monoscene

Her team once did a six-hour monoscene without any breaks!

This process of bringing up new things to talk about is key to making monoscenes interesting. A common problem I see in a monoscene are characters who are so focused on one and only one thing.

2015 March 21, Kevin Mullaney, KevinMullaney.com, archived from the original on 2016-11-04:

Justin Peters and Kelly Buttermore present their experimental improv show, a unique monoscene that is almost entirely silent.

2016 December 1, Elise Czajkowski, “Comedy Listings for Dec. 2-8”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 2018-02-11:

Longform improv sets typically run between 20 and 25 minutes, and Big Baby performs a style known as a "bunker monoscene" in which the entire show is a single scene in a single location.

2017 December 6, Robert J. Moore, “3 Things Improv Comedy Taught Me About Starting a Business”, in Entrepreneur, archived from the original on 2018-07-26:

(comedy) A specific form of improvisational comedy in which scenes are performed without edits.


John Company

British East India Company
British East India Company

(archaic, colloquial) The British East India Company.


Pantagruelist

Eponym from French character in the novel Gargantua and Pantagruel, + -ist.


common thread

What is the common thread in these three stories?

A common thread links the social world of barbershop with the neighbouring social worlds of jazz and classical music as these were sketched in the first chapter. The common thread is the general musical lifestyle shared by the musicians who […]

1996, Robert A. Stebbins, The Barbershop Singer: Inside the Social World of a Musical Hobby, University of Toronto Press, →ISBN, page 100:

My experiences in education, network consulting, service provider support, and certification have shown me that there is a common thread that frustrates people in all of these arenas. That common thread is documentation.

2001, William R. Parkhurst, Cisco BGP-4 Command and Configuration Handbook, Cisco Press, →ISBN:

It is not difficult to see that in this preoccupation with middle-class identity, there is a common thread to all the narratives I discussed. This common thread has to do with the attempts by the Victorian writers to dramatize finance capitalism at […]

2004, Borislav Knezevic, Figures of Finance Capitalism: Writing, Class and Capital in Mid-Victorian Narratives, Routledge, →ISBN, page 152:

A recurring characteristic or theme present in different events or areas.


Uncle Whiskers

The network canceled—nonco-operation their legal shysters said. Suing me, for, for ten million clams, damages to sponsors, agencies. Internal Revenue-Uncle Whiskers says I owe them a mint.


cross-cast

en-verb

cross-cast (third-person singular simple present cross-casts, present participle cross-casting, simple past and past participle cross-cast)

cross-casts (present singular third-person)
cross-casting (participle present)
cross-cast (participle past)
cross-cast (past)

(theater) To cast an actor of the opposite gender to play a part.


well firmed

en-adj

well firmed (comparative more well firmed, superlative most well firmed)

more well firmed (comparative)
most well firmed (superlative)

(theater, dated) Well prepared, having thoroughly memorized one's part.


jeune premier

en-noun

jeune premier (plural jeunes premiers or jeune premiers)

jeunes premiers (plural)
jeune premiers (plural)

Unadapted borrowing from French jeune premier; first used in the early 1800s.

ubor

(theater) actor who plays young hero/lover roles


Aion

From Ancient Greek Αἰών (Aiṓn, “Greek god or personification, Gnostic spirit”).

bor

(Greek mythology) A Hellenistic deity associated with time, the orb or circle encompassing the universe, and the zodiac.

Eon

Greek god associate with time, the universe and the zodiac


Ourea

The primordial gods of the mountains in Greek mythology


tragic carpet

The green cloth that was spread on the stage in seventeenth century plays for the actors to "die" on so they would not dirty their clothes.


Johnny Turk

(obsolete, informal, military slang) An Ottoman soldier in World War One, particularly a Turkish one.


phlebotinum

(science fiction) A fictional material used by authors to develop a plot requiring a material with properties not possessed by any real material.


Macbeth trap

Named after Shakespeare's play Macbeth, in which such a contrivance could be used to bring the ghost of Banquo onto the stage.

(theater) A kind of stage trapdoor rigged to drop below floor level and slide to one side.


Macready pause

Named after William Macready (1793–1873), English actor.

(theater) A brief pause during the delivery of a speech in a play, to make the speaking seem more natural.


cognitive estrangement

Coined by Yugoslav-born academic, writer and critic Darko Suvin in his 1979 book Metamorphoses of Science Fiction.

In his book Metamorphoses of Science Fiction (1979), Suvin introduced a number of ideas that remain central in sf criticism: cognitive estrangement, the novum and sf's genetic link with utopia. In the notion of cognitive estrangement, Suvin conflate two distinct, but related, ideas of estrangement from earlier literary theory: ostranenie (de-familiarization) from the Russian Formalists, and Berthold Brecht's Verfremdungseffekt (alienation effect).[…]Even more influential in sf theory than cognitive estrangement is Suvin's concept of the novum.

2003, Istvan Csicsery-Ronay, Jr., “7: Marxist theory and science fiction”, in Edward James, Farah Mendlesohn, editors, The Cambridge Companion to Science Fiction, Cambridge University Press, page 118:

Cognitive estrangement can therefore be seen as defining the textual effects of such work: the text faces its audience with something that will not fit into the existing patterns of verisimilitude, yet is being asserted and explored as fact.

2005, Jan Johnson-Smith, American Science Fiction TV: Star Trek, Stargate and Beyond, I.B. Tauris, page 26:

Darko Suvin, the eminent theorist of science fiction, defined science fiction as a literature of cognitive estrangement, a genre in which the reader enters an imaginative world different or estranged from his or her empirical world, but different in a way that obeys rational causation or scientific law: thus, it is estranged cognitively.

2011, Roger Luckhurst, “1: In the Zone: Topologies of Genre Weirdness”, in Sara Wasson, Emily Alder, editors, Gothic Science Fiction 1980-2010, Liverpool University Press, page 21:

(literature, narratology) A narrative logic, characteristic of science fiction, whereby devices used in the story are afforded plausibility by their being placed in the context of the fictional setting, which is envisioned to be scientifically consistent.

spoznajnog očuđenja

narrative logic characteristic of science fiction


fffffffuuuuuuuuuuuu

Elongated form of fu, a clipping of fuck. The specific elongation length was coined on Reddit in December 2008, in reference to rage comics on 4chan earlier in 2008. 7 "F"s and 12 "U"s are used as a reference to the /r/fffffffuuuuuuuuuuuu subreddit or its community. The term is sometimes shortened to f7u12.

"Fffffffuuuuuuuuuuuu!" I yell. It hurts my ears.

2009, Ryan Collins, Complicated Weather, →ISBN, page 264:

New semester starting, all I have to say is: FFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUU

2011, The East Carolinian, volume 86, number 59, archived from the original on 2023-02-26, page A3:

What, I can't swear while playing video games any more??? #FFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUU

2013 December 12, James Taylor, Bellarine Times, volume 6, number 50, page 94:

(Internet slang) Elongated form of clipping of fuck.


allohistorical

/æləˌhɪˈstɔːɹɪkəl/

From allo- (prefix meaning ‘different, other’) + historical.

prefix

If [Alexander] Demandt's essay served as a strident example of the German desire for normalcy, a more subtle example was provided by a brief allohistorical depiction of a Nazi victory in World War II written by German historian Michael Salewski in 1999.

2005, Gavriel D[avid] Rosenfeld, “Germany’s Wartime Triumph: From Dystopia to Normalcy”, in The World Hitler Never Made: Alternate History and the Memory of Nazism, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, part I (The Nazis Win World War II), page 182:

Thus Django becomes the carrier of the “public use of one's reason”—the Kantian road to enlightenment given to him by the German “Forty-Eighter” dentist–turned-bounty hunter Dr. “King” Schultz, and represents the fictive, allohistorical beginning of the battle against slavery and racism in the United States.

2014, Robert von Dassanowsky, “Dr. ‘King’ Schultz as Ideologue and Emblem: The German Enlightenment and the Legacy of the 1848 Revolutions in Django Unchained”, in Oliver C. Speck, editor, Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained: The Continuation of Metacinema, New York, N.Y., London: Bloomsbury Academic, Bloomsbury Publishing, →ISBN, part 1 (Cultural Roots and Intertexts: Germany, France, and the United States), page 25:

The question of the plausibility of the counter-factual is seen as key in all three discussions of allohistorical fiction (as it is in [Alexander] Demandt's and [Niall] Ferguson's examinations of allohistory)[…].

2014, David Malcolm, “The Great War Re-remembered: Allohistory and Allohistorical Fiction”, in Martin Löschnigg, Marzena Sokolowska-Paryz, editors, The Great War in Post-memory Literature and Film, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, →ISBN, page 173:

(narratology) Relating to alternate history, either as a discipline or genre, or as a specific counterfactual sequence of events.


cue-to-cue

(theater, music, film) Of a rehearsal: moving from one cue to the next, so that lighting etc. can be tested, without rehearsing scenes in their entirety.


chungus

en-noun

chungus (countable and uncountable, plural chunguses or chungi)

/ˈt͡ʃʌŋ.ɡəs/

From chunk. Compare humongous (“extremely large”, adjective) or dingus (“any object or thing; a foolish person”, noun), and chonk. Attested from the late 2010s.

Why did i even open my disgusting chungus eyes this morning

Im a fat disgusting unloveable chungus piece of shit

I thought it couldn't get any more chungus. I was wrong.

my final straw. goodbye. fuck my stupid chungus life.

(Internet slang, humorous, attributive) A nonsense word or placeholder, often used incongruously in self-deprecating or doomer-like speech.


burnination

Burnination! O'Meara swore as I rolled up to my feet, pain pricking along my ribs where Feather's claws had found flesh.

A minced oath used to express anger, irritation, disappointment, annoyance, contempt, etc.


galaxy-brain

en-adj

galaxy-brain (comparative more galaxy-brain, superlative most galaxy-brain)

more galaxy-brain (comparative)
most galaxy-brain (superlative)

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

From a popular image macro meme in which a series of increasingly absurd or surreal thoughts is paired with images of a human brain expanding and emitting progressively brighter beams of light, thus ironically framing the ideas as too profound for average minds to comprehend.

