 on March 28th, 2005, featuring a photo of the King with the caption “where is your god now?” This instance spawned an entire YTMND fad that portrays The King competing against the rival fast-food chain McDonald’s mascot Ronald McDonald.

According to the YTMND Wiki^[7], the King fad inspired the creation of several more fads including “It’s Behind”^[8], which replaced an alien with the King from the sci-fi movie Signs, and Ultimate Bedsides Surprise,^[9] which placed the King in a scene from the 1987 horror film Prince of Darkness.

The first Urban Dictionary^[4] definition for “where is your god now” was submitted by user Stefan Gagne on June 1st, 2005 and referenced the Burger King mascot.

A common phrase tagged onto an image or web page so terrifyingly weird that it makes you question if god exists. Most often seen associated with the rubber-faced Burger King mascot. Also appears in religious sources (Psalm 42:3, 10; 115:2) and in a famous fictional debate between reason and faith.

On February 5th, 2006, the King appeared in a Burger King commercial called “the Whopperettes” featuring actress Brooke Burke during Super Bowl XL which referenced the mascot as “Creepy King.”

Retirement

On August 19th, 2011, USA Today^[11] reported that Burger King replaced CP+G with a new agency and would no longer be using the King character as a mascot. The same day, the story was posted by BuzzFeed^[10] and a compilation of Burger King animated GIFs was published on the entertainment site Screen Junkies.^[12]

Notable Examples

Search Interest

Search queries for both “creepy king” and “the burger king” saw a sharp spike in October of 2005, the same month the BK Joe commercial was aired.

External References

About

Picture Unrelated is an expression commonly used on imageboards to denote that picture attached is unrelated to the subject matter discussed in the post / thread. Such practice of attaching unrelated, filler images quickly gained popularity on 4chan, mainly due to the site’s requirement of image attachment for every thread or reply post submitted by users.

Origin

According to various accounts, “picture unrelated” began on 4chan’s /r/ (request) board, where users can submit and fulfill various requests for particular links or downloadable files. While there are few archival resources available for early years of 4chan, one of the first archived instances of “picture unrelated” images can be found in a personal blog entry by Amy posted on September 12th, 2006. The image is based on an original artwork titled Rooster Zebra Contemplating Grilled-Cheese Sandwich (2004) by San Diego-based painter Matt Forderer:

Spread

Since becoming popular on 4chan’s /r/ and /b/ (random) boards, “picture unrelated” images eventually evolved into a joke beyond its functional use on imageboards, spawning a set of highly nonsensical and even surrealistic pictures. “Picture Unrelated” images have been also posted on various discussion forums and humor blogs like Reddit, Urban Dictionary, Encyclopedia Dramatica, FunnyJunk and Memebase among others.

Notable Examples

Usage

The phrase is most commonly used by OPs (original posters) on imageboards to make a quick request with minimum efforts, as in uploading any picture to meet the requirement of image attachment. By declaring “picture unrelated” in the said post, one may be excused for posting something that has nothing to do with the request itself.

Despite its widespread nature, using “picture unrelated” images as the default filler can be regarded as controversial in some communities, as it may pose significant distraction or opportunities for trolls to derail from the original topic. In addition, such practice of posting “unrelated picture” may be counter-constructive, as lack of visual aid or context makes the request less accessible for the readers.

Derivatives

Eventually, the catchphrase “picture unrelated” spawned several derivative expressions, including “picture related” and “picture semi-related” among others.

About

“Just As Planned” is a popular catchphrase taken from a highly dramatic monologue scene in the popular anime series Death Note. It is mostly used in imageboards and forum conversations for trolling purposes, as to imply that someone had been “played” by another individual’s premeditated ploy or trick, oftentimes regardless of its validity.

Origin

In Episode 24 of the anime series Death Note, the main character Light Yagami comes back in contact with a death note and his old memories return. Shortly after regaining his memories, he says to himself, “Just as planned.” Creepy.

Shortly after the episode aired in Japan in March 2007, it was translated and subtitled for the enjoyment of English-speaking audiences. While the English subtitled version did not air until April 2008, a still frame of Light saying “Just as Planned” was first posted on 4chan’s /a/ board circa 2007.

Usage in Forums

Screenshots of Death Note protagonist saying “JUST AS PLANNED” are typically used on imageboard sites like 4chan to troll or manipulate others in conversations, as to imply that a commenter had been “played” by another individual’s ploy or trick. Conversely, when the target participant manages to evade or the plan doesn’t pan out accordingly, its failure may be acknowledged with “NOT AS PLANNED.”

Usage in Fan Subtitles

Some fansubs are meant to be humorous as opposed to providing a proper translation. Because of this, cross-referencing memes occurs often, especially with the phrase “Just as planned.”

