surprised Pikachu

en-noun

surprised Pikachu (plural surprised Pikachus)

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Some of Broncos Country is left fuming over a start so poor that it is the only team in franchise history that has been this inept, but the rest of us are wearing the surprised Pikachu face.

2019 October 2, James Burky, “Fangio not at fault for foul start to season”, in The Metropolitan, MSU Denver, page 8:

Then without saying so much as a goodbye to Laurie or Steve, who has just arrived at the scene with a surprised-Pikachu look on his face, Will marches toward the exit.

2020, Isla Chiu, Ringing in the Lunar New Year, unnumbered page:

"I don't choose my monsters based on how cute they are, you know."
"You don't?! Really?"
Duh. Why the surprised Pikachu face?

2022, Yuu Tanaka, translated by Yuko C. Shimomoto, A Late-Start Tamer’s Laid-Back Life: Volume 3, unnumbered page:

(Internet slang) Synonym of shocked Pikachu.


Leopards Eating Faces Party

the Leopards Eating Faces Party (canonical)

Always a rush when Members of Parliament for the Leopards Eating Faces Party suddenly discover the horror of faces eaten by leopards.

2019 August 19, Ally Fogg (@AllyFogg), Twitter:

“I never thought Leopards would eat *my* face, sobs broadcaster who mortgaged its integrity for the Leopards Eating Faces Party.”

2019 December 15, Andrew James Carter (@Carter_AndrewJ), Twitter:

"I never thought the leopards would *actually* eat people's faces," sobs centrist politician who didn't really become concerned when the Leopards Eating Faces Party started gaining power.

2022 June 24, Ken Tremendous (@KenTremendous), Twitter:

Leopards Eating People's Faces Party#English

(Internet slang, sarcastic) Alternative form of Leopards Eating People's Faces Party.


Leopards Eating People's Faces Party

en-proper noun

Leopards Eating People's Faces Party or the Leopards Eating People's Faces Party

Leopards Eating People's Faces Party (canonical)

From an October 2015 tweet by Adrian Bott (@cavalorn) that went viral: "I never thought leopards would eat MY face," sobs woman who voted for the Leopards Eating People's Faces Party.

'I didn't want leopards to eat ANYONE'S face,' sobs woman who voted for the Leopards Eating People's Faces Party.

2018 November 20, James Chalmers (@ProfChalmers), Twitter:

Top officials of Leopards Eating People's Faces party, having presented leopard w/ options including face-eating, are flabbergasted that the leopard would eat their face

2020 January 4, Dana Stevens (@thehighsign), Twitter:

entire front bench of the Leopards Eating People's Faces Party tendering their solemn and sincere resignations because they can no longer support a PM so shockingly in favour, as it turns out, of leopards eating people's faces

2022 July 6, THE...Sodomite Hal Duncan!! (@Hal_Duncan), Twitter:

(Internet slang, sarcastic, politics) A notional political party supported by people who believe its cruel, unjust, or extreme policies and rhetoric will only harm other people, and are then shocked or displeased when these policies and rhetoric have adverse consequences to themselves.


ma'am, this is an Arby's

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sir, this is an Arby's
sir, this is an Arby's#English

(Internet slang) Alternative form of sir, this is an Arby's.


ma'am, this is a Wendy's

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I simply could not imagine going about my day in this heightened-reality femme fever dream of an outfit without at least a few well-meaning people stopping to inform me that, "Ma'am, this is a Wendy's."

2021 July 3, Jess Joho, “That viral Selkie puff dress only works for the Instagram fantasy world”, in Mashable:


and then everyone on the bus clapped

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"....and then everyone on the bus clapped"
 This story reeks of being only very loosely based on a real event and every character in it kind of has the same voice.

2017 November 26, Aurora Borealis (@RebelMechaniker), Twitter:

And then everyone on the bus clapped! That's a very nice anecdote that has zero basis in reality.

2020 January 1, Tom-A062 (@Tom_A062), Twitter:

And then everyone on the bus clapped.
Yeah this didn't happen.

2022 April 2, Bugpope (@PopeBug), Twitter:

(Internet slang) Used to refute or express doubt of the veracity of an anecdote.


Derpina

The name of a character portrayed in rage comics; from Derp + -ina.

It makes that Derpina you dated in 6th grade for two weeks the hottest girl in school.

2012 April 13, Brian Westfall, “Brian’s Trinity: The three bands that aren’t as terrible as you remember”, in Trinitonian, volume 109, number 25, San Antonio, Tex., page 21:

“I’m not even talking to you so how can I be irritating you?” Adriana said. “Because you’re a total derpina,” Chloe said.

2013 May, Bruce Kimmel, Murder at the School Musical, AuthorHouse, →ISBN, page 142:

One such sketch focuses on Derpina, Bouzebal’s female friend, and her difficulties in succeeding in the Baccalaureate (see Figure 3.2).

2014 March, Linda Herrera, editor, Wired Citizenship: Youth Learning and Activism in the Middle East, Routledge, →ISBN:

Derpina: Guys, can someone send me ₱10 of load? It’s an emergency! / Derp: Here, you can use my phone. What’s wrong?

2014 November, “Slangtionary”, in The Spectrum, volume 59, number 4, page 24:

(slang) A female placeholder name, the female equivalent of Derp, perhaps indicating derpiness.


FirstName BunchOfNumbers

Firstname Bunchofnumbers
Firstname Bunchofnumbers#English

(Internet slang, derogatory) Alternative letter-case form of Firstname Bunchofnumbers.


Firstname Bunchofnumbers

Firstname Bunchofnumbers (plural Firstname Bunchofnumberses)

When someone attempts to register a Twitter account name that is already taken, the site suggests the inputted name followed by a long, randomly-generated string of numbers as an alternative (e.g. "@Wiktion74587432" instead of "@Wiktionary"). This has led to many anonymous accounts with handles that consist of a given name and a string of numbers (e.g. "@Jane74587432675").

You can always rely on FirstName BunchOfNumbers to have the worst opinions.

2020 December 11, Chris Hanna (@MegaNerd98), Twitter:

Internet protip: if you can't mention the name of something or someone without getting spam bots and Firstname Bunchofnumberses promoting or defending that thing, it's probably not a good thing.

2022 January 9, Klin T. Catgirl (@KlinTCatgirl), Twitter:

Got into a debate with Firstname Bunchofnumbers.
I won't be doing that again.

2022 July 26, Russell Hillman (@allhellismrsun), Twitter:

(Internet slang, derogatory) A Twitter user suspected to be a troll, sockpuppet, or bot due to having a default-style account name and a history of odd, tendentious, or offensive posts.


dark humor

(uncountable) A form of comedy that makes fun of human suffering.


thanks for coming to my TED Talk

Since 2015. The expression draws a parallel between the speaker's speech and the typical format of a TED Talk – an opinionated monologue on a particular topic.

You might be best friends with your designer/developer after this process is over, but you still want to be able to pay the bill and walk away with your property if anything goes wrong. Your designer should want that for you! OK, rant over. Thanks for coming to my TED Talk.

2021 May 21, Lori Culwell, Funny You Should Ask: How to Make a Website: The 100% Not Boring Guide to Setting Up Your Website With Wordpress^([sic]) (Funny You Should Ask), Get Creative, Inc.:

(slang, humorous) Sarcastically or self-deprecatingly said at the end of a wordy and often preachy monologue.


gamer word

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From a now-deleted 2018 tweet defending YouTuber PewDiePie's use of the word nigger during a livestream of the video game PUBG: Battlegrounds, which asserted that he had merely uttered a "gamer word".

“It’s just a gamer word, Arthur. Chill.”

2019 May 3, JackUTS, Twitter, archived from the original on 2018-12-30:

2019 June 3, AGoodOleGhost, “scuse me, i have the riGHT TO SAY GAMER WORDS”, in Reddit, Gamingcirclejerk, archived from the original on 2022-08-19:

I submitted video evidence of gamer words from a toxic crew about 3 weeks ago. Offenders GTs and in game audio were both very visible/audible. As of last night, both offenders were still sailing the seas. Reported to both Rare and Xbox. Very frustrating, indeed.

2020 July 2, 37yeti, “Gamer words need to stop!”, in Reddit, Seaofthieves, archived from the original on 2022-08-19:

Ohm misunderstands and assumes everything. It's actually incredible.
Moo, 407, and other guys in the group didn't unfollow you bc I accused of some James acct.
They unfollowed you bc you literally went off the rails trying to cancel Marcel for gamer words. Moron.