On the surface, none of this makes sense. Yet it becomes rational once you explore the context—in fact, if you glimpse the bigger picture, the scene crosses the threshold into galaxy-brain logic.

2018 September 20, Barry Thompson, “Heavy Leather Topless Dance Party”, in DigBoston, page 12:

Permatemp, the upcoming album from A. J. Herring's usually one-man band Velma and the Happy Campers, seeks to explore the galaxy-brain realization that the only permanent thing about life is its impermanence.

2019, Natalia Galicza, "For The Record", The Fine Print, Winter 2019, page 10

Hollywood is no stranger to the occasional galaxy-brain take, but this one is pretty out there—as Warner Bros. execs evaluated Todd Phillips’s Joker script back in 2017, they reportedly found themselves in “lively conversations” centered around one jarring question: Does Joker really need to be about, like, the Joker?

2019 October 28, Laura Bradley, “Does Joker Really Have to Be About the Joker? Warner Bros. Execs Reportedly Debated Just That”, in Vanity Fair:

(Internet slang, sarcastic) Appearing to be insightful and profound, but actually absurd, incomprehensible, or nonsensical.


make an entrance

en-verb

make an entrance (third-person singular simple present makes an entrance, present participle making an entrance, simple past and past participle made an entrance)

makes an entrance (present singular third-person)
making an entrance (participle present)
made an entrance (participle past)
made an entrance (past)


Johnny no mates

en-noun

Johnny no mates (plural Johnny no mates)

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


grammelot

grammelot (countable and uncountable, plural grammelots)

Unknown. Dario Fo claims a French origin, and it has been linked to grommeler (“to grumble”).

Actually, much of “Mistero Buffo” doesn't require translation and indeed is untranslatable: Mr. Fo speaks in “grammelot,” a kind of polyglot gabble speckled with an occasional intelligible word.

1986 May 25, Scott Rosenberg, “Dario Fo, Italy's Political Clown, Pays a Visit”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

Then, dashing in and out of guises, using his expressive face and body and speaking in grammelot so that everyone can understand him, he might improvise. That would surely be a Nobel first, like the winner himself.

1997 October 15, Mel Gussow, “The Not-So-Accidental Recognition of an Anarchist”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

The language sounds random – “moot moot” and the rest – but it’s actually quite precise. Theatrically, it’s like Grammelot, a technique that has been used in theatre and commedia dell’arte for hundreds of years.

2016 January 11, David Sant, “How we made Pingu”, in The Guardian:

A style of language used in satirical theater: a gibberish with macaronic and onomatopoeic elements, used in association with mime and mimicry.


fairy opera

fairy opera (countable and uncountable, plural fairy operas)

(countable) An individual opera in this genre.


chamber opera

chamber opera (countable and uncountable, plural chamber operas)

(uncountable) A genre of opera written to be performed with a chamber ensemble.


DLP

(theater) Initialism of dead letter-perfect: having learned one's lines with perfect accuracy.


four-waller

With their audience's desires carefully measured and films made to match those desires, four-wallers then saturated local television markets with advertisements for their movies […]

2009, Joshua Blu Buhs, Bigfoot: The Life and Times of a Legend, page 155:

(film, theater) A company that rents a cinema or theater under a four-wall arrangement.


regie-book

From German Regiebuch, from Regie (“direction (of theatrical work)”) + Buch (“book”).

The director's action plot, prompt-book or regie-book — whichever he calls it — shows diagrammatically the relative positions and movements of the performers throughout the play.

1938, Theatre Arts Monthly, volume 22, page 513:

[…] he writes in the margins and blank pages all important statements made by the director about motivations and characterizations, about the cutting or adding of words or lines, the actors' comment on characters and dialogue — in short, the regie-book is a complete picture of what happened at rehearsals.

(theater) A director's notebook detailing the development of a production.


dress the house

en-verb

dress the house (third-person singular simple present dresses the house, present participle dressing the house, simple past and past participle dressed the house)

dresses the house (present singular third-person)
dressing the house (participle present)
dressed the house (participle past)
dressed the house (past)

[…] to pay this tax through inviting a certain class of the public, who are always invited, to theatres of standing to dress the house.

1917, Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons, Parliamentary Debates (Hansard), page cccxlvi:

[…] we critics were not his fellow-guests, but simply deadheads whose business it was to "dress the house" and write puffs.

1931, Bernard Shaw, Our Theatre in the Nineties, volume 24, page 246:

The box office in a reserved seat house and the ushers in a non-reserved situation are responsible for dressing the house—that is, seating the audience so as to elicit the maximum response, […]

1979, Lawrence Stern, School and Community Theater Management: A Handbook for Survival:

(theater) To position oneself, or others, so as to make the auditorium appear fuller than it really is.


Boston version

If a routine was on the blue side — unsuitable for families — performers might want to develop a Boston version so they could play the Sunday school circuit.

2005, Rosemarie Ostler, Dewdroppers, Waldos, and Slackers:

Some theaters put on censored “Boston versions” of shows. The Watch and Ward Society successfully stamped out what it considered indecency in Boston's public life. But this movement had unintended results.

2010, Christine Zuchora-Walske, Internet Censorship: Protecting Citizens or Trampling Freedom?:

(theater) A bowdlerized version of a play to appeal to puritanical sensibilities.


weird flex, but OK

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-weird flex, but OK.wav

In an ACU blog written in 2010, GATA's claim to fame is that they are the "oldest continuously named social club on the ACU campus" (weird flex, but OK).

2018, Lauren Franco, "Pink and green since 1919, ACU's oldest club", The Optimist (Abiline Christian University), 12 October 2018, page 10

To the girl who kept sending snapchats during lecture with her front flash on...weird flex but ok

2018, Courtney, quoted in "Shoutout," The Badger Herald (University of Wisconsin), 13 November 2018, page 21

Pencil – Doing assignments in pen? Weird flex but ok.

2019 September, Abby Paul, “What essential school supply did you forget?”, in The Bridge, University of Alberta, page 15:

Much like when an actor in a play breaks the fourth wall and speaks to the audience, but the other characters on stage, who also witnss the actor speaking and acting, don't understand to whom the actor is actually talking, and in this case neither does the actor himself, as it is an unconscious address. One is left asking, "why are you telling me this or doing this?" Or in more modern lingo, "that's a weird flex, but OK."

2020, Bethany Morris, Chase Kelly O'Gwin, Sebasteinne Grant, Sakenya McDonald, Subjectivity in Psychology in the Era of Social Justice, Routledge, →ISBN:

(Internet slang) Used to indicate that one finds an action or statement to be showy and strange.


citronella circuit

Coinage attributed to the actress Tallulah Bankhead. Citronella is an insect repellent that one might expect to use outdoors in summer.

They either starve, take up smuggling or invade the citronella circuit in a beat-up revival.

1951, LIFE, volume 30, number 26, page 94:

We don't mean just the usual fare of summer stock offerings, although it is certainly pleasant to see a recent Broadway hit or view a tryout for the Big Time on the so-called citronella circuit.

(theater, informal) The round of summer stock theater performances.


coffee and cakes

Most of our actors are working on the cooperative basis. Do you know what that means? It means you get part of it if it comes in, and in a lot of cases that means coffee and cakes.

1932, United States. Congress. Senate. Finance Committee, Revenue Act of 1932, Hearings:

Past jobs on air have paid coffee and cakes here.


bone apple tea

From a food photo uploaded on Facebook by Dunta Pickett on 1 August 2016, which was captioned “My BIRTHDAY dinner to myself...bone Apple tea.” It was screenshotted and posted on the Worldstar Hip Hop Facebook page and spread as a meme in a few days.

Whoever gets this car next is going to be pissed because the steering wheel is covered in oily dressing. Bone apple tea!

2016 November, Jesse Standing, “Review: Abandoned Salad”, in The Moot Times, University of Calgary, page 10, column 4:

He takes the other spoon, and we each dig out a bite of this gunk. I’m breathing through my mouth so I don’t have to smell so much of it, but all that means is I’m starting to taste it on the air instead. / “Ready?” Perry asks. / “Sure,” I say. “Bone apple tea.” / Perry laughs, and I hope there’s nothing called a bone apple that can be made into a tea, I’m just trying to be smartass while I can still talk without retching.

2017, L.A. Fields, “King of Fruits”, in Steve Berman, editor, His Seed: An Arboretum of Erotica, Unzipped Books, →ISBN, page 93:

“Bone apple tea,” they say to each other as they grill chicken and saute broccoli.

2022 April 1, Good Boy, “The goodest boy”, in The Bull, volume 97, Searcy, Ark.: Harding University, page 4A, column 3:

(humorous) Misconstruction of bon appétit


soloprov

I think performing soloprov would give me even more stagefright than I usually get doing improv with my team.

She mentioned a 15-minute set of "soloprov" where De La Bruere played all of the characters.

2017 March 16, Brent Hallenbeck, “Check out these up-and-coming comics”, in Burlington Free Press, archived from the original on 2020-03-31:

How do you rehearse for a soloprov show? Do you have any rituals?

2018 July 9, Holly, “Funny at the Fringe – Interview – Peter Marino – Show Up”, in Phoenix Remix, archived from the original on 2020-03-31:

I've also been using that time to put up soloprov showcases, where we have really great rotating lineups of both new and experienced solo improvisers.

2020 January 25, Alex Finch, “Interview: Michelle Drozdick”, in Comedy to Watch, archived from the original on 2020-03-31:

improvisational comedy
improvisational comedy#English

(comedy) Improv (usually improvisational comedy) performed by a single improviser.


groundrow

(theater) A low, narrow flat used to suggest the presence of a building, fence, hedge, etc.


skycloth

(theater) A backcloth depicting the sky.