Derivatives

Artwork

Along with the catchphrase, screenshots of Light’s smirk quickly became popular and recognizable. In 4chan’s /a/ (anime) board, people began to edit or draw in Light’s smirk onto the faces of other anime characters. Another popular editing technique is to add a headset onto a person and superimpose the catchphrase “Just as planned” over the image.

Derivative: According to Keikaku

The phrase Just according to Keikaku came from another subtitled version of Death Note Episode 24. The translator’s superflous note explaining that “Keikaku” meant “plan” in English added more hilarity to the already popular image and catchphrase.

About

Copypasta is internet slang for any block of text that gets copied and pasted over and over again, typically disseminated by individuals through online discussion forums and social networking sites. Although it shares some characteristics with spam in the sense they’re both unsolicited (and often considered a nuisance), copypastas are mainly spread through human operators whereas the latter is automatically generated by electronic messaging systems.

Origin

The Concept

This simple concept of “manually copying text from one place and pasting it elsewhere” has been in practice since the innovation of basic text-editing commands (copy/cut/paste) in the early 1980s and subsequent rise of spamming in the early 1990s.

According to Wikipedia entry, American computer scientist Larry Tesler is widely cited as the pioneer of “cut and paste” commands, who first transferred the function into a computer text-editing software in 1974.

Etymology of Copypasta

An English portmanteau of “copy” & “paste”, the term “copypasta” is believed to have been coined by 4chan’s Anon community circa 2006. One of the earliest reference articles on “copypasta” was submitted to Encyclopedia Dramatica in September 2006. Outside of English-speaking regions, such text-based memes are referred by indigenous names.

Google Insights

Notable Examples

For more specific instances of copypasta, check out the sub-meme entries for details and the comments section below.

About

“The Icy Hot Stuntaz” were a threesome of “rappers” from Toccoa, Georgia, (pop. >9000) who posted their pics on the legendary Geocities site Icy Hot Stuntazz in 2001.

The members of the group were Ricky Hedd AKA “Blade”, Brian Edmonds AKA “Da Flame” and Eric Dean AKA “Freeze.”

The site mostly consisted of pictures of the three, posing with fake glimmers on fake bling, and throwing up meaningless gang signs. Mirrors of the site soon appeared all over the internet, sometimes including parodies of their songs, making it difficult to discern which songs were created by the Stuntaz and which were created by those parodying them (Parody mirror).

Aftermath

Although Blade and Freeze left the trio around 2001, Brian Edmonds is still pursuing his music career under then name B-Shoc.

Today, interest in “The Icy Hot Stuntaz” has all but disappered, as can be seen from Google Trends.

This came from a couple of Google images quickly slapped together in paint. This is the only variation so far.

About

Emoticons are pictorial representations of facial expressions made with a mix of punctuation marks and letters. They can be used to depict the mood of the author or to influence how the reader interprets the surrounding text.

Emoticons have evolved from from the simple smiley faces (denoted as :-) ) to ones that contain characters from other languages, complex compositions to depict action, and even small graphical images.

Origin

The Word

The word emoticon is a blending of the words “emotion” and “icon.” It was added to Urban Dictionary for the first time on October 1, 2002.^[1] It has since been defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary^[2] and was added to the Oxford English Dictionary as of the June 2001 edition. They note that one of the earliest uses of the word in print was in the New York Times on January 28th, 1990. However, words are used colloquially long before they make it to print.

Pre-Internet

Using shorthand to express emotion dates back the 19th century and Morse code. The National Telegraphic Review and Operators Guide, published in 1857, stated that sending the number 73 meant “love and kisses.”^[3] In a 1904 edition of Dodge’s Manual, 73 had evolved into “best regards” and “love and kisses” was now represented by 88.^[3]

Also in the 19th century, American journalist Ambrose Bierce wrote of a way to “improve punctuation” by using a \_/ to “represent a smiling mouth.”^[4][5]

Puck^[6], a humor magazine from the 1800s, published the following instruction on creating faces from typography in 1881:

Smiley Face :-)

Trying to turn letters into pictures (ASCII Art) has been around since as early as 1966. However, trying to convey a comment’s subtext wasn’t recorded until thirteen years later. On April 12th, 1979, ARPANET user Kevin MacKenzie suggested to the MsgGroup mailing list that participants use a “-)” to suggest that a sentence was tongue-in-cheek.^[7]

The smiley was first recorded on September 19th, 1982. It was posted by Scott Fahlman to the Carnegie Mellon University computer science general board:

I propose that the following character sequence for joke markers:

:-)

Read it sideways. Actually, it is probably more economical to mark
things that are NOT jokes, given current trends. For this, use

:-(

Fahlman took credit for inventing the :-) and :-( emoticons on his website^[8] and did an interview with Bloomberg BusinessWeek about it on April 23rd, 2001.^[9] In this interview, Fahlman stated that he created them to better understand his peers:

Many in the newsgroup, he found, had caustic senses of humor, but without the benefit of facial expressions or vocal cues to indicate irony, their sarcasm was sometimes mistaken for spite.