2021 May 26, I_AM_WILDCAT, Twitter, archived from the original on 2022-08-19:

2022 May 1, Winters1482, “guy threatens to call someone a gamer word over master cheeks”, in Reddit, ShitHaloSays, archived from the original on 2022-08-19:


soy face

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A weird, soundless, open-mouthed excitement that portends nothing good. People have talked about it for years, and called it by many names: "Cuckface," "Nu-Male Smile," and, most enduringly, "Soy Face" (sometimes even "Soylent Grin").

2020 July 2, Miles Klee, “'Soy Face' Is Real, and It's Annoying”, in MEL Magazine:

(Internet slang, derogatory) A facial expression associated with unmasculine and immature men (soy boys), who are often photographed expressing surprise or excitement with their mouth agape.


fridge horror

Coined by TV Tropes in 2009, by analogy with fridge logic.

> How would you like to live forever, cut into little pieces? Seem like if we were immortal that or something equivalent would be the common fate. There is the Greek myth of someone who was granted the boon of immortality and just kept getting older and older.
>
Different types of immortality have different potential drawbacks, true. You described the Oz immortality which was always a source of Fridge Horror.

2011 October 21, Sea Wasp (Ryk E. Spoor), “Arithmetic”, in rec.arts.sf.written (Usenet), retrieved 2022-08-24:

It's possible that his expedition, unknowingly, was traversing the southernmost portion of the globe Oz and its surrounding lands and seas occupy... now THERE'S a crossover fanfic of body horror AND fridge horror (pun intended, don't look at me like that, you'd do it too) waiting to be written.

2015 June 5, David DeLaney, “HPL upside down in antarctica in At the Mts of Madness?”, in rec.arts.sf.written (Usenet), retrieved 2022-08-24:

One, we canonically know that that portal doesn't go to Fastrack/SH's Earth, but to the Earth of GPF (which also raises an issue of fridge horror, in that THAT Earth has been in stasis for months).

2021 February 13, Chrysi Cat, “Safe Havens 2-6”, in rec.arts.comics.strips (Usenet), retrieved 2022-08-24:

(fandom slang, neologism) A seemingly innocuous detail in a story, which, upon further contemplation, carries disturbing undertones.


fridge logic

Coined by TV Tropes in 2007. Based on the earlier icebox scene, a term coined by director Alfred Hitchcock for an illogical scene which, in his words, "hits you after you've gone home and start pulling cold chicken out of the icebox".

Obviously the CIA wouldn't put their NOC lists on a system that could be remotely accessed that way no matter what kind of encryption they were using for them. So that's fridge logic for ya.

2010 October 7, David Johnston, “What Did You Watch? 2010-10-06 (Wednesday)”, in rec.arts.tv (Usenet), retrieved 2022-08-24:

> These are pretty big plot points that are brushed aside.
They were things I didn't think about too hard while watching, but occurred to me while on the road today. I think the term for this is, quite appropriately, fridge logic :-)

2010 December 26, The Face of Po, “Baaaa... Humbug!”, in rec.arts.drwho (Usenet), retrieved 2022-08-24:

I've been reading Endtown since it was strictly a webcomic. It's a must-read for me. Though some might get thrown by the fridge logic (the aforementioned street lamps and such) and the deep archive (where most of the backstory is).

2011 July 16, Freezer, “For the Official RACS Gocomics.com Page: E”, in rec.arts.comics.strips (Usenet), retrieved 2022-08-24:

Fridge Logic can be defined* as the bit in a plot that you except when you watch it, but later (and thus named) when you go to the fridge and then think "What the... that's impossible"

2012 March 9, Reader in Invisible Writings, “If you know "Fridge Logic" welcome to "Brandy Logic" Courtesy of Sherlock and Holmes”, in rec.arts.drwho (Usenet), retrieved 2022-08-24:

I just reread the story, and Fridge Logic () struck. At the end, the protagonist is thinking about the future of the rescued passengers/crew:
> When you get there, sixty to seventy percent will die in the first three years. You will die in childbirth, be eaten by animals, bury two out of three of your babies, starve slowly when the rains don't come. If you live, it will be to break your back behind a plow, sunup to dusk. New Earth is Heaven, folks!
Now wait just a minute. They have the technology to travel through time, and spacecraft that are, if not superluminal, at least capable of a significant fraction of c. They can't export the technology the colonists would need to build a new world? They can't even prevent death in childbirth?

2014 March 23, D.F. Manno, “Fridge logic on "Air Raid"/"Millennium"”, in rec.arts.sf.written (Usenet), retrieved 2022-08-24:

(fandom slang) An initially overlooked detail in a story, which, upon further contemplation, is more nonsensical or unrealistic than originally assumed, often to the point of creating a plot hole.


comedy gold

... where the streets were paved with comedy gold as far I was concerned.

1999, Stephen Dixon, Deirdre Falvey, Gift of the Gag - The Explosion in Irish Comedy, page 98:

Those little irritating habits of your parents can be comedy gold.

2001, Judy Carter, The Comedy Bible - From Stand-up to Sitcom--The Comedy Writer's Ultimate "How To" Guide, page 57:

Lastly, the audience will surprise you and laugh in places you never even thought were funny and teach you where the true comedy gold lies in your performance.

2005, Larry Moss, The Intent to Live - Achieving Your True Potential as an Actor, page 230:

This was comedy gold for me. How could I not get better after doing that for a while?

2006, Dan Rosenberg, The Book on Hosting: How Not to Suck as an Emcee, page 6:

You have just turned chaos into comedy gold with a flick of your laughter wand.

2024, Brandy Covington, Anxiety Relief - Laugh Your Way To Calm, page 11:

(idiomatic) Something that is very funny or humorous.


built different

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The term was popularized by a July 2020 trend on the video-sharing website TikTok, in which users jokingly claimed to be able to accomplish various improbable tasks as a result of being “built different”.

I learnt that true rock climbers are built different. Their bodies will do things mere humans can't.

1999, Peter Inchbald, “Plato’s Garden: Oxford 1937–39”, in Jack of All Trades and His Family, [Morrisville, N.C.]: Lulu Press, published 2013, →ISBN, book II (Speaking from Memory), page 101:

Some people are built different, and kudos to them who are like that, but I'm built different. I always say I'm the most competitive person I know, and look at my wife, she rolling her eyes probably.

2017 July 14, Alysha Tsuji, quoting Chris Paul, “Chris Paul Quoted ‘Talladega Nights’ while Talking about Rockets’ Goal of Winning a Title”, in For the Win, USA Today, archived from the original on 2022-06-25:

Not many coaches in the nation have the ability to turn overlooked recruits into All-Americans, but [Mark] Dantonio is built different.

2018 August 30, Connor Muldowney, “Michigan State Football: 25 Best Players of the Mark Dantonio Era”, in Spartan Avenue, FanSided, archived from the original on 2022-11-08:

We fully know our bodies and what we are risking especially at the professional level. […] He's [Kevin Durant's] built different than the ppl^([sic – meaning people]) saying he shouldn't have played. Maybe that's why they haven’t gotten where he is.

2019 June 12, Des Bieler, quoting Richard Sherman, “Charles Barkley blames the Warriors for Kevin Durant’s injury”, in The Washington Post, Washington, D.C.: The Washington Post Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2019-06-17:

You are built different, sir. Our church is blessed to have such a faithful and committed leader.

2022, Dakota Andekin, “Acknowledgement”, in Prescription for Addiction: An Awakening in America through the Eradication of Addiction, Meadville, Pa.: Christian Faith Publishing, →ISBN:

In the comments section, users recounted their alleged experience with the physical labor of working in an Amazon warehouse. / "My feet was so mfin sore. & the breaks were more like 5mins," claimed a commenter. "I only worked for two days." / "My shoulder still hurts and I haven't worked there since 2020," stated a second. / "I literally had quit on my second day," a further user added. "You built different if you work there."

2022 August 16, Braden Bjella, “‘TF am I Stretching at Work for?’: Amazon Warehouse Worker Says Workers Stretch as Group before Shift, Sparking Debate”, in The Daily Dot, archived from the original on 2022-08-30:

How many shows have truly stuck the landing? Lost's final act cast a long, long shadow over its island shenanigans, Seinfeld's finale felt deliberately frustrating, and even The Sopranos – the gold standard – is talked about for all the wrong reasons because of its cut-to-black ending. Better Call Saul, however, is built different. Not long after the finale aired, fans have rushed to social media to dish out praise for the Breaking Bad spin-off, even going as far as christening it one of the best TV episodes of all time.