Renthead

A devoted fan of the musical Rent, originally in reference to those fans that spent a night outside the Nederlander Theatre in order to get $20 tickets to the show.


oh worm

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

Humorous misspelling of "Oh, word?" as it appeared in an advice animal of late 2016. Spread through Tumblr as an Internet meme through early 2017.

I woke up today and I just don't feel like doing anything.
Oh worm. I know what you mean.

(Internet slang, humorous) Yes; I understand or can relate.


plot coupon

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[…] pain to see Clute single-handedly tackle multi-volume fantasy extrusion-product, with its flimsy plot coupons and its stale eucatastrophes.

2004, Foundation, volume 33, numbers 90-92, page 126:

(fandom slang) An object sought by a character in a story in order to achieve some objective, having little purpose beyond advancing the plot.


scène à faire

(theater, literary criticism) A scene which is demanded by the progression of the plot so far; an indispensable culminating scene.


postquel

I heard that Lucas will shoot all three of the prequels at the same time (like the last two Back To The Future movies were filmed together). The first prequel is shooting for '97 or '98 release. As to when the 'postquels' will be written, shot and released is anybody's guess. I just hope that George sticks with us long enuf for us to complete this amazing storyline.

1995 December 9, Michael Wolf, “Re: Sequel too???”, in rec.arts.sf.starwars.misc (Usenet):

In musicals, when they are not unabashedly revivals, the assumption seems to be all we need do is find appropriate chunks of recent, or not-so-recent, history and cleverly reformulate them. Remakes, re-dos, sequels, prequels, and postquels are all the rage in films, TV, and on the stage.

2001, Charles Marowitz, Stage Dust: A Critic's Cultural Scrapbook from the 1990s, Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, →ISBN, page 23:

I'm not saying we should see "The Return of Goldfinger" or "Bond has more fun with Honey Ryder", but it would be a fun and interesting way toi use a Bond that was the same age and time as Fleming's character, without having to resort to prequels, postquels, or parallel universes.

2004 April 14, Peredur Davies, “Re: New James Bond novels - what do you want to see?”, in alt.fan.james-bond (Usenet):

(narratology) A work of fiction which is set after the events of an earlier installment in a series but is not an immediate sequel.


mainpiece

A typical evening at the principal Dublin theatres could extend over five or six hours and consisted of a mainpiece, frequently with a prologue and epilogue, followed by one, and occasionally two, afterpieces.

1993, John C Greene, Gladys LH Clark, The Dublin Stage, 1720–1745, page 72:

Drury Lane and Covent Garden put on mainly spoken plays; the all-sung operas staged there were usually afterpieces in English, though operas with spoken dialogue also appeared among the mainpieces in various guises, including ballad opera and burletta.

2007, Michael Burden, edited by Moody & O'Quinn, British Theatre 1730-1830, page 205:

(theater) The primary play or other work performed at an evening's entertainment at the theatre, as opposed to smaller introductory or additional works.


return piece

(theater) Synonym of jog (“type of flat”)


memey

en-adj

memey (comparative memier, superlative memiest)

memier (comparative)
memiest (superlative)

Today his view is essentially that ROFL is just another element of the information cycle: he is the founder of BuzzFeed.com, a news-and-entertainment aggregator that’s partly devoted to these new sources of memey entertainment.

2010 July 16, Rob Walker, “When Funny Goes Viral”, in New York Times Magazine, →ISSN:

It’s true that things that seem very zeitgeisty at the moment may be incomprehensible to future generations,” he said. That’s particularly true these days, as each new word seems more memey than the last.

2015 January 16, Jessica Bennett, “At the Super Bowl of Linguistics, May the Best Word Win”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

While you’ll find a giddy variety of sounds on TikTok – ranging from the classic ('Paint It Black' by the Rolling Stones is currently trending) to the extremely memey (‘Be Gone Thot’ by an alien influencer called Lil Mayo) – the most consistently trending sounds tend to err towards the childlike.

2019 October 31, Emma Madden, “TikTok has broken rap music”, in Wired UK, →ISSN:

(informal) Characterized by or relating to memes.


memery

However, I would like to suggest that option 5, MORE MEMERY, would make alt.religion.kibology a better place. EVERYONE, MAKE UP MORE MEMES, WE MUST INCREASE OUR ROBUST EXPORTS OF NEOLOGIC MEMERY!

1998 November 9, James Kibo Parry, “what do we want poll”, in alt.religion.kibology (Usenet):

For example, “Memery: imitation, memory, and internet culture” at Massachusetts Museum of Modern Art in North ... A very comprehensive list of Ryan Gosling memes can be seen at http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/hey_girl_i_know_ ...

2014, Christopher Schaberg, Robert Bennett, Deconstructing Brad Pitt, Bloomsbury Publishing USA, →ISBN, page 133:

"Figuring out why the internet grew attached to SpongeBob is like trying to figure out why the internet likes (or dislikes) anything. It just happens. But something about Hillenburg's show proved irresistible to memery. The show’s characters—and its titular hero specifically—are expressive enough to communicate a mood in a single frame. The show's wholesome, if slyly subversive, tone makes recontextualizing those faces all the funnier."

2018 November 27, tmc...@gmail.com, “SpongeBob creator Stephen Hillenburg's legacy lives on in countless internet memes”, in alt.tv.nickelodeon (Usenet):

(Internet slang) The distribution of memes (usually humorous material copied and circulated online).


at liberty

(euphemistic, theater) Unemployed; out of work.


flicker wheel

(theater) A rotating perforated disc that gives a flickery effect to light coming from behind it.


metacomedic

metacomedic (comparative more metacomedic, superlative most metacomedic)

more metacomedic (comparative)
most metacomedic (superlative)


Hamilfan

The long-awaited “Hamilton” mixtape was released Friday, much to the delight of devoted Hamilfans, as the musical's most avid followers are called.

2016, Kaitlynn Milvert, "'Hamilton' mixtape is a success", Indiana Daily Student (Indiana University), 5 December 2016, page 4

“Hamilfans,” as they were called, lined the sidewalks of 46th Street, hoping to get tickets for the mega hit.

2017, Kat Harrison, Lin-Manuel Miranda: Composer, Actor, and Creator of Hamilton, page 57:

The popularity of the Broadway musical hit “Hamilton: An American Musical” displayed itself at a local event aimed at bringing together “Hamilfans” of all ages.

2018, "Hundreds show their enthusiasm for 'Hamiltunes'", The Laker (Land O' Lakes), 8 August 2018, page 1

(fandom slang) A fan of the musical Hamilton.


Hamiltrash

Blend of Hamilton + trash (“an obsessive fan”).

blend

If you are new or not a member of the Hamiltrash (what the fans are calling themselves these days), here is a crash course on what you need to know.

2016 March 5, Sarah Tipton, “I wanna be in the article where it happens”, in The Trinitonian, Trinity University, San Antonio, page 10:

Kelsey Mariano is certified Hamiltrash and can sing the entire musical from start to finish.

2016, Kelsey Mariano, "How Hamilton Revolutionized Theatre", Echoes (University of the Philippines Diliman), August 2016, page 75

It is interesting to observe how hashtags have allowed Hamilton and the self proclaimed #Hamiltrash to develop their own lingo, communicate about the show and about their lives using this lingo.

2017, Kim Hoftijzer, "'I Have To Be In The Room Where It Happens...': An Exploration On The Role Of Social Influence And Digital Media In The Rise Of Hamilton From Sixteen Bars To A Cultural Phenomenon", thesis submitted to Radboud University, page 56

(fandom slang) A fan of the musical Hamilton; the fandom of Hamilton collectively.


Fanilton

[…] but it was still a worthy introduction to a great show which surely turned many Grammy viewers into future Faniltons.

2016 February 15, L. V. Anderson, “Watch the Cast of Hamilton Perform the Electrifying Opening Number—and Win a Grammy”, in Slate:

Everyone from A-list actors to rap legends (and President Obama for good measure) has visited the Richard Rodgers Theatre, and luckily members of the show’s cast have documented these high profile “Faniltons” on their social media accounts.

2016 March 15, John Bonazzo, “Celebrities Can’t Get Enough of Broadway’s ‘Hamilton’”, in Observer:

By reaching the “Faniltons” in a way no other show has ever done before, Hamilton is changing the game again by heralding in a brand new era of audience engagement.

2017, Nicole Lust, "The Hamilution of Hamilton: How A Little Musical That Could Managed to Change the Face of a Generation", paper submitted to the University of Maryland, page 16


Jekkie

Blend of Jek(yll) + ie, possibly by analogy with Trekkie.

The show already has a built-in constituency of some 300 “Jekkies,” who trailed Wildhorn's other musical, Jekyll & Hyde, as it wound its way through the country before opening here last May.

1997 September 8, Rebecca Mead, “Theater Preview”, in New York Magazine, page 72:

So says -- nay, exclaims -- Pat Tortorella, an assistant bank manager from Staten Island who counts herself among the Jekkies, a fervent subculture of people from all over the country who are so enthralled by the Broadway musical Jekyll and Hyde that they see it again and again.

1997 December 14, “Jekyll Vibes”, in The New York Times:

They helped give their audience exactly what they wanted by offering special ticket discounting especially for their "Jekkies", as well as backstage visits with the stars, and more.

2004, Steven Rivellino, Bright Lights, Big Changes, page 60:

(fandom slang) A fan of the musical Jekyll & Hyde.


memeable

en-adj

memeable (comparative more memeable, superlative most memeable)

more memeable (comparative)
most memeable (superlative)

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I fear that a good number of viewers are going to watch the new Twin Peaks eagerly anticipating the charming, consumable, GIF-able, and meme-able elements: the comedy, the flirtations, the quizzical reaction shots, and dry banter; the ritual consumption of coffee, donuts, and pie; […]

2017 May 19, Ubiquitous, “Why Twin Peaks Is Not the Series We’ve Convinced Ourselves It Was”, in alt.tv.twin-peaks (Usenet):

Morwenna enjoying some Monster Munch in a very memeable Emilia Wickstead dress. [image caption]

2019 June 16, Morwenna Ferrier, “What does it meme? The rise and rise of the fashion viral”, in The Guardian:

(Internet slang) Able to be turned into a meme; having the potential to become a meme.


poison at the box office

(film, theater) An unappealing play or film that sells very few tickets.


playception

Playception: Each actor must portray a character playing another character.