Between 1992 and 1994, James Marshall set out to compile a definitive list of smilies. Scoured from Usenet newsgroups and other websites, he hosted the dictionary at his personal website.^[12] As of 2008, he had collected 2231 different smileys.

Graphical Smilies

As use of emoticons grew, email and messaging services began to replace typographical smileys with small graphic renderings. AOL introduced a base set of 16 smileys in the 2000s.^[10]

By 2007, Yahoo! Messenger had released additional smileys that AOL did not support including rolling on the floor, applause, “talk to the hand,” and nailbiting.^[11]

Japanese Smileys

While Western emoticons require the reader to tilt their head sideways, Japanese influenced smileys are read horizontally. These are often referred to as Kaomoji. (~_~) appeared first, dating back to May 1985.^[13] Between May and July 1988, a Hokkaido University student saw a Master Koala (^O^) while browsing fj.jokes, inspiring him to create the following:

(^.^) – laughing
(;.;) – crying
(-.-) – sleeping, shocked
; – sweat mark, eg (^.^;)

However, no archived posts exist until January 13th, 1988. On that day, a Usenet member posted a series of Master Koalas to fj.questions.misc.^[14]

These evolved as well, mixing with Western alphanumeric characters, yielding emoticons such as T_T and >_<; From there, users on sits like 2chan and 4chan began mixing in characters with accents (õ_o) or characters from languages that do not use the Latin alphabet (囧 and ಠ_ಠ). A collection of these types of textual smileys can be found at Evoticon.^[15]

While it is hard to pin down when Japanese picture emoticons, or Emoji, started becoming popular, they were added to Gmail messages on April 29th, 2009.^[16] Unicode added Emoji symbols in version 6.0, which came out in October 2010.^[17] Many smartphones also now have apps to unlock Emoji keyboards.

External References

About

Eli Porter is an amateur rapper who is best known for his performance in a high school rap battle that became a hit on YouTube. Several video remixes and image macros were inspired by his odd lyrics and mannerisms. It has been speculated that he is mentally retarded, but he has publicly denied this accusation.¹

Origin

In 2003, Eli appeared on the Chamblee High School freestyle rap program “Iron Mic” to engage in a rap battle against fellow amateur rapper “Envy”. Eli’s stunned expressions, lyrics like “I’m the best mayne- I diiid it”, and long pauses made Eli’s performance rather memorable. The battle ended in a 2-1 decision resulting in a win for Envy.

Lyrics

Yo, I got one question man, tell me who next,
This nigga salt like the nigga done get it the best,
See I’m the best maaaayne, I did it.

(Longest Pause Ever)

Yeah, I’m a let you know who the best, by the hour,
He’s like Rosie O’Donnell at a bisexual bridal shower,
It ain’t nothing to me man, I keep it fo’ real,
Look at his dental man, with… dent on the grill,
See, I’m the best, I told you that, this dude like that,
He ran then from the cat, no, I messed up,
But I’m a stay on top they told me man,

But you know man, I’m never gon’ flop, look at this dude,
He need to stay in the shade, ain’t no wonder why he came out,
He already in the gay parade, I told you man, I got you,
Roasted like ever you dont know, but my rhymes,
They straight up clever, so you step down, off the pedastle.
I’m the best mayne, you need to go.. to the fuckin’ dental.
I said “friggin,” yo.

Spread

The video wasn’t uploaded to YouTube until November 27th, 2007, and saw a steady increase in views since April of 2008.

Search

Google insights results conforms to the YouTube view counts with a sharp rise in search queries from April 2008.

Documentary

A documentary about Eli called “People’s Champion” by Walker Warren & Trent Babbington is set to be released in early July ². The first 5 minutes of Part 1 are currently available on YouTube, and additional videos can be seen on the Facebook page.³

Mixtape

Eli has a mixtape available for download called No Pen No Pad, made in collaboration with DJ Krispy Kreme.

Eli Porter is in the building. Eli Porter one of the best artists in the streets right now.Word play is stupid. He is not retarded he is stupid with the flow.⁴

External References

¹ YouTube – The Real Eli Porter / 7/13/2010

² People’s Champion Official Website

³ Facebook – People’s Champion Documentary

⁴ DatPiff – Eli Porter No Pen No Pad