2022 August 16, Bradley Russell, “Better Call Saul Viewers React to ‘Perfect’ Finale: ‘An Absolute Masterpiece’”, in GamesRadar+, archived from the original on 2022-08-20:

The 48-year-old [Terrell Owens] not only blew them out of the water, but also clocked an incredible sub-4.40 time in the 40-yard dash. Even among world-class athletes, some people are just built different.

2022 August 25, Zac Al-Khateeb, “Terrell Owens Runs Insane 4.38 40-yard Dash Time – at 48 Years Old”, in Sporting News, archived from the original on 2022-09-01:

(originally African-American Vernacular, idiomatic, slang) Able to do things which others cannot; extremely talented or unusual.

erityinen

able to do things which others cannot; extremely talented or unusual


conreligion

From con- (“constructed”) + religion; compare conlang, conworld.

An imaginary religion, especially one associated with a conworld or conlang.


consociety

From con- (“constructed”) + society; compare conlang, conworld.

An imaginary society, especially one associated with a conworld or conlang.


queerbaity

en-adj

queerbaity (comparative queerbaitier, superlative queerbaitiest)

queerbaitier (comparative)
queerbaitiest (superlative)

From queerbait (“to create homoerotic tension in a narrative without intention of realizing it”) + -y.

suffix

sherlock holmes and john watson except theyre lesbians and its not queerbaity

2016 January 28, @hereticglory, Twitter:

wangxian‘s true love and cql’s lack of queerbaiting set the bar so high I’ll never be satisfied with settling for subpar queerbaity content from shows like sherlock, spn, teen wolf, (etc) anymore.

2019 December 24, @wangxianling, Twitter:

Oh wow I had totally forgotten how extreeeeeemely queerbaity Sherlock was from the very first episode.

2020 July 4, Yllogique (@Yllogique), Twitter:

(LGBT, fandom slang) Exhibiting or characterized by queerbaiting.


MSTability

From MST (“to mock a work by inserting commentary”) + -ability.

Well, MSTability-wise, it should be pretty good. The plot makes less sense every time I think about it...

1993 December 12, Petrea Mitchell, “Re: Flash Gordon!”, in alt.tv.mst3k (Usenet):

Of course, that doesn't save these films from MSTability.

1994 August 21, Brian K!z!K MacDonald, “_TV_Stinkers_this_week_(8/21-8/27)”, in alt.tv.mst3k (Usenet):

I'd also add to that list _The Rebel Set_. It's actually a pretty decent little heist movie. I think it's^([sic]) MSTability lies mainly with the presence of Edward Platt, providing endless "Get Smart" references.

1995 March 17, shnook...@netins.net, “Re: BEST Movies MSTed (Low Fat Cheese)”, in alt.tv.mst3k (Usenet):

(fandom slang) The state or quality of being MSTable.


MSTer

From MST (“to mock a work by inserting commentary”) + -er.

If the MSTer never gets a responce^([sic]) then they shouldn't do it. It' s a matter of politness.^([sic])

1995 February 5, leahw...@delphi.com, “Re: MSTied fanfic (long)”, in alt.tv.x-files.creative (Usenet):

Those guys were funny and a lot more decent than many MSTers I've read.

2006 December 31, Elizabeth Helena, “Re: NEW TNG All Wet [PG-13] (Marrissa Stories)”, in alt.startrek.creative.erotica.moderated (Usenet):

Most MSTers confine their "riffing" to original fan fiction rather than scripts from corporate-owned entertainment properties, which renders such twice-removed MSTing somewhat toothless: the cannibalizing parody of a patische.

2011, Michael Dean, “Frame work, resistance and co-optation: How Mystery Science Theater 3000 positions us both in and against hegemonic culture”, in In the Peanut Gallery with Mystery Science Theater 3000: Essays on Film, Fandom, Technology, and the Culture of Riffing, →ISBN, page 126:

(fandom slang) A person who parodies a fanfic by inserting satirical commentary.


MSTable

en-adj

MSTable (comparative more MSTable, superlative most MSTable)

more MSTable (comparative)
most MSTable (superlative)

From MST (“to mock a work by inserting commentary”) + -able.

suffix

I just saw a very MSTable and hilariously confusing Indiana Jones rip-off called, "Alan Quartermain and the city of Gold."

2001 June 24, Biffbaxter5891, “Re: Hypothetical Season 11”, in alt.tv.mst3k (Usenet):

That would be a bad choice, then. I have to say, I've skimmed a few HP fanfic archives looking for MSTable material, and I haven't yet found anything that was pathetic enough in the right ways.

2003 April 5, Petrea Mitchell, “Re: Fan fics?”, in alt.fan.harry-potter (Usenet):

This is my first foray into what could be considered one of the bedrocks of MSTable material - the Sailor Moon lemon.

2003 April 19, Freezer, “[MSTing] Bishoujo Senshi Sour Lemon - Part 1”, in alt.fan.sailor-moon (Usenet):

(fandom slang) That lends itself to being MST.


distancing effect

en-noun

distancing effect (plural distancing effects)

(theater, literature) According to Bertold Brecht, performance in such a way that the audience is hindered from simply identifying itself with the characters in the play, and must evaluate their actions on an overt, conscious level.


en travesti

(theater) in the dress of the opposite sex, usually applied to a female playing the role of a young man


title role

The part of a movie, play, or television show, from which the work's title is taken.


non-Aristotelian

From non- + Aristotelian; the general semantics sense was coined by Alfred Korzybski in the 1920s or early 1930s; the dramaturgical sense was coined circa 1930 by Bertolt Brecht.

(drama, theater, of a play) Whose dramaturgical structure departs from the features of classical tragedy in favour of the features of the epic.


women ☕

In reference to the 2017 YouTube video "Infomercial: The Pill" [0:13], in which two animated characters say "hmpf, women", then loudly sip their coffee. The phrase women ☕ became an Internet meme around early 2022 on TikTok and Instagram. The term later came to be used as a noun, leading to the back-formation woman ☕.

At the end of the day, "Women ☕" is just a snarkier, more conspicuous way of saying "Woman Moment," another meme that has been used for the same purposes.

[2022 August 10, Philipp Kachalin, “What Does Women ☕ Mean? Coffee Emoji Meme Explained”, in KnowYourMeme:

men be like 'women ☕' and then forget about their vaginal birth. real clownery.

2022 September 22, @bfulaura, X (Twitter), archived from the original on 2023-03-02:

Thank you DeMC for giving us a true "Women☕" moment.

2022 September 25, @Harshalreacts, X (Twitter), archived from the original on 2023-03-02:

Real men don't say "Women ☕"

2022 September 30, @dreeaamie, X (Twitter):

(Internet slang, derogatory, sometimes offensive) Expressing disapproval of the actions of a woman, especially one associated with stereotypically feminine traits.


Pickelhering

(theater) The nickname given to the comic character or stage buffoon in English comedy troupes that travelled through Germany in the 17th century.


Harlequin

(theater) The best-known of the zanni or comic servant characters from the Italian commedia dell'arte, associated with the city of Bergamo.


memetic warfare

I believe memetic warfare could be effective in countering Daesh’s recruiting and propaganda efforts and in modern conflict in general, including operations other than war. Trolling, it might be said, is the social media equivalent of guerrilla warfare, and memes are its currency of propaganda.

2016 January 10, Jeff Giesea, “It’s Time To Embrace Memetic Warfare”, in Defence Strategic Communications, volume 1, number 1, →DOI, pages 68–76:

The concept of 'memetic warfare' emerged out of military debates as an extension of informational war and psyops.

2018, Catherine Happer, Andrew Hoskins, William Merrin, editors, Trump’s Media War, Springer, →ISBN, page 219:

Gamergate, "the Fappening" (or Celebgate), and the subsequent Comicsgate are examples of campaigns that deployed active memetic warfare in racialized and gendered ways to attack and drive away a constructed enemy.

2021, Lisa Nakamura, Hanah Stiverson, Kyle Lindsey, Racist Zoombombing, Routledge, →ISBN:

The usage of Internet memes in an effort to achieve geopolitical goals or to enact social change.


go brrr

en-verb

go brrr (third-person singular simple present goes brrr or go brrr, present participle going brrr, simple past went brrr, past participle gone brrr)

goes brrr (present singular third-person)
go brrr (present singular third-person)
going brrr (participle present)
went brrr (past)
gone brrr (participle past)
except go brrr (rare)

In reference to the "Money Printer Go Brrr" meme, created on March 9, 2020, in which a Boomer Wojak representing the United States Federal Reserve uses a literal money printer (which is making the sound brrr like a traditional printer) to create large amounts of money to counter the economic effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, despite the possibility of increasing inflation. Likely ultimately derived from the line "Money counter go brrr" in the song "No New Friends" by DJ Khaled, Rick Ross, Drake, and Lil Wayne.