2012, Maura Breen, "Latest play presents challenge for actors", Tan & Cardinal (Otterbein University), Volume 94, Issue 5, 26 September 2012, page 4 (image caption)

"[title of show]" tells the story about two guys writing a play about two guys who are writing a play. You get a play-ception sort of feel watching this performance.

2016, Katherine Bauer, "[title of show] plays off of reality in playwrights' struggles toward success", The Times-Delphic (Drake University), 2 March 2016, page 8

“It's playception,” junior Isabel Leiva described, explaining the premise of the play. With an endless list of costumes, props, and characters, and a play-within-a-play, the complexity of the show has proven to be a big challenge for the cast and crew.

2016, Taylor Balfour & Isabella Levine, "Noises Off: audience laughs on", The Tide (Richard Montgomery High School, Rockville, Maryland), May 2016, page 1

(slang) A play that portrays actors staging a play or features an internal play; a play-within-a-play.


in one

(theater) Performed downstage between the frontmost pieces of scenery.


park and bark

(theater, slang) Denoting a performer who speaks or sings while stationary, without moving or dancing.


ghost character

en-noun

ghost character (plural ghost characters)

Beside this detailed information which Hall provides about Matthew Gough, Shakespeare's Gough is a ghost character. There is, indeed, no way in which an audience could pick up who he is when he appears only to be killed immediately.

2003, Catherine M. S. Alexander, The Cambridge Shakespeare Library, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 231:

A ‘ghost’ character is one who is marked as present on stage, but given no lines to speak: many editors consider the inclusion of these characters to be an oversight on the part of the writer or printer, and so remove them from modern stage directions; […]

2010, David Coleman, John Webster, Renaissance Dramatist, Edinburgh University Press, →ISBN, page 68:

Joseph A. Porter's discussion of the ‘ghost character’ of Valentine in Romeo and Juliet is also illuminating: Porter describes Valentine as a ‘symptom or by-product of Mercutio's transformation’ from rival lover (in Shakespeare's source) to friend […]

2014, Lena Cowen Orlin, Othello, A&C Black, →ISBN, page 277:

(drama, literature) A character who is mentioned as appearing on stage, but who does not do anything, and who seems to have no purpose.


Weird Twitter

You may not be paid, but you've got major cred with Weird Twitter, so enjoy it while it lasts, @pizzahut.

2012, Kevin O'Toole & Nathaniel Edwards, "Abandon All Hope...", North by Northwestern, Fall 2012, page 51

Since being discovered, Weird Twitter has been poked, prodded, analyzed and made merciless fun of.

2013 November 12, Samantha Bares, “We should appreciate 'Weird Twitter'”, in The Daily Reveille, Louisiana State University, page 9:

Oftentimes, the funniest tweets emerge from the peculiar depths of "Weird Twitter," a subculture so twistedly surreal that it could curl Salvador Dali's moustache.

2015, Daniel Konikoff, "140 characters of comic gold", Varsity (The University of Toronto), 22 March 2015, page 18

(Internet) A community of Twitter accounts dedicated to satirical, absurdist, or subversive humor.


boat-in theatre

boat-in theatre (plural boat-in theatres)

An outdoor theatre, on the water, where patrons can pilot their boat into an anchorage position, to watch the show. These have become more common with the need for social distancing in the COVID-19 pandemic.


cottagecore

If you've ever yearned for an idyllic life in the country, then cottagecore is for you.

2021, Emily Kent, The Little Book of Cottagecore: Traditional Skills for a Simpler Life, page 5:

Underneath the clutter, the twin-size mattress was covered with a patchwork quilt and sheets dotted with tiny pink roses. There was a ruffled mint green bed skirt to match the ruffled gingham valance above the window. It was like standing in the cottagecore Holy Land.

2021, Susannah Nix, Elementary Romantic Calculus, unnumbered page:

I weeded and watered all while being nurtured myself. Working for Granny felt more like a cottagecore vacation than it should at times.

2021, Willa Reece, Wildwood Whispers, unnumbered page:

Each show spans over 180 minutes, including 40-plus songs from at least nine albums; there are 16 costume changes, pyrotechnics, an optical illusion in which she appears to dive into the stage and swim, and not one but two cottagecore worlds, which feature an abundance of moss.

2023 December 6, Sam Lansky, “Person of Year 2023 : Taylor Swift”, in Time:

(aesthetic) An aesthetic that celebrates a return to traditional skills and crafts associated with rural living, such as sewing, gardening, foraging, baking, and pottery.

shabby chic

interior design style favouring worn furniture


dinner theater

dinner theater (countable and uncountable, plural dinner theaters)

(uncountable, chiefly US) A form of entertainment in the United States that combines a restaurant meal with a staged play or musical.


over 9000

over nine thousand
over nine thousand#English


Miss Rona

2020 March 3, Holly G, “Take bezos miss Rona!”, in Twitter, retrieved 2022-03-05:

2020 March 19, @nessarayn01, “I’m up in the midlands where miss Rona can’t touch me […]”, in Twitter; quoted in Antonio Lillo, “COVID-19, the Beer Flu; or, The Disease of Many Names”, Lebende Sprachen, volume 65, issue 2, 2020, DOI:10.1515/les-2020-0021, →ISSN, page 418.

2020 October 17, “Need to Renew (Foreign) Passport at a Consulate in NYC – Questions About Miss Rona?”, in Reddit; quoted in Daisy Massey, Chenxi Huang, Yuan Lu, Alina Cohen, Yahel Oren, Tali Moed, Pini Matzner, et al., “Engagement with COVID-19 Public Health Measures in the United States: A Cross-sectional Social Media Analysis from June to November 2020”, in Journal of Internet Medical Research, volume 23, issue 6, article e26655, June 2021, DOI:10.2196/26655, →ISSN, appendix 1.

In the United States, the development of a “new reality” since Miss Rona’s coming of age and its social, cultural, economic, and political legacies of trauma were accelerated (and problematized) during former president Donald Trump’s regime (2016–2020; Howard and Utton 2020).

2021 October, Bharat Mehra, “Libraries Reclaiming ‘Social Justice Warriors’ During ‘Miss Rona’s’ Global Pandemic Crises”, in The Library Quarterly, volume 91, number 4, →DOI, →ISSN, page 386:

(slang) Personification of COVID-19, sometimes as a villain.


diazoma

From Ancient Greek δῐάζωμᾰ (diázōma, “girdle”).

der

(theater, Ancient Greece) A corridor that divided sections of an Ancient Greek theatre.


tableau curtain

en-noun

tableau curtain (plural tableau curtains)

(theater, chiefly in the plural) A stage curtain of a kind that rises diagonally, not revealing the entire stage.


cough and a spit

Ray Wise managed his back-to-black-hair role before joining Tim Robbins in Bob Roberts and James Marshall squeezed in his cough and a spit between Gladiator and joining the big boys (Nicholson, Cruise) in A Few Good Men […]

Everybody gargling madly and mugging up their lines as though Shakespeare himself was out front. Don't know why I bothered, I only had a cough and a spit.

1998, Ken Whitmore, Alfred Bradley, The Final Twist: A Play, page 20:


Death Trail

(US, theater, derogatory) A grueling and often unprofitable tour of small theaters from Chicago to the West Coast.


go to Cain's

en-verb

go to Cain's (third-person singular simple present goes to Cain's, present participle going to Cain's, simple past went to Cain's, past participle gone to Cain's)

goes to Cain's (present singular third-person)
going to Cain's (participle present)
went to Cain's (past)
gone to Cain's (participle past)

From the name of a company in New York City that rented out props and costumes.

[…] Norma Terris (who, so far as we had known, was born in Show Boat and went to Cain's with it) […]

1934, Stage, volume 11, numbers 7-12, page 7:

(US, theater, slang, dated) To close a show.


dark academia

Reportedly first emerged as an aesthetic tag on Tumblr in the mid-2010s.

Dark Academia has received valid criticism for its Eurocentrism and elitism.

2021, Jacqueline Kipping, "Dark academia", The Issue (Radboud University), Fall 2021, page 21

I thought that dark academia and brownstone mansions were all that Boston had to offer, or at least, it didn’t occur to me to even consider what might be beyond my idealistic vision.

2021, Caitlin Haviland, "Breaking the BU Bubble", The Buzz (Boston University), Fall 2021, page 67

As a recent example of the ‘dark academia’ trend in literature, the novel effectively examines and subverts the romanticised view of so-called ‘prestigious’ universities.

2023, Rebecca van Besouw, "Literature Spotlight: Babel by RF Kuang", PDBY (University of Pretoria), 8 May 2023, page 11

(Internet) An aesthetic popularized in the 2010s, centered on higher education, writing, the arts, and classic Greek and Gothic architecture, as well as romantic longing and death.


meme stock

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Journalists covering the story have tended to gesture towards possible impetuses, and there are undoubtedly many underlying factors that led to r/wallstreetbets’ choosing GameStop as a “meme stock”, which have surely evolved with the saga (screwing Wall Street; making money; a genuine belief in the fundamentals of GameStop’s business model).

2021 January 28, Dan Dixon, “Anarchy, in-jokes and trolling: the GameStop fiasco is 4chan-think in action”, in The Guardian:

Individual YOLO decisions can be chalked up to many factors: cabin fever, low interest rates, the emergence of new get-rich-quick schemes like NFTs and meme stocks.

2021 April 21, Kevin Roose, “Welcome to the YOLO Economy”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

(finance, Internet slang) A company's stock that is hyped up and overbought by inexperienced investors, leading it to be overvalued.


thrust stage

(theater) A stage that extends into the audience on three sides and is connected to the backstage area by its upstage end.