The government, in his view, has simply printed too much money—and that "Fed go brrr," is not just funny, but dangerous.

2020 May 12, Jeff John Roberts, “'Fed go brrr': Federal Reserve meme strikes chord with Bitcoin believers”, in Fortune:

(title)

2020 August 21, Matthew Gault, “'Marvel Strike Force' Lootbox Printer Accidentally Goes Brrr”, in VICE:

(title)

2020 December 23, Justine Harper, “2020 Was The Year Bitcoin Funding Went Brrr”, in Bitcoin Magazine:

The ad, which ran for an hour on Friday (January 30) courtesy of digital billboard maker Matei Psatta, shows symbols indicating vastly rising stock prices with the caption "$GME GO BRRR" – alluding to the stock's ticker symbol on the NY Stock Exchange.

2021 January 31, Matthew Neale, “GameStop Redditors buy playful Times Square billboard ad”, in NME:

The multicurrency regime should reduce the RBZ's capacity to print money but we saw how within just a few years of the reintroduction of the Zimdollar, the printers had already gone brrr. Now, the RBZ is trying to mop up the excess local currency in the market that’s driving up inflation.

2022 January 12, Leonard Sengere, “Zimbabwe should brace for economic turbulence as USD set to strengthen – IMF”, in Techzim:

Canada's central bank has been going Brrr, and it’s not because of the frigid winters in Ottawa. Bank of Canada (BoC) data shows that the money supply is still expanding rapidly in October.

2022 January 18, Stephen Punwasi, “Over 1 In 5 Canadian Dollars Created Didn’t Exist Two Years Ago”, in Better Dwelling:

The money printer is about to stop going brrr.

2022 March 16, James Ramsay, “Early Addition: Ranger fans, you really booed the governor on Women's Empowerment Night?”, in Gothamist:

(Internet slang, humorous) To go out of control; to increase or thrive despite opposition.

Covid-19 pandemic
United States Federal Reserve


one joke

I should add that Gilliam also made that one joke during his aforementioned rants about #MeToo, saying he identifies as, "a melanin-light male."

2020 December 9, Gwendolyn Ann Smith, “One Joke too Many”, in Pride Source:

I have seen fucked up things that suck before and I already know the joke. They only have the one joke. Anti-woke trans-bash comedians are cultivating an audience I want very much not to be a part of.

2022 May 25, Steve Albini (quoted), Will Richards, “Steve Albini hits out at Ricky Gervais' "fucked up" Netflix special”, in NME:

When it boils down to it, there is only one transphobic joke, and it repeats itself ad infinitum - indeed, the joke is so stale that there’s a whole subreddit (r/onejoke) that exists to parody it. Without the "one joke," comedians like Gervais and Dave Chappelle would have to figure out some fresh material - the Babylon Bee would go out of business entirely.

2022 May 30, Dani Di Placido, “Ricky Gervais Has Become The Man He Used To Mock”, in Forbes:

(LGBT) Humour satirising transgender and non-binary gender identities through mocking self-identifications (typically by "identifying" as something absurd or self-evident).


countryball

From country + ball; compare Polandball.

The first countryball to appear was Polandball, a cartoon character drawn in the shape of a ball with the white and red colour schemes of the Polish flag. Polandball wants to go into space but feels threatened by Germany and Russia. Soon other countryballs appeared all in the guise of different national flags. The countryball for the USA, which wears the stars and stripes and cool sunglasses, is egocentric, with no idea of anything that happens outside the USA but always ready to rush […]

2017, Delia Chiaro, The Language of Jokes in the Digital Age: Viral Humour, Routledge, →ISBN:

Four days earlier, a group of unidentified students covered nearly the entire tunnel with colorful messages supporting the Hong Kong protests, backing autonomy for Tibet and Taiwan, and condemning the ethnic cleansing of Uighurs in Xinjiang. One section depicted a Taiwan flag beside a countryball of Hong Kong and a flag of East Turkestan, the region from which Uighurs hail.

2019 December 4, Efua Agyare-Kumi, “U of R becomes battleground in China, Hong Kong conflict”, in Rochester City Newspaper:

(originally Internet slang, fandom slang) A country drawn in the Polandball artstyle, in which countries are personified as crudely drawn blobs.


toplighting

Coordinate term: sidelighting

(film, theater, architecture) The lighting of a scene or location from above.


sidelighting

Coordinate term: toplighting

(film, theater, architecture) The lighting of a scene or location from the side.


grand opera

Clearly, Hitler saw his historical function as a Wagnerian grand opera. Vast cosmic changes required an accompaniment of slaughter on a colossal scale.

1949 September 4, H. R. Trevor-Roper, “Hitler Reappraised, Ten Years After”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

A genre of 19th-century opera characterized by large-scale casts and orchestras, and lavish and spectacular design and stage effects, normally with plots based on or around dramatic historic events.


impossible story

en-noun

impossible story (plural impossible stories)

(science fiction fandom slang, dated) Any story featuring elements of science fiction or fantasy (as opposed to typical stories which are set in the real world).


different story

different story (plural different stories)


Truck-kun

(humorous) In the isekai genre, a truck that sets off the plot by striking the main character, transporting them into the fantastical setting.


divorced guy energy

Adapted from big divorce energy with reference to the stereotype of men reacting to divorce more negatively than women.

Elon Musk shot off a car into a void, a reeking-of-divorced-guy-energy Jeff Bezos recently announced he was into space colonies, and now NASA is planning on letting private companies sell extremely expensive tickets to the International Space Station.

2019 June 7, Harry Cheadle, “A Few Ideas for Those Rich People Who Have More Money Than They Can Spend”, in Vice:

On this chaotic, overstuffed record, West’s divorced-guy energy cannot hide his declining artistry.

2021 August 31, Elliot Hoste, “Kanye West enters his dad-rap era with new album Donda”, in New Statesman:

The Democrats’ Senate hopeful exudes a profound melancholy

2022, Cockburn, "Tim Ryan has big ‘divorced guy’ energy", The Spectator, 1 November 2022 (used in title only)

(slang, derogatory) A psychological state stereotypically characteristic of a recently-divorced man, often conceptualized as being pathetically arrogant or tryhard while also filled with anger, resentment, or melancholy.


Glup Shitto

From a September 2020 post by Tumblr user gomjabbar lampooning hardcore Star Wars fans and Star Wars character names: "every time a new Star War^([sic]) movie or show is announced all the fans are like 'OMG Glup Shitto is back 😭😭😭'.
Probably derived from shit, referring to the supposed poor quality of the new characters.

When it works well, Mank feels like the inheritance and renovation of a range of craft competencies and attentions. And when it does not work well, it is the classical Hollywood nerd’s version of Glup Shitto. “OMG Ben Hecht is back!” Sometimes it does both at once.

2021 May 9, J. D. Connor, “Put Some 'Mank' on It”, in Los Angeles Review of Books:

'The Book of Boba Fett' is a good example of this joke containing a few grains of truth. Boba Fett was, after all, the original Glup Shitto. He turned up in all of maybe three major scenes in 'The Empire Strikes Back' and 'Return of the Jedi', died by accident, and was written off in the movies.

2022 June 1, Brian Lloyd, “This week's 'Obi-Wan Kenobi' sees the return of a familiar helmet”, in Entertainment.ie:

I also questioned what characters might show up in this series, and while we haven’t seen a true Glup Shitto yet, we do get a reference to Quinlan Vos, a Jedi from the “Star Wars” novels who then appeared in “Star Wars: The Clone Wars.”

2022, Brandon Raglow, "Review | Episode three of ‘Obi-Wan Kenobi’ brings the Jedi master face to face with a certain former Padawan", The Pitt News (University of Pittsburgh), 8 June 2022

(Star Wars fandom slang, vulgar, derogatory) Any minor Star Wars character or one who features primarily in Extended Universe media unknown to casual fans.


musical comedy

musical comedy (countable and uncountable, plural musical comedies)


Norman no mates

Norman no mates (plural Norman no mates)

(British, slang) Synonym of Billy no mates (“a person with few or no friends”)


worst timeline

Millennials/Gen-Xers like me […] may feel like we're living in quite possibly the worst timeline, where the economy is uncertain, politicians are lying to us, and it seems radical groups are running amok and gaining notoriety in the process.

2018, Emily Prokop, The Story Behind: The Extraordinary History Behind Ordinary Objects, unnumbered page:

It’s like when people on Twitter said that “this is the worst timeline” in response to Jeff Bezos likely becoming the first trillionaire because of COVID.

2021 May 2, Johnny Hayes, “Commentary: Wrestling with the ghosts of COVID past”, in The San Diego Union-Tribune:

I had high hopes for 2021, after a year that fundamentally changed our way of life. I thought vaccines would bring life back to normalcy by now. That obviously didn't happen. As with any situation, there are two sides to the story. A pessimistic view would suggest that this continues to be the worst timeline. But I want to be optimistic for once.

2021 September 29, Jennifer Sun, “In-Person Event Planning: Expect the Unexpected”, in UltraVires, University of Toronto, page 21:

darkest timeline
darkest timeline#English

(Internet slang, humorous) Synonym of darkest timeline.


darkest timeline

Referencing the episode "Remedial Chaos Theory" (2011) of the sitcom Community, which depicts seven alternate universes resulting from a die roll to decide which friend should collect a pizza delivery, including "The Darkest Timeline" in which chaos and destruction ensue.

I still can't believe that there is a President Trump and this really does feel like the darkest timeline, but there is nothing that can be done.

2016 November 17, Mandy Marciniak, “President Trump? Really?”, in The Frontenac Gazette, Frontenac, ON, page 11:

You know we're in the darkest timeline when there are multimillion-dollar corporations roleplaying as people working through a depressive episode.

2019 February 19, Jordan Levy, “Parodying people for profit: When brands act like one of us”, in The Daily Targum, Rutgers University, page 8:

Living as we all do now in The Darkest Timeline™, it's tough to come up with a plot that exceeds the implausibility and dystopia of reality.

2019, Jessica Bryce Young, in "Selections", Orlando Weekly, 13 March 2019 - 19 March 2019, page 43

(Internet slang, humorous) The circumstances of the present moment in history, viewed as bleak, frightening, ridiculous, or the worst of all possibilities.

Community (TV series)
Remedial Chaos Theory


prequelization

From prequelize + -ation or prequel + -ization.

Coordinate term: sequelization

If one then turns to the logic of remaking and sequelization/prequelization, it is hardly disputable that it tends to be dictated by marketing ploys, commercial opportunism or production pressures.

2012, Philippe Met, “The Iceman Cometh (To A Theater Near You): Michael Haneke's Glaciation Trilogy”, in Claire Perkins, Constantine Verevis, editors, Film Trilogies: New Critical Approaches, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, →ISBN, page 164:

(informal) The creation of a prequel to a work.


omniscient narrator

omniscient narrator (plural omniscient narrators)

Coordinate term: unreliable narrator

(literary theory, narratology) A narrator with an overarching perspective, seeing and knowing everything that happens within the world of the story, including what each of the characters is thinking and feeling.


biblically accurate

Likely from Bible verses such as Revelation 4:8 describing angels as having many eyes and wings; such depictions are said to be more "accurate" than humanoid ones. Popularized around 2019-2020.

Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see biblically, accurate.


memehood

And hence the actual details of the representing are sometimes just as much a candidate for memehood as the content represented.

1995, Daniel C[lement] Dennett, Darwin’s Dangerous Idea: Evolution and the Meaning of Life, →ISBN, page 359:

Then the innocent question hit meme-hood, being applied to every new computer or gadget in the news.

2008 September 15, Mark Milian, “New ‘Crysis’ has same issues”, in Chicago Tribune, 162nd year, number 259, page 3, columns 1–2:

This exercise in surrealism was destined for memehood.

2014, William Poundstone, Rock Breaks Scissors: A Practical Guide to Outguessing and Outwitting Almost Everybody, →ISBN:

[…] I’m fascinated by the response to the video, by its eternal life in online memehood.

2017, Anthony Palumbi, Blood Plagues and Endless Raids: A Hundred Million Lives in the World of Warcraft, Chicago Review Press, →ISBN:

Key ingredients for memehood, generally, are the rapid and spontaneous sharing of the thing and some sort of cultural context.

2021 June 17, Stefanie Pettit, “Navigating the meme streets of social media”, in The Spokesman-Review, 139th volume, number 9, page N4, column 1:

The original Steamed Hams scene appeared on a Simpson’s^([sic]) episode from the 1990s, and somehow developed a cult following by its reruns, that turned it into a meme. It’s been reworked into fanfiction and fully reanimated in the style of 1960s Soviet cartoons. It’s been overdubbed with opera and recut to resemble a Criterion Collection DVD of a François Truffaut movie. There’s embroidery of it. It’s surpassed memehood and become an artistic movement of its own.

2023 March 19, Talia Felix, “Steaming a Good Ham”, in Online Etymology Dictionary, archived from the original on 2023-03-20:


rage comic

Last week, Reddit user CappnPoopdeck posted a "rage comic" depicting a man who, as a joke, takes an unused pregnancy test left behind by his ex-girlfriend, then finds that the test comes back positive.

2012 November 7, Hilary Hanson, “Man Takes Pregnancy Test, Finds Out He Has Testicular Cancer: Reports”, in HuffPost, archived from the original on 2023-04-30:

He added, “Obama is a smart guy. ‘Okay, so this is how that works, so I type in that name, or now that I’m on Google+, I type in a +, or now that I’m on Reddit, put in a rage comic because that’s funny.’”

2013, James E[verett] Katz, Michael Barris, Anshul Jain, The Social Media President: Barack Obama and the Politics of Digital Engagement, Palgrave Macmillan, →ISBN, page 99:

Thus, in order to produce and understand LOLCats, users need to master LOLspeak; to create a rage comic, the user requires familiarity with a broad range of new symbols.

2014, Limor Shifman, Memes in Digital Culture (The MIT Press Essential Knowledge Series), Cambridge, Mass., London: The MIT Press, →ISBN, page 118:

A rage comic features a short sequence of the actions of standard characters and is often about the absurdity or folly of everyday life situations or comments on media occurrences.

2015, Mehdi Khosrow-Pour, editor, Encyclopedia of Information Science and Technology, 3rd edition, Information Science Reference, →ISBN, page 3772:

Rage comics were first introduced to China as bàozŏu mànhuà […] in 2008, and have become increasingly popular among Chinese Internet users since then.

2017, Aaron Marcus, Masaaki Kurosu, Xiaojuan Ma, Ayako Hashizume, Cuteness Engineering: Designing Adorable Products and Services, Springer, →ISBN, page 70:

(Internet slang) A short cartoon strip using a growing set of pre-made cartoon faces which usually express rage or some other simple emotion or activity.


fantasy world

If she thinks she can become President, she's living in a fantasy world!

A person's unrealistic individual notions of the real world.


straight play

It is unthinkable for a straight play to enjoy a life span like those of the blockbuster musicals or to earn such astronomical grosses.

2004, Steven Adler, On Broadway: Art and Commerce on the Great White Way, SIU Press, →ISBN, page 221:

(theater) A play relying on spoken dialogue to tell the story, in contrast to a musical.


old man yells at cloud

From a scene in the 2002 episode "The Old Man and the Key" of the American animated sitcom The Simpsons, in which Grampa Simpson, applying for a driver's license, produces a newspaper clipping with this headline for identification.

I'm incessantly railing, in the old-man-yells-at-cloud tradition, against Big Beautiful Burgers stuffed into wispy buns that leave nothing to the imagination.

2018 February, Liz Cook, “Check-in Time”, in The Pitch, page 26:

If you will allow me an “old man yells at cloud” moment...back in my day, the only tools we had to make documentation were plain ol' spreadsheets, slides, and Word documents.

2020, Matt LeMay, Product Management in Practice, page 148:

Everyone has their own Old-Man-Yells-at-Cloud gripe that they just can't let go. Some people can't get over the fact that some people do (or do not) keep their ketchup in the fridge; other people can't stop themselves ragging on pineapple-topped pizza.

2022, Ruby Tandoh, Cook As You Are: Recipes for Real Life, Hungry Cooks, and Messy Kitchens: A Cookbook, page 131:

(humorous or derogatory) Refers to a person who expresses a trivial, out-of-touch, or idiosyncratic grievance; especially, with an implication of aged crotchetiness.

Grampa Simpson
The Old Man and the Key
The Simpsons


poor little meow meow

poor little meow meow (plural poor little meow meows)

Emerged from a 2020 viral tweet by a BTS fan apologetically addressing group member Suga (known by the fan nickname "Lil Meow Meow") as "my poor meow meow...my baby my little baby who hurt^([sic]) so much […] ." The tweet was made in response to the controversy over Suga's sampling of a speech by cult leader Jim Jones (1931-1978) on his solo mixtape D-2.

You may have noticed there’s a new trend amongst fans of all kinds of media. Whenever there’s a little sad sack of a man, people will start calling him their “poor little meow meow”—their little baby loser boy, if you will. In other words: a Pathetic Loserman.