Regietheater

Borrowed from German Regietheater (“director's theater”).

bor

If nothing he [Patrice Chéreau] did for the screen had the genre-shaking impact of his stage work — his 1976 “Ring” cycle at Bayreuth helped usher in an era of Regietheater, or director’s theater — he did raise eyebrows with the sexually explicit “Intimacy” (2001), starring all of Mark Rylance, the corseted Olivia in the “Twelfth Night” that just ended its Broadway run.

2014 February 28, Rachel Saltz, “It Takes a Funeral: So Much Angst”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

(theater) The modern practice of allowing a director freedom to diverge from the original intentions of the playwright or operatist, for example by changing the geographical and chronological setting, or by adapting the work to highlight issues of race and gender.


11 o'clock number

en-noun

11 o'clock number (plural 11 o'clock numbers)

So called because, in the days when musical performances began at 8:30 p.m., such a song would occur around 11 p.m.

(theater) A showstopping song that occurs late in the second act of a two-act musical, often signifying a moment of revelation or change of heart of a lead character.


three-sheet

en-verb

three-sheet (third-person singular simple present three-sheets, present participle three-sheeting, simple past and past participle three-sheeted)

three-sheets (present singular third-person)
three-sheeting (participle present)
three-sheeted (participle past)
three-sheeted (past)

Now I don't think a man ought to be a spendthrift in order to be a good fellow, but a ball player getting four thousand a year shouldn't three-sheet himself every time he lets go of a quarter.

1916 March 11, Charles E. Van Loan, “His Folks”, in Saturday Evening Post:

The Ballet Theatre surprised everybody. This top-heavy art trust, three-sheeted as “the greatest collaboration in ballet history,” functioned prodigiously through a long three weeks' sprint.

1939, Modern Music, volumes 17-18, page 187:

The leading man often wore a blond wig in some parts, and his entrance through the center door was a studied art, surpassed only by his "three-sheeting" ability in front of the post office at mail time.

1972, William L. Slout, Theatre in a Tent:

[…] where he could afford the best seats in the theater, and where the stories thrilled him to the core, and the sentiments of the characters could be understood and approved by every true-born Englishman, where the actors tore their lungs and three-sheeted their passions for his exclusive benefit.

1973, N. Allardyce, British Drama, page 277:

(theater) To exaggerate, hype up, or show off.


blackout skit

(theater) A skit after which all the lights are extinguished.


theater kid

(informal, American spelling) A school student who has a great affinity for theater (drama).


exeunt omnes

From Latin exeunt omnēs (“they all exit; exit all”).

bor

(theater) In plays, an instruction that all actors should leave the stage.

mind el

in plays, an instruction that all actors should leave the stage


love story

→ German: Lovestory

→ Italian: love story


rhesis

Such speeches (like the rheses) have the distinction of length, often exceeding one hundred lines; they give the impression that for a time dramatic effect is suspended, and, as a substitute, the recognised features of Epic Poetry supply a new interest.

1890, Richard Green Moulton, The Ancient Classical Drama: A Study in Literary Evolution, page 145:

The chorus or chorus-coryphaeus is followed by a rhesis of the actor, followed in its turn by a stichic dialogue A/actor which usually culminates in a stichomythia.

1975, Francisco Rodríguez Adrados, Festival, Comedy and Tragedy: The Greek Origins of Theatre, page 147:

A scheme that includes tetrameter sets off the rhesis from dialogue even more starkly , but it considerably enhances the potential of actor-chorus dialogue to be an effective balance to the long speech.

1982, Ann N. Michelini, Tradition and Dramatic Form in "The Persians" of Aeschylus, page 60:

(theater, Ancient Greece) A passage of text in a play.


syuzhet

From Russian сюже́т (sjužét), from French sujet, from Latin subiectum.

(narratology) The way in which the story is told throughout a book or film; an employment of narrative.


stage set

The disposition of props, scenery, etc. for a play.


countercross

(theater) The crossing of the stage by two actors going in opposite directions.


countercross

en-verb

countercross (third-person singular simple present countercrosses, present participle countercrossing, simple past and past participle countercrossed)

countercrosses (present singular third-person)
countercrossing (participle present)
countercrossed (participle past)
countercrossed (past)

(theater) To cross the stage in opposite directions.


dog town

He's rehearsing his first-born for a dog-town opening next week.

1917, W. J. Thorold, Arthur Hornblow, Perriton Maxwell, Theatre Magazine, volume 25, page 42:

And speaking of Mr. Sloan, I note that he believes Chicago is taking New Haven's place as a dog-town.

1923, The Drama, volumes 14-15, page 91:

(theater, colloquial) A town at which a play is performed for a less important audience to gauge the likelihood of general success.


character part

A supporting part played by a character actor.


Chitlin' Circuit

(historical, theater) A collection of venues throughout the eastern, southern, and upper Midwest areas of the United States where African-American performers were accepted despite racial segregation.


bald-headed row

en-noun

bald-headed row (plural bald-headed rows)

(theater, slang) The front row of a theatre, traditionally occupied by elderly men and playboys.


proppy

en-adj

proppy (comparative proppier, superlative proppiest)

proppier (comparative)
proppiest (superlative)

Because Magnolias is such a proppy show, speedy changes are a challenge.

On the other hand, 'Othello was very proppy,' recalls Donnellan, 'with teacups and glasses and furniture.

1991, Simon Reade, Cheek by Jowl: Ten Years of Celebration, Oberon Books, →ISBN:

It's a very proppy show with thirty chairs, pots and pans to set, paintbrushes, and glasses which need to be washed and cleaned for the café scene.


fluff one's lines

en-verb

fluff one's lines (third-person singular simple present fluffs one's lines, present participle fluffing one's lines, simple past and past participle fluffed one's lines)

fluffs one's lines (present singular third-person)
fluffing one's lines (participle present)
fluffed one's lines (participle past)
fluffed one's lines (past)

(drama) Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: To stumble over or otherwise misspeak one's lines.


boat truck

(theater) A low wheeled platform used to move scenery.


BLAM

big-lipped alligator moment
big-lipped alligator moment#English

Initialism of big-lipped alligator moment.


big-lipped alligator moment

en-noun

big-lipped alligator moment (plural big-lipped alligator moments)

Coined in a 2009 Nostalgia Critic review of FernGully: The Last Rainforest, referring to a scene in the 1989 film All Dogs Go to Heaven, in which an alligator breaks into an Esther Williams-style musical number.

This may be the first case where the *entire* movie is a Big Lipped Alligator Moment . . .

(fandom slang) A notably unusual, tangential scene in a movie or similar work of fiction, which occurs without setup and does not affect the story afterward.

All Dogs Go to Heaven
Esther Williams
FernGully: The Last Rainforest
Nostalgia Critic


ligma

Used for its sounding similarity to "lick my (balls)" in colloquial speech.
Perhaps reminiscent of Greek terms like sigma, omega, tagma, etc., used commonly in English in various scientific contexts.

"Hey, have you heard of ligma?" "What's ligma?" "Ligma balls!"

If you've been online for the past 24 hours, you may have heard of a mysterious illness called "Ligma". The internet is going crazy after an internet personality, Tyler "Ninja" Blevins supposedly died from the new disease.

2018 July 23, Jasmine Girn, “What Is "Ligma" And Why Is Everyone Talking About It”, in Narcity:

Recent reports said that Youtube^([sic]) and Fortnite content creator Fe4rLess died of a medical condition called Ligma.

2020 June 11, Mohit Kumar, “Fortnite: Fe4rless (Fearless) death rumour that he died of Ligma is fake”, in Sportskeeda:

Later on, Heafy did issue an apology towards Machine Gun Kelly following these comments. "I’d like to publicly apologize for my tasteless comments about MGK," he said. "I just found out he's been afflicted by the Ligma variant. It’s really getting real out there. Thoughts and prayers homie."

2021 September 29, Matt Heafy (quoted), Cillian Breathnach, “Trivium's Matt Heafy "formally disses" Machine Gun Kelly for wearing a "16 year old pop punk cosplay identity on a fucking stage"”, in Guitar.com:

Pranksters fooled some media members into thinking they'd been laid off by Elon Musk soon after his Twitter takeover. In reality, they were making reference to a common internet joke involving testicles. […] one of the pranksters had told reporters their name was "Rahul Ligma."

2022 October 28, Tim Marcin, “Pranksters fool some media members after Elon Musk's Twitter takeover”, in Mashable:

(chiefly Internet, humorous) A fictional ostensible disease coined to sound similar to "lick my balls" (used to trick a person into asking the meaning).


clown world

Emerged from The Honkler, a version of Pepe the Frog meme featuring a red clown nose and rainbow wig, characterized as honking a bicycle horn whenever liberals speak. That meme is associated with the use of honk honk ("HH") as a dog whistle for Heil Hitler.

[…] instead of the young boys growing up to be feminine, weak cry babies like they are in the modern ultra-liberal clown world they live in today.

2020 December 10, James Nicholls, How Uk Should Be, Xlibris Corporation, →ISBN:

"Bloody idiots. But remember, this is an age when hurty feelings come above everything else, especially free speech. Sums up our stupid clownworld backward feminut times, eh?"

2020, P. J. Vanston, Somewhere in Europe, unnumbered page:

But he wasn't a chad. If you are not a chad you are literally an unperson in this clown world.

2021, anonymous, quoted in Martin Robinson, You Are Not the Man You Are Supposed to Be: Into the Chaos of Modern Masculinity, unnumbered page

(slang, derogatory, alt-right) The current absurd and irrational state of global society from the perspective of the alt-right movement.


bury your gays

(fandom slang) A fiction trope where gay characters tend to die or generally meet some bad end.


art director

A person who supervises and unifies the vision of an artistic production, including its visual appearance and psychological appeal to a target audience.

taiteellinen johtaja

person charged with overseeing the artistic elements of an entertainment medium


main rag

(theater, slang) Synonym of front curtain


proscenium curtain

proscenium curtain (plural proscenium curtains)


front curtain

(theater) The curtain or curtains at the very front of the stage, separating it from the house.


gigachad

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From giga- + Chad (“a very attractive man”). Although isolated uses exist earlier, the term was popularized by an anonymous poster on the 4chan /pol/ board on October 17th, 2017, who referred to Russian model Ernest Khalimov as "Gigachad". See Gigachad for more.