2022 September 13, Madeline Carpou, “Allons-y, Make Way for This Year’s “Official Pathetic Loserman!””, in The Mary Sue:

Examples of Poor Little Meow Meows include Breaking Bad’s Jesse Pinkman, Marvel’s Loki, Avatar: The Last Airbender‘s Prince Zuko, and Ice King from Adventure Time.

2022, Jack Doyle, "Who (Or What) Is Poor Little Meow Meow?", The Mary Sue, 19 September 2022

Unlike his brothers, Aldo is kind of a lil’ sweetie. I mean, he’s not really a sweetie at all. In Tumblr morality terms, he is more of a Poor Little Meow Meow than he is a true cinnamon roll.

2022 December 11, Jack Doyle, “Aldo And The Three Brothers In ‘Chainsaw Man,’ Explained”, in The Mary Sue:

(fandom slang) A fictional character who is both endearingly pathetic and extremely flawed or villainous.

BTS
D-2 (mixtape)
Jim Jones
Suga (rapper)

baby girl

male morally ambiguous character romanticised by fans

Draco in Leather Pants

any morally ambiguous character romanticised by fans

woobie

morally ambiguous character subjected to pain for pathos


geofiction

From geo- + fiction. Ostensibly coined by future members of the Dutch Geofiction Association (founded 1984).

It may, however, be regarded as typical that this is often the type of story in which undue attention is paid to the description of the 'ficticious' ^([sic]) geographical environment (a striking example being the geofiction of The Lord of the Rings).

2011, Stijn Reijnders, Places of the Imagination: Media, Tourism, Culture, Ashgate, →ISBN, page 111:

The conception and creation of a fictional cartographic design that is the setting of a work of fiction or of one's imagination; worldbuilding.


choose violence

en-verb

choose violence (third-person singular simple present chooses violence, present participle choosing violence, simple past chose violence, past participle chosen violence)

chooses violence (present singular third-person)
choosing violence (participle present)
chose violence (past)
chosen violence (participle past)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-choose violence.wav

According to Know Your Meme, first used in the idiomatic sense in a tweet posted June 21, 2019 by @mtheadnothought: "azealia banks wakes up every morning and chooses violence tbh the dedication is outstanding", itself inspired by line of dialogue in the 2016 Game of Thrones episode "No One" (see I choose violence).

wake up and choose violence

In a post on his Instagram story Thursday, the Saturday Night Live head writer [Michael Che] expressed his desire to "make fun of Simone Biles." In the next post, he wrote: "I got like 3 mins of Simone Biles jokes in my head. I'm going to the cellar tonight to say them into a microphone. As the dorky kids say, I'm choosing violence."

2021 July 30, Tayo Bero, “When Will Michael Che Face Consequences For Punching Down On Black Women?”, in Refinery29, archived from the original on 2023-07-13:

RuPaul Charles chose violence on this week's episode of Drag Race UK when he chose to eliminate, not one, but two fan-favourite contestants from the competition.

2021 October 29, Sam Damshenas, “Exclusive: Choriza May addresses 'hurtful' RuPaul's Drag Race UK twist”, in Gay Times, London: Gay Times Ltd, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-01-20:

Still, the broadcast decided to show that Verstappen was leading him by more than 77 seconds. Sharing a snap of the visual, one Twitter user posted: "F1 CHOSE VIOLENCE WITH THIS GRAPHIC."

2022 April 24, Jake Lambourne, “'They chose violence' – Sky Sports F1 'troll' Hamilton as Brit is lapped by Verstappen in Emilia Romagna horror show”, in The US Sun, archived from the original on 2022-05-24:

For Payne's sake, we hope he figures out who he wants to be soon — and that it's not the same man who woke up and chose violence on Logan Paul's podcast.

2022 June 1, Jon Blistein, “Liam Payne Unfortunately Chose Violence While Talking One Direction on Logan Paul's Podcast”, in Rolling Stone, New York, N.Y.: Penske Media Corporation, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-02-08:

I have read enough online listing BS — and watched enough terrible HGTV to make my own realtor's head hurt — that the line between parody and straight-faced is probably permanently blurred for me. The internal adjustments you learn to make to the manic cheerleading for basic structural details—sorry, "charming historical elements"—are a reflex at this point, to say nothing of the eye strain from listings that considered proper capitalization and punctuation and chose violence instead.

2023 January 20, Erin Keane, “A tiny gingerbread house got listed on Zillow for 31 days, and the price felt all too real”, in Salon.com, archived from the original on 2023-05-28:

(Internet slang, humorous, idiomatic) To disrespect or insult someone in a particularly audacious and unexpected manner.

Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see choose, violence.


teacup and saucer

If a Drama is bold and romantic, it is unnatural, it does not resemble Life. If, on the other hand, it resembles Life very much, it is commonplace, it is of the “teacup and saucer” order, it has no morale, no bearing on questions of moral sewage and drainage.

1889 December, Robert Buchanan, “The Modern Drama and Its Critics”, in The Contemporary Review, volume 56, page 924:

In his youth [Clement Scott] was among the revolutionaries who rallied around the teacup-and-saucer comedy; in his age he was a likable and vigorous reactionary.

1946, Allardyce Nicoll, A History of Late Nineteenth Century Drama, 1850–1900, volume 1, page 23:

He did not care very much for Wilde’s teacup-and-saucer drama but thought it went over well and was likely to be a success […]

2007, Sheldon M. Novick, Henry James: The Mature Master, →ISBN, page 219:

(attributive, originally derogatory) A type of 19th-century English comedy pioneered by T. W. Robertson, characterised by natural dialogue and down-to-earth, domestic settings.


I don't even

what is this I don't even
what is this I don't even#English

Alternative form of what is this I don't even


The Dress

“The Dress” is an excellent example of light source, reflectance, and shadow indeterminacy.

2019, Daniel T. Willingham, Cedar Riener, Cognition: The Thinking Animal, page 74:

(Internet slang) A dress, a photograph of which became an online viral phenomenon in 2015 as debate raged over whether it was blue and black or white and gold.


Rare Pepe

According to Know Your Meme, the "Rare Pepes" meme was popularized by users on the 4chan's /r9k/ board around October 2014.

In yet another example of the internet folding in on itself, you can buy and sell "rare Pepes" using PepeCash, a cryptocurrency that ultimately relies on the Bitcoin blockchain.

2018 January 7, Jessica Klein, “The world of cryptocollectibles like CryptoKitties looks like the internet's early days”, in Salon.com, archived from the original on 2023-05-16:

(Internet slang, 4chan) An unusual image of the Pepe the Frog character.


hold the stage

hold the stage (third-person singular simple present holds the stage, present participle holding the stage, simple past and past participle held the stage)

holds the stage (present singular third-person)
holding the stage (participle present)
held the stage (participle past)
held the stage (past)

(theater, of a play) To continue to be produced.


bnuuy

Popularised during mid-2020; Know Your Meme tracks the usage of the term to an image posted to Reddit on 29 May 2020.

fucking bnuuy who gave you the right to be as cute as your owner [followed by a photograph of a black bunny]

Selen's bnuuy ears just being her wings lmao
Also Enna with the floppy ears is so cute wtf

Bnuuys are cute, people should hug them more

(Internet slang, childish, humorous, endearing) Deliberate misspelling of bunny.


step on someone's lines

The person who introduced me stepped on my lines by giving a long summary, including all the good anecdotes.

... interrupting often takes place when someone else in the group is telling a joke and the bright youngster blurts out the punch line — not because he has heard the joke before but because he sees what is coming and finds it funny. And so, out it tumbles and he has "stepped on my lines" and spoiled the joke for the teller.

1986, Carol Addison Takacs, Enjoy Your Gifted Child, page 51:

Mr. KYL. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. […] do you want to take any additional testimony before we get to questioning? I have read the statements. / Mr. SKELTON. I think, as I understand it, I was told that the other gentlemen were here to answer questions. / Mr. KYL. Fine. I didn't want to step on your lines there, but I have read the statements and find them to be good and cooperative.

1994, Hearings Before and Special Reports Made by Committee on Armed Services of the House of Representatives on Subjects Affecting the Naval and Military Establishments, Contributor United States. Congress. House. Committee on Armed Services, page 71:

Carol was unhappy with Buttons mostly because he had the habit of stepping on her lines, intentionally or not. It throws actors off when another begins speaking their lines before they have finished saying their dialog and it diminishes their part.

2020, Tom Lisanti, Carol Lynley: Her Film & TV Career in Thrillers, Fantasy & ...:

To interfere with someone's role, as in a performance, by interfering with their scripted or intended speech.


swordography

Blend of sword + choreography. By surface analysis, sword + -o- + -graphy.

surf

Do you know what? I had so much fun. The swordography... you know, I think we needed more swordography, to be honest. Loved the sword fight.

2023, 31:26 from the start, in Strictly Come Dancing, season 21, episode 3, spoken by Zara McDermott:

(theater, dance) Choreography using (prop) swords.


olio drop

(theater) A large canvas or drop that is attached at the bottom to a long rigid tube rigged to roll as it rises out, used in vaudeville theater.


shadow acting

(theater, film, rare) A form of film where an actor is obscured from view by the camera under dimmed lights, often used for true crime reenactments.


conworlding

[responding to "Aren't you the God and Creator of the Kigdatsi?"] Not a god, but I thought them up, though I was trying to keep that quiet. Did you search the web for "Kigdatsi"? Also, I am *not* a sci-fi author, just a person who likes conworlding.

2007 August 18, Simon Richard Clarkstone, “Question about Dragon Code usage”, in alt.fan.dragons (Usenet):

For those who are not familiar with the term, conworlding is the art of world building. It is the concept of creating an imaginary world.

2010 August 13, Ken, “Welcome!”, in conworlding (Usenet):

Otherwise known as 'subcreation' or 'conworlding' (constructed worlds), the success of these fabrications relies on their consistent upholding of self-instigated internal rules and logic systems.

2021 June 5, Mark Morris, Mike Aling, Worldmodelling: Architectural Models in the 21st Century, Wiley, →ISBN, page 8:

(informal, uncommon) Engaging in the creation of a conworld; worldbuilding.


countryhuman

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-countryhuman.wav

Compound of country + human, by analogy with countryball.

countryhumans fucking sucks but hey at least this new generation of weebs is gonna be real educated on world history

18h of a man reading the ego and his own while I draw cursed Jreg countryhumans is the peak of my existence

i swear when i first saw an image of ruv from that fnf mod i thought he was a countryhuman or something

I swear I left the countryhuman fandom months ago but my first thoughts were people drawing america

That is so cute. Finally a Russia countryhuman that is actually nice to Ukraine

2023 October 11, sheinaragners, Twitter:

(Internet slang, neologism, fandom slang) Artwork of countries personified as humans with spherical heads: often their heads or bodies are coloured in said country's national flag.


demi-caractère

(about a work for the stage or a performer's part in it, dated) Which, in the historical French nomenclature, was halfway between serious (sérieux) and comic (comique); typically, where the protagonists or the plot were not noble enough compared to those derived from mythology or history, but could still convey serious emotions (see for example the 1886 Camille Bellaigue quotation about Bizet's opera Carmen under French demi-caractère)


set dresser

(theater, film, television) A person who prepares the set with props and furniture to give it the correct appearance and to make sure that each item is in the correct position for each performance.


different clowns, same circus

same shit, different toilet
same shit, different toilet#English

(derogatory) Synonym of same shit, different toilet.

not my circus, not my monkeys

likewise a circus metaphor emphasizing human folly


book-bearer

(theater, obsolete, archaic) A theatrical prompter.


monolight

(theater, film) A self-contained photographic flash lighting unit, typically found in studios.


on book

(theater, uncommon) Referencing a script; not recited from memory.


poetical justice

/pəʊˌɛtɪkl̩ ˈd͡ʒʌstɪs/

From poetical + justice, coined by the English literary critic Thomas Rymer (c. 1643 – 1713) in the work The Tragedies of the Last Age Consider’d and Examin’d (1678): see the quotation.

coinage

For though historical Juſtice might reſt there; yet poetical Juſtice could not be ſo content. It vvould require that the ſatisfaction be compleat and full, e're the Malefactor goes off the Stage, and nothing left to God Almighty, and another VVorld.

1678, Thomas Rymer, “The Tragedy of Rollo Duke of Normandy”, in The Tragedies of the Last Age Consider’d and Examin‘d […], London: […] Richard Tonson […], →OCLC, page 26:

(narratology) The idea that in a literary work such as a poem, virtue should be rewarded and vice punished.


pad room

(entertainment) A tent or a dressing room for performers of the circus.


little Timmy

Suburbanites were uniformly young in the late fifties. Everybody was married; everybody had children. Like birds of a feather, we were eager to join up with the flock. Magazines and television had been promoting the image for almost ten years: Saturday-night backyard barbecues with friends; neighbors sharing freshly baked coffee cakes; a wide sidewalk for little Timmy to ride his tricycle. The perfect life, and most of us wanted it.

1978, Paula McDonald, Guilt-free, →OCLC:

If you want little Timmy to be considered attractive and intelligent by your friends (and who doesn't?), he must learn to greet people pleasantly.

1984, Emily Post, Emily Post's Etiquette, →OCLC:

It didn't take me much time to discover that the remnants of what I'm sure was once a thriving and helpful staff - the kind of staff that was never too busy to get a cat out of a tree or walk little Timmy to school but now consists of about 20 people due to the financial genius of Michael Dukakis.

1991 September 9, The Massachusetts Daily Collegian, →OCLC:

The card's also handy for tuckered parents who don’t have the energy to upload images of little Timmy to a web page for grandma to see.

1998 September 1, Maximum PC The Nearly Complete Collection:

I can’t stand it when middle class suburbanites buy Hummers. They are not going to enter a Twisted Metal competition in which they will duel to the death in their vehicle, nor will they explore the trackless reaches of the Arctic. You are going to drive to the mall and bring little Timmy to soccer practice.

Parents — when trying to get little Timmy to let go of his friend's truck or come when you call, please don't count to three before expecting him to act. Or five. Or ten. All it does is give your child license to do whatever they want for two more seconds. Or four. Or nine. There is value to immediate obedience.

2012, Diana and Holly Parks, I Didn't See Me Do It: A Double Take on the First Twenty Years:

"Why did we bring all this firepower if we're not going to use it?" Brett protested.
"To have options. Right now, the fewer of us that are tossing lead around, the better," I insisted. "I don't want little Timmy two lanes over catching a stray bullet while he's asleep in his race car bed."

2014, Elliott James, Daring : Pax Arcana, Book 2, →OCLC:

(informal) Placeholder name for a young child in an example scenario.


John Audley

(theater, slang) A fictitious person mentioned (e.g. "is John Audley there?") as a signal to shorten the performance of a show, to make room for a fresh audience.


skibidi

en-verb

skibidi (third-person singular simple present skibidis, present participle skibiding, simple past and past participle skibidied)

skibidis (present singular third-person)
skibiding (participle present)
skibidied (participle past)
skibidied (past)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-scibidi.wav

Originally a rare alternative form of skibiddy (“nonlexical vocable used in scat singing”), popularised by the 2018 dance song "Skibidi" by Russian band Little Big. The jocular nonsense word is derived from the YouTube web series Skibidi Toilet (2023–present), which took the vocable from the 2022 song "Dom Dom Yes Yes" by Bulgarian singer Biser King. It was originally used (albeit still humorously) by younger children who viewed the series, incidentally part of Generation Alpha, and later popularised online as an ostensible example of "brain rot". Compare the later gegagedigedagedago.

You gotta be skibiding me

2023 October 22, @HartsyProtzy, Twitter:

Retweet if you love skibiding your toilet to this tweet

2023 December 9, @Alterra_Corp_, Twitter:

She skibidied so hard on my toliet that I rizzed her gyatt till she fanum taxed my chungus

You lost your privilege to call me pookie when you skibidied on my Ohio cake

Generation Alpha
Generation Alpha#English

(Internet slang, humorous) A nonsense word, used especially to mock, or in reference to, the perceived slang utilised by Generation Alpha, the generation itself, the Skibidi Toilet web series or (less commonly) the slang used on the video-sharing social media platform TikTok.


C-drama

en-noun

C-drama (countable and uncountable, plural C-dramas)


antenarratology

(narratology) The study of antenarratives and their interplay with narratives and stories.


antenarrative

(narratology) The process by which a retrospective narrative is linked to a living story.


r/woooosh

From r/woooosh, a subreddit (discussion forum) on the American social news aggregation and discussion website Reddit in which Redditors post about Internet users who misinterpreted sarcastic statements as earnest, i.e. the joke went over their head. The subreddit name is thus taken from the onomatopoeia whoosh, representing the sound of a joke ostensibly flying over one's head. On Reddit, subreddits can be converted into hyperlinks by typing out their name in full, preceded by r/.

my friend you need some lessons in sarcasm
r/woooosh

They're laughing at you not getting the joke man. r/woooosh

2019 February 17, @sheldon_daily, Twitter:

I'm sorry but r/woooosh

Hopefully you GET it's a JOKE cuz r/woooosh

r/woooosh never been on twitter before?