I heard Robert just donated $500 to Team Trees. What an absolute gigachad!

I have a lot of respect to Tarik for being a gigachad.

2022 March 27, Olivia Richman, “Doublelift calls Tarik "gigachad" for condemning JasonR's sexist behavior”, in Inven Global, archived from the original on 2024-02-05:

As per his IGN interview, LMSH took 242 tries to beat Malenia on his own. After this, he just decided that no other player has to suffer the same fate he did. What an absolute GigaChad.

2022 April 18, RJ Pierce, “Legendary 'Elden Ring' Player 'Let Me Solo Her' Is Now Immortalized In A Mod”, in Tech Times, archived from the original on 2023-03-25:

His meteoric rise from ironic gigachad to actual gigachad is a huge story in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, but he just one-upped his own reputation. In an RMR match against Ecstatic, HooXi scored an insane HLTV rating of 2.21.

2022 October 5, Kenneth Williams, “HooXi just outfragged the rest of G2 against Ecstatic”, in WIN.gg, archived from the original on 2023-09-25:

(by extension, Internet slang, sometimes sarcastic) An extremely admirable man; a Chad among Chads.


fourth wall joke

fourth wall joke (plural fourth wall jokes)

(theater, film, television) A joke that intentionally draws attention to the illusion of separation between the audience and the fiction itself.


sir, this is a Wendy's

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One of the comments:
 "I got the whole alphabet right, even the hard part where you have to say LMNOP! The doctors were really impressed!"
 "Sir, this is a Wendy's"

2020 July 24, jthr...@gmail.com, “Re: LOL!”, in alt.guitar.amps (Usenet):

Sir, this is a Wendy's. (Full disclosure: this isn't a Wendy's. This is a sex-advice column, JACKS, and sex-advice columnists are not matchmakers. So you'll have to find and/or hire a phone-sex provider on your own.)

2022, Dan Savage, "When an asexual says 'no', she means no", The Georgia Straight, 17 February 2022 - 24 February 2022, page 17

“You must be in so much pain to keep posting bikini pictures at your age,” a follower commented on longtime supermodel Paulina Porizkova’s Instagram this week. “I pray you can come to terms with your mortality.”
This comment has big “Sir, this is a Wendy’s” energy, or at least, “Sir, if seeing a woman’s exposed flesh compels you to bring up her death, the internet might not be the healthiest place for you right now” vibes. But Porizkova, who is 57 and known for having a good sense of humor, responded with another bikini pic, adding, “As you can see, I’m suffering indeed.”

2022 May 2, Jenny Singer, “Women Are Calling Themselves ‘Old and Ugly’ on Twitter—And It’s Actually Super Heartwarming”, in Glamour:

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

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


sir, this is an Arby's

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-sir, this is an Arby's.wav

From a humorous Internet meme that envisions a character giving a strange, rambling monologue, with the punchline being a fast-food employee reminding them that they are in a restaurant. This format of joke is first attested in a November 2011 tweet by American screenwriter Ethan Hunter (@ethanhunter).

Setting aside the fact that Trump inviting a group of lawmakers to the White House to discuss trade policy only to launch into an out-of-nowhere rant about one of his enemies being fat is the definition of the phrase “ma’am, this is an Arby’s,” Trump’s hatred for Nadler goes way back.

2019 April 9, Bess Levin, “Trump's Radical Anti-Impeachment: Fat Jokes”, in Vanity Fair:

When you’re doing your job as a journalistic commentator in its highest form, you’re drawing new parallels, expanding the Overton Window, opening people’s minds and also ensuring them they aren’t alone in their frustrations with the status quo. When done at its most hacky, however, you’re ranting at people, making leaps and assumptions that gloss over reality, casting yourself as omniscient genius, and generally just pulling real “Sir, this is an Arby’s” shit.

2021 October 13, Blair Stenvick, “If I Ever Run for Governor, Please Don't Vote for Me”, in Portland Mercury:

I wonder if you’re familiar with the “Sir, this is an Arby’s” meme. Let me illustrate it for you:
Person A [with aggressive aggravation]: Can you believe it? The other day, I heard someone refer to the book of Genesis. Surely you KNOW that Genesis is not just “a book,” but the first part of the Pentateuch, and the Pentateuch is a five-fold book, not five books. Do you know what the first word is in Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy? It’s and. BOOM. What did Jesus call the Torah? “The book of Moses.” Not the books of Moses.
Person B [laconically]: Sir, this is an Arby's.

2020 September, Alex Duke, “'Sir, This Is a Local Church'— Or, How an Absurdist Meme about a Roast Beef Shop Might Help Heal Our Church”, in 9Marks Journal, page 142:

(Internet slang) Used to indicate that one finds a statement to be bizarre, tangential, or inappropriate for the context in which it is made.


gamecraft

It is true that now and again, but very seldom, what I should call honest gamecraft like “bowling with the head” may be pursued dangerously near to downright cheating.

1936, The National Review - Volume 107, page 776:

Most of his work involves gamecraft – dealing with through balls, distribution and organising the defence.

2014, Alex Welsh, The Soccer Goalkeeping Handbook 3rd Edition, page 117:

Nineteenth-century children showed no such ability to cross gamecraft barriers.

1959, Brian Sutton-Smith, The Games of New Zealand Children, page 164:

regular competitive games against better teams of higher quality (so long as the gulf in quality is not too big) sharpens sides, teaches them how to organise themselves, gives them gamecraft.

2013 March, Jonathan Wilson, “Eat Them Like Bread”, in The Blizzard - The Football Quarterly, volume 8, page 115:

The captain merely smiled and said, “It is a bit of gamecraft, Doctor. This Bancroft is our man, and has been for some time.”

2016, Michael J. Martinez, The Daedalus Incident Revised:

Skill in the strategy and tactics of playing a game or games, as opposed to the physical skills of strength, dexterity, accuracy, etc.

Using Gadamer's game terminology, the kind of artistry that Sayers describes is a form of gamecraft, wherein the artist is able to draw us into the “play” of the poem, film, novel, or play.

2012, Philip Tallon, The Poetics of Evil: Toward an Aesthetic Theodicy, page 60:

Most virtual-world gamecraft portrays underground rivers as static features to be negotiated, much the same as magic mountains or pits to doom.

2021, Richard J. Heggen, Underground Rivers, page 395:

Artistry in the organization and elements used to design a game or storyline.

While the woodcock and wilson's snipe are fated to disappear as civilization robs them of their restricted feeding-grounds, Bob White, if protected by the enforcement of judicious game laws, will thrive in the midst of cultivated lands, and will continue to test the gamecraft and marksmanship of future generations.

1883, Alfred Marshall Mayer, Sport with Gun and Rod in American Woods and Waters, page 669:

[…] men and women of fine physique, considerable intelligence and with a wonderful skill in gamecraft and all that pertains to obtaining the essentials of their existence — food and water.

1930, Sir Ewen MacLean, A B.M.A. Odyssey, page 40:

“Here are those trappers, lady, well trained and stout of heart, In woodcraft wise, in gamecraft wise, their lives at my behest.”

2013, Caroline A. F. Rhys Davids, Stories of the Buddha: Being Selections from the Jataka, page 171:

Skill and knowledge about hunting and managing game.

There are three primary means of establishing dominance: the facedown, the gamecraft and the duel.

1994, Mark Rein-Hagen, Robert Hatch, Bill Bridges, Werewolf: The Apocalypse, page 36:

In gamecraft, the Garou compete in a contest of skill or wits: a riddle contest, a chess match or the like. Gamecraft is usually considered a valid means of establishing dominance when facing mental conundrums.

Do you think these scars I wear are badges of gamecraft?

2001, Gherbod Fleming, Werewolf, page 266:

(fantasy) A type of dominance competition practiced by werewolves that focuses on cleverness, wit, and cunning.


can I speak to the manager haircut

can I speak to the manager haircut (plural can I speak to the manager haircuts)

can I speak to the manager haircuts (plural)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-can I speak to the manager haircut.wav

From a 2014 meme pairing a photo of a white woman with an asymmetrical blond bob with the text "The 'Can I Speak To A Manager' Haircut".

But after a banshee of a woman with a 'can I speak to your manager' haircut howled at us (apparently this was "singing", though we're still yet to confirm it) for an hour we decided it was best to seek the comforts of the motel, its panoramic views of the roundabout and reruns of Midsomer Murders.

2016, Lachlan Sharp, "Lake Placid", The Reef (Beaumaris Yacht Club), Volume 7, Issue 2, Summer/Autumn 2016, page 16

In the first ten seconds of an educational video, Pam, with her double-denim and 'can I speak to the manager' haircut, says ominously: […]

2017, Erin Christie, "Nobody Told Me", Grapeshot (Macquarrie University), Volume 9, Issue 7 (2017), page 29

A middle-aged boomer with a can-I-speak-to-the-manager haircut who has lots of opinions about lots of things but none of them feel all that well thought out.

2020, Portia MacIntosh, Stuck On You, unnumbered page:

(slang, derogatory) A hairstyle associated with entitled middle-aged white women, typically a layered, asymmetrical bob with blond highlights.


Karen haircut

From the use of Karen, beginning in the late 2010s, as a pejorative for an entitled middle-aged white woman. The association of a specific hairstyle with this type of woman began with a 2014 meme pairing a photo of a white woman with an asymmetrical blond bob with the text "The 'Can I Speak To A Manager' Haircut".

There was no misinformation from middle-aged women on Facebook with Karen haircuts.

2020 April 27, Vic Bell, “A Nation In Paralysis”, in Salient, Victoria University of Wellington, page 14:

A woman with a Karen haircut pointed at a hall in the back […]

2020, A. W. Hartoin, Bottle Blonde (published 15 September 15 2020), unnumbered page

The blonde with the Karen haircut had terrible acne, which she concealed with makeup.

2020, Matthew Archbold, American Antigone (published 16 September 2020), page 117


groyper

/ˈɡɹɔɪ.pə(ɹ)/

Unknown. First attested in c. 2015 on 4chan, almost always accompanied with a distinct Pepe the Frog illustration, predating associations with Nick Fuentes.

(Internet slang) A large, green, cartoon toad with a strange mischievous expression, similar to Pepe the Frog.


memeworthy

en-adj

memeworthy (comparative more memeworthy, superlative most memeworthy)

more memeworthy (comparative)
most memeworthy (superlative)

Clips from 1980s cartoons are usually pretty memeworthy.

Facebook's filters are also designed to notice the already popular, frequently clicked items while disregarding other, less memeworthy ones.

2013, Evgeny Morozov, To Save Everything, Click Here: Technology, Solutionism, and the Urge to Fix Problems that Don’t Exist, Penguin UK, →ISBN:

... but they are far from memeworthy. One question that social media can help us ask our students is: what can poetry (and literature more generally) do in ...

2015, Frederick Luis Aldama, Latino/a Literature in the Classroom: Twenty-first-century approaches to teaching, Routledge, →ISBN:

That was kind of memeworthy. I'm impressed.” “Your mum and I were over at Joe's the other night. Twenty years he's been there, Michael.

2017, Randa Abdel-Fattah, The Lines We Cross, Scholastic Inc., →ISBN:

... opened up under the rear wheels of a bus during morning rush hour, producing memeworthy images that have given the city an image it would like to shake.

2021, Justin Starr, Water and Wastewater Pipeline Assessment Technologies: Classification Systems, Sensors, and Results Interpretation, CRC Press, →ISBN, page 19:

(Internet slang) Deserving of Internet memes.


logie

Said to be from the name of the inventor, David Logie.

This is most probably imitated by a bit of hollowed out pewter, polished in various concavities, and called, in the terms of theatrical jewelry, a Logie.

1847, Albert Smith, The Natural History of the Ballet-girl, page 14:

(theater, archaic) A piece of fake jewellery, typically made from zinc.


en-proverb

that which has been seen cannot be unseen

what has been seen cannot be unseen#English

Alternative form of what has been seen cannot be unseen


memecoin

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

(cryptocurrencies) A cryptocurrency or token that is based on a meme or has a comedic trait.


on the book

That was the “set-up” in the Venner Repertory Company, and I must state that they needed very few prompts, even on the first nights of which we had two a week! I was “on the book” , gave all the “lighting and effects signals” […]

1954, Harald Melvill, Theatrecraft: The A to Z of Show Business, page 103:

I was on the book in the prompt corner on stage right.

2004, Michael Hallifax, Let Me Set the Scene, page 340:


hold the book

en-verb

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

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

In a little time, and you'll cease to hold the book to men and women; no, you'll have to prompt nothing but earthquakes, and give the word to nobody but dragons and flying fish.

1860, Douglas Jerrold, Blanchard Jerrold, The Brownrigg Papers, page 133:

Here we are! now then," he said, as they entered the theatre, "clear the stage, all ready for the first piece. Who'll hold the book? Here, Puzzleton, you've nothing to do, just prompt will you, like a good fellow?

1869, Hawley Smart, Breezie Langton, volume 1, page 190:


keep the book

keep the book (third-person singular simple present keeps the book, present participle keeping the book, simple past and past participle kept the book)

keeps the book (present singular third-person)
keeping the book (participle present)
kept the book (participle past)
kept the book (past)

[…] or people with very specific responsibilities such as keeping the book or prompting (as in opera).

2018, Peter Maccoy, Essentials of Stage Management:

(theater) Synonym of hold the book (“to act as prompter”)


Corporal Forbes

(military, slang, archaic) gastroenteritis


point of divergence

en-noun

point of divergence (plural points of divergence)

In alternate history, the point where events diverge from real history.


the ghost walks

An allusion to a scene in Shakespeare's play Hamlet.

Ask the regular staff at any theatre when the ghost walks and the chances are that the answer will be — on a Friday, ie pay night (unless that happens to be on a Thursday!).

2010, John Harper, editor, Tales of Haunted Places:

(theater, humorous) The manager comes to pay the company's salaries.


five and nine

From the product numbering used by the Leichner cosmetics company.

Not much "beautiful dignity" about her now! she thought, looking at her smudged eyes and the tracks her tears had made in carefully applied five and nine. Her black tin box of makeup — her most treasured possession — sat before her, […]

1995, Elizabeth Jane Howard, Marking Time, page 263:

[…] before many years had passed I would be plastered in the greasy 'five and nine' cosmetics beloved of the theatrical profession.

2014, Evadne Hinge, The Naked Doctor, page 69:

The sticks of Leichner were notoriously hard and difficult to spread. […] In theatre dressing rooms the hot bulbs surrounding the actors' mirrors were often streaked with five and nine, which helped to soften the stuff.

2016, James Hayes, Shouting in the Evenings, page 80:

(theater, informal) Basic facial greasepaint makeup.


shocked Pikachu

shocked Pikachu (plural shocked Pikachus)

From an Internet meme based on a screencap of Pikachu with a shocked expression from the 1997 episode "Bulbasaur and the Hidden Village" of the animated series Pokémon: Indigo League.

Olivia's shocked-Pikachu face shifts into a full-on scowl.

2020, Anna Meriano, “Just Tell Them You Play Soccer”, in Game On: 15 Stories of Wins, Losses, and Everything in Between, page 180:

I swear to god I had both of my eyes bulging out with my mouth wide open looking like a shocked Pikachu.

2021, Sunehar Aneja, Angela Mathew, editors, And The Dandelions Fell Apart, page 83:

She didn't have to look so friggin' surprised about it. Like a shocked Pikachu.

2021, Yayoi Ogawa, translated by Rose Padgett, Knight of the Ice 7, page 56:

(Internet slang) A Pikachu with a specific open-mouthed, erect-ear expression signifying shock and astonishment, especially regarding something that one should have expected.


gagsmith

A Night at the Opera remains the Marx brothers' finest film, a serendipitous sample of the professional gagsmith's craft allied to preordained characters […]

2002 June 28, Simon Louvish, “Simply the best”, in The Guardian:


Wojak

Etymology tree
Proto-Balto-Slavic *wajas
Proto-Slavic *vojь
Proto-Slavic *-akъ
Proto-Slavic *vojakъ
Polish wojakbor.
English Wojak
From the Internet meme Wojak, a cartoon drawing of a bald man with a wistful or melancholic expression. The original image was posted on vichan, a Polish imageboard, in 2009, and was later reposted to the German imageboard krautchan in 2010 by a Polish user called "wojak"; the username is from Polish wojak (“soldier; fighter”).

etymon

From the original manifestation of a wistful look to the meme of two Wojaks hugging with the tag “I know that feel bro,” he has taken on contexts in male-dominated internet spaces that signify a brotherhood of sorts.

2020, Soham Gadre, “Inside the Male-Dominated Meme Hijacked by Lib-Bashing Trumpsters”, in Daily Beast:

Owing to their coarsely drawn, unyielding masculine outlines, Wojaks are especially compatible with efforts to channel aggression.

2021, Jeffrey Demsky, Nazi and Holocaust Representations in Anglo-American Popular Culture, 1945–2020, page 112:

These figures, which regularly appear as characters in other meme formats, make variants of Doomer (male, female, boy, etc.) one of the most prevalent meme tropes of the early 2020s, with both a vertical reach (as straight copies of the original Doomer format) and a horizontal one (as variants in form, gender, and age, and, since late 2020, race – with Black Wojaks going viral).

2021, Mike Watson, The Memeing of Mark Fisher: How the Frankfurt School Foresaw Capitalist Realism and What To Do About It, page 50:

(Internet slang) An online image of a crudely-drawn person, often with a melancholic expression, with an art style based upon the original Wojak.


love polygon

/ˈlʌv ˈpɒlɪɡən/

This entangled love polygon (for it is far larger than a triangle) would seem to be at the heart of the conflict among the characters.6 Clearly, unrequited love, love triangles, intense fascinations, the absurdities of love,[…]

2020 November 17, Dianne Rothleder, Fraught Decisions in Plato and Shakespeare, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, →ISBN, page 43:

A situation in which at least two people vie for the love of another individual.


alien space bats

Coined in the Usenet newsgroup soc.history.what-if.

(fandom slang) An implausible point of divergence from reality, used as a plot device in alternate history.


deez nuts

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

After a bit of back-and-forth, the man suddenly shouts “Deez nuts!”, and since then, it’s become a viral joke.

2021 May 8, “TikTok: What are 'Deez Nuts' Jokes?”, in HITC, archived from the original on 2022-04-14:

Nick Saban is known for his solemn and stern demeanor. So when Alabama safety Jordan Battle revealed his head coach has an affinity for "deez nuts" jokes, it was both shocking and hilarious.

2021 September 21, “Mac Jones confirms Nick Saban's love for 'deez' jokes”, in NBC Sports:

It's got crunchy mixed in frozen fruits and is designed to be eaten with a spoon. Hard to make fun of deez nuts in our mouth.

2022 January 18, “This peanut butter made for gamers actually sounds delicious”, in PC Gamer:

The best part is, of course, when he says “it’s time for love and unity” after flipping everyone off and shortly before telling them to suck “deez nuts.”

2022 March 11, “Kid Rock Is So Unoriginal, He Made the Same Bad Music Video All Over Again”, in Metal Sucks:

(Internet slang, humorous) these nuts (testicles)


sequelize

en-verb

sequelize (third-person singular simple present sequelizes, present participle sequelizing, simple past and past participle sequelized)

sequelizes (present singular third-person)
sequelizing (participle present)
sequelized (participle past)
sequelized (past)

Coordinate term: prequelize

I know that nearly all books can be sequelized.