(Internet slang, metonymically) Synonym of whoosh.


gagwoman

A woman writer or woman performer of gags.


character arc

The transformation of William Shakespeare's Prince Hamlet from a young scholarly prince full of promise into a melancholic brooder after his father's death is an example of a character arc.

The transformation or inner journey of a character over the course of a story.


light engineering

Coordinate term: sound engineering

(film, television, theater) The technical discipline of the installation of lighting equipment and its utility on a set.


curtain time

curtain time (countable and uncountable, plural curtain times)

(theater) The time at which a play or performance is scheduled to commence.


learn Chinese

en-verb

learn Chinese (third-person singular simple present learns Chinese, present participle learning Chinese, simple past and past participle learned Chinese or learnt Chinese)

learns Chinese (present singular third-person)
learning Chinese (participle present)
learned Chinese (participle past)
learned Chinese (past)
learnt Chinese (participle past)
learnt Chinese (past)

From the phrase "Get ready to learn Chinese, buddy," originating from an image macro falsely quoting NBA Commissioner Adam Silver in reference to controversy surrounding player Kyrie Irving, suggesting that Irving should be exiled to lower-tier Chinese league.

Our best starting line up against 18th in League 1, we either win 5-0 or every single one of those players need to start learning Chinese.

Absolute ass bowling. no swing at all, 115kph bouncers to short ball veterans. Always ruins the pp spell of Tushar. I expected so much from him, really disappointed. Better turn the things around or learn Chinese

“Every single hater who told me to learn Chinese, I’m glad because I’m going to Shanghai” Asuna shut the haters down 🔒

(sports, slang, derogatory) To quit or transfer from a major professional sports league, suggesting a player does not deserve their current place.


tomato surprise

en-noun

tomato surprise (plural tomato surprises)

[…] stories are written in the "tomato surprise" format: that is, the author saves the stunning surprise until the very last line of the story. It wasn't even a good technique when Verdi used it in Il Trovatore.

1974, Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact, volume 93, page 6:

There are several classic tomato surprises which editors see over and over: the one about the evil, horrid aliens that turn out in the last paragraph to be humans from earth; […]

2020, Danielle Spencer, Metagnosis: Revelatory Narratives of Health and Identity, page 189:

A plot twist in which the reader or viewer is suddenly made aware of an important fundamental detail that changes the whole perspective of the story.


orphan-crushing machine

orphan-crushing machine (plural orphan-crushing machines)

From a Twitter post by @pookleblinky on September 25, 2020:
"Every heartwarming human interest story in america is like "he raised $20,000 to keep 200 orphans from being crushed in the orphan-crushing machine" and then never asks why an orphan-crushing machine exists or why you'd need to pay to prevent it from being used."

"we live in a society", said the orphan-crushing machine operator

2023 February 15, @lepetitereboot, Twitter:

“ the orphan crushing machine isn’t the problem, it’s that people are using the orphan crushing machine wrong”

BREAKING: orphan-crushing machine manufacturer states there is 'no sign' of orphan-crushing machines being used to crush orphans

(Internet slang) A notional machine representing a system or process that obviously facilitates suffering but is not acknowledged or examined, or for which no alternative is considered.


many such cases

From a Twitter post by Donald Trump (@realDonaldTrump) in 2014, popularized after his election as President of the United States:
Healthy young child goes to doctor, gets pumped with massive shot of many vaccines, doesn't feel good and changes - AUTISM. Many such cases!

(colloquial) Used to indicate that an occurence is unsurprising, or that something is or was evident. Often sarcastic, mocking someone for believing that something is common.


front-of-house curtain

front-of-house curtain (plural front-of-house curtains)


comic timing

(comedy) The use of intonation, rhythm, cadence, tempo, and pausing in order to guide the audience's laughter, which then guides the comedic narrative, and ultimately delivers the joke.


they hit the Pentagon

Originated from an exchange in a May 2020 OneyPlays let's play video about recording said video on a short notice: Lyle jokes that Chris shook him awake and Zach chimes in, shouting:
Lyle, Lyle turn on the TV they hit the Pentagon! They hit the fucking Pentagon, Lyle!
in reference to the September 11 attacks. Popularized widely by a viral image macro of a character from the 2022 animated film Turning Red, using the phrase "They hit the fucking Pentagon," in reference to discussion surrounding a viral remark that the film, set in 2002, did not mention the September 11 attacks.

(Internet slang, humorous) Used to indicate that an event or news of an event is cause for alarm.


pour honey on

en-verb

pour honey on (third-person singular simple present pours honey on, present participle pouring honey on, simple past and past participle poured honey on)

pours honey on (present singular third-person)
pouring honey on (participle present)
poured honey on (participle past)
poured honey on (past)

A aphorism first quoted by boxing heavyweight Riddick Bowe in a February 1993 edition of New York Magazine: "If you see me in a fight with a bear, do me a favor—pour honey on me”. Later in a 2023 Instagram post by Lebron James: "If you ever see me fighting in the forest with a Grizzly bear, HELP THE BEAR [crown emoji]" to which Shannon Sharpe replied "I'm pouring honey on you GOAT," both referring to a variation on Bowe’s aphorism. An earlier variation by Shannon Sharpe in a Twitter post in 2017: “IF* you see me and a bear fighting pour honey on me and help the bear.”

cite tweet

You tryna pour honey on a midget lol

Tyrese Maxey i would pour honey on you but you play for the sixers you can get a fist bump lil nigga 🤜🏾

Y'all Be Pouring Honey On Anybody

(slang, idiomatic, transitive) To praise or encourage wholeheartedly.


dattebayo

From a sentence-end hereditary verbal tic of the titular protagonist of Naruto, perceived as a catchphrase due to its translation into English as "Believe it!": だ (da, auxiliary) + ってば (tteba, informal emphatic particle) + よ (yo, emphatic particle).

ja-compound

I wanna play APEX with neechans too...dattebayo...

i don't judge ppl for this bc like. if it gets you to do it. hell yeah brother grab that toothbrush dattebayo

(originally fandom slang, humorous) An expression of affirmation.


for one's foams

Referring to being mugged or killed for one's sneakers, also used in image macros of mortally wounded fictional characters, notably Uncle Ben in the 2002 film Spider-Man with the phrase "They got me for my foams".

jack got me for my foams. rt to help me find my mutuals🙏🏼😭

2020 February 25, @luver4skategirl, Twitter:

Killer Bee really ran sasuke for his foams while he was rapping 😭😭😭

AI got me for my foams smh

(Internet slang, humorous) Totally or in humiliating fashion, in the context of being wronged or defeated.


Obamna

Originally a mispronunciation or misspelling of Obama. Somewhat popularized by Donald Trump during a 2018 campaign rally, in which it is thought he had unintentionally mispronounced “Obama” with an “-na” at the end, possibly in confusion with the word amnesty.

obamna

2024 May 8, DougDoug, 02:41 from the start, in I used Barack Obama’s hands to play Mario Party (NOT CLICKBAIT), spoken by WalletWorrier_:

(Internet slang, humorous, US politics) Barack Obama.


Florida Man

A personification of the outrageous crimes and occurrences of Florida.


ayy lmao

Associated with image macros of aliens, the first attested around early 2013, the phrase sharing the first syllable /ˈeɪ.l/ with alien.

Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see ayy, LMAO.


in this essay I will

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-in this essay I will.wav

As if the statement is the opening of an essay. Popularized around 2017.

Is writing hard, or am I just bad at it? In this essay, I will— To be honest, this whole publishing thing isn’t getting any easier for me, and I’m still relying on several trillion people to help me get my work in shape.

2023 June 13, Ali Hazelwood, “Acknowledgments”, in Love, Theoretically, New York, N.Y.: Berkley Romance, →ISBN, page 387:

(literally) A hackneyed phrase used to begin an essay.


Purim spiel

Borrowed from Yiddish פּורימשפּיל (purimshpil).

bor+

A usually comic theatrical reenactment of the book of Esther.


stage crew

Meronyms: stagehand; sceneman, sceneshifter

Coordinate term: stage manager

(theater) The crew of stagehands that work behind the scenes to make a show happen.


2.5D musical

Coined by Makoto Matsuda in 2014, when he established the Japan 2.5-Dimensional Musical Association.

(theater, drama) A type of modern Japanese musical theater production which adapts stories originally presented in a two-dimensional medium (anime, manga, or video games).