1994 December 13, Matt Rindfleisch, “What did Anne Rice intend?”, in alt.books.anne-rice (Usenet), retrieved 2022-03-19:

The films that are sequelized were never great art. They were made for money, pure and simple....cynical as it that seems it's true I'm afraid.....Sequels are only made because the demand *is* there.

1998 March 26, Justin Kerswell, “I kinda like Horror sequels..........so crucify me!”, in alt.horror (Usenet), retrieved 2022-03-19:

Anyway truly great films are difficult to sequelise (new word??) as they generally wrap up pretty well.

2000 January 11, kre...@usq.edu.au, “Announce: Sid Meier's Animal Farm”, in comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.strategic (Usenet), retrieved 2022-03-19:

Now THERE was an episode screaming to be sequelized in TNG... or, better yet, DS9.

2003 January 11, Scott Lowther, “Morality of war (was Re: [Humor] Defenders of the US)”, in alt.tv.star-trek.tos (Usenet), retrieved 2022-03-19:

If you could choose 5 games from the Playstation^([sic])/Saturn/N64 generation and earlier, consoles only, to be remade (not sequelized) for the current generation of consoles, which games would they be?

2007 October 24, The alMIGHTY N, “Which PS/Saturn/N64 games would you like remade for the current generation?”, in alt.games.video.xbox (Usenet), retrieved 2022-03-19:

(transitive, informal) To release a sequel to (a work).


sequelization

From sequelize + -ation or sequel + -ization.

Coordinate term: prequelization

Lucas DID NOT invent rampant sequelisation (?)

1994 April 26, 9348...@vax1.dcu.ie, “sequals^([sic])”, in alt.cult-movies (Usenet), retrieved 2022-03-19:

That's because mass marketing and sequelization KILLED good horror.

1998 June 26, Rev. Evil Ed, “No more Star Wars for you!”, in alt.horror (Usenet), retrieved 2022-03-19:

Sequelization or sequelization potential!

1998 August 27, Amanda Van Rhyn, “MiSTing: Holodeck Series - part 2”, in alt.tv.mst3k.mstings (Usenet), retrieved 2022-03-19:

Spiderman^([sic]) 1 was a pretty decent film. Spiderman 2 was ok, but I was already beginning to tire of the sequelization of it. Spiderman 3 I avoided, being officially weary of the sequelization of it. And that's what my Spidey sense tells me.

2007 June 26, W/Q, “AFI's Top 100 Movies”, in rec.arts.tv (Usenet), retrieved 2022-03-19:

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


scene pack

(theater) A set of flats stored together for use in a particular scene.


prequelize

prequelize (third-person singular simple present prequelizes, present participle prequelizing, simple past and past participle prequelized)

prequelizes (present singular third-person)
prequelizing (participle present)
prequelized (participle past)
prequelized (past)

Coordinate term: sequelize

Psycho has been sequelized, cable-TV prequelized, made into a short-lived TV series, and now it's been remade. Someone in Hollywood keeps trying to franchize^([sic]) this movie with some pretty bad results.

1998 December 5, Phineas Narco, “'PSYCHO' SUCKS!!!”, in rec.arts.movies.current-films (Usenet), retrieved 2022-03-19:

FWIW, another of my favorite movies inspired a novel not too long ago. Casablanca was prequelized/sequelized in the novel As Time Goes By, by Michael Walsh.

1999 August 5, Steve Roby, “Jeter Novels; BR2 & BR3”, in alt.fan.blade-runner (Usenet), retrieved 2022-03-19:

When Feist started grafting onto the end of the Riftwar saga (which had got rather dull by the third book anyway), I started to get irritated. Then McCaffrey started sequelising and prequelising as though she had a fifth mortgage to pay off, and the whole damn mess seems to have gone to hell in a handbasket.

1999 December 2, Meg Thornton, “The business”, in alt.sysadmin.recovery (Usenet), retrieved 2022-03-19:

Also, there's plenty of room in there for Alien 5 to prequelize Alien 4 and sequel Alien 3 and explain that something *did* happen there if indeed it wasn't destroyed.

2002 April 21, David Thomas, “LV 426 - the aftrermath. AR is pointless”, in alt.cult-movies.alien (Usenet), retrieved 2022-03-19:

In 2011, the Swedish director Matthijs van Heijningen Jr. tried to “prequelize” Carpenter’s movie, but even though his “Thing” was set in the days before the 1982 version, it was more or less a straight remake — or, in the spirit of the material, an inhabitation, fetishistically mimicking the textures of its source material in an attempt to replicate it.

2022 August 4, Adam Nayman, “Five Sci-Fi Classics, One Summer: How 1982 Shaped Our Present”, in The New York Times:

(transitive, informal) To release a prequel to a work.


duckroll

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

From duck + roll. In 2006, Christopher "Moot" Poole implemented a wordfilter replacing egg with duck on 4chan, causing instances of eggroll on the site to become duckroll. This inspired an anonymous 4chan user to create an image macro featuring a duck with wheels edited onto its body and the caption "duckroll." The image was later used to prank 4chan users, who were lured into clicking what was presented as an interesting link, but instead lead to the "duckroll."

You told me that it was a really nice picture, but all I see is a duckroll.

Duckroll became a silly prank meme when 4chan users started linking their friends to an ostensibly cool site, only to be met with a picture of a duck on wheels with the word duckroll written on it.

2011, Cole Stryker, Epic Win for Anonymous: How 4chan's Army Conquered the Web, page 60:

Examples of bait-and-switch images and videos include The Hampster Dance, Duckroll, Rickroll, […]

2015, Jamie Bartlett, The Dark Net: Inside the Digital Underworld, page 251:

When you've been around to witness Rickrolling go from a forced-meme variant of the traditional 4chan Duckroll to having Rick Astley himself sing “Never Gonna Give You Up,” unannounced and on live national television, during the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade last year, it's hard to ignore how crucial the 4chan-spawned Anonymous “Hivemind” has been to the development of internet culture since its inception six years ago.

2022, Carlos Avitia-Velazquez, Javier Avitia-Velazquez, Curb Children, unnumbered page:

(Internet slang) A bait-and-switch Internet prank involving the sharing of a link that leads to a picture of a duck on wheels instead of what is claimed.


unity of place

(theater, literature) The classical unity that states that a play should exist in a single physical space and should not attempt to compress geography, nor should the stage represent more than one place.


unity of action

(theater, literature) The classical unity that states that a play should have one action that it follows, with minimal subplots.


ecodramaturgy

en-noun

ecodramaturgy (countable and uncountable, plural ecodramaturgies)

Coined by theatre historian and critic Theresa J. May in 2010, from eco- + dramaturgy.

coin

It also provides an example of what I have begun to call ecodramaturgy: that is, play-making (script development and production) that puts ecological reciprocity and community at the centre of its theatrical and thematic intent.

2010, Theresa J. May, “Kneading Marie Clements' Burning Vision”, in Canadian Theatre Review, volume 144, →DOI, page 6:

The first is the inauguration of a subset of ecocriticism termed ‘ecodramaturgy,’ a term coined by May and further developed by Arons and May.

2016, Adeline Johns-Putra, “Climate change in literature and literary studies: From cli-fi, climate change theater and ecopoetry to ecocriticism and climate change criticism”, in WIREs Climate Change, volume 7, number 2, →DOI, page 274:

Ecodramaturgy indicates not simply theatre about ecological issues, but theatre that takes up the challenge of the newly expanded frames of thinking entailed by the Anthropocene.

2020, Catherine Love, “From Facts to Feelings: The Development of Katie Mitchell’s Ecodramaturgy”, in Contemporary Theatre Review, volume 30, number 2, →DOI, page 227:

Theatrical development and production motivated by ecological concerns.


propwoman

(theater) A woman responsible for looking after the props in a theater


propman

(theater) A man responsible for looking after the props in a theater


props master

(theater, television, film) Short for property master.


soyjak

en-verb

soyjak (third-person singular simple present soyjaks, present participle soyjaking, simple past and past participle soyjaked)

soyjaks (present singular third-person)
soyjaking (participle present)
soyjaked (participle past)
soyjaked (past)

Audio (US)

Etymology tree
Chinese 醬油／酱油 (jiàngyóu)bor.
Japanese 醤油bor.
Dutch sojabor.
English soy
Proto-West Germanic *bōjō
Old English *bōia
Middle English boye
English boy
English soy boy
Proto-Balto-Slavic *wajas
Proto-Slavic *vojь
Proto-Slavic *-akъ
Proto-Slavic *vojakъ
Polish wojakbor.
English Wojak
English soyjak
From the Internet meme soyjak, a cartoon drawing of a bald man with an excited expression. Blend of soy boy + wojak.

etymon

finally found my screenshot of this. i did the closest thing i've ever done to soyjaking when she said this line

Conservatives are outraged by this, but if the police came to his place for tearing down missing Israeli posters, they would be soyjaking. A good reminder that speech restrictions primarily hurt the Right

My phone made one of those random compilation videos and I literally soyjaked at this one bit because I genuinely don’t remember ever looking this beautiful

(Internet slang, intransitive, sometimes derogatory) To gape like the man in the image; to be excited or surprised.


prop master

“We’re doing our job if you don’t notice it,” Catherine Miller, the prop master for the series, said in a phone interview last week.

2022 May 4, Gina Cherelus, “The Stories Behind Some of the Weird Stuff on ‘Severance’”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

(film, theater) Short for property master.


property master

en-noun

property master (plural property masters)

(film, theater) The person in a film or theatrical production responsible for the props.


main character syndrome

Furthermore,
Goku is still the main character of the series, and thus by the rules
of the main character syndrome, no one on the same side of the main
character shall surpass the main character, and the main character will
always (eventually) save the day.

1996 June 5, Dr. Briefs, “[DBGT] Pans potental.”, in rec.arts.anime.misc (Usenet):

(fiction) The phenomenon of the protagonist of a show or movie receiving unrealistic special treatment from the worldbuilders.

What I suffered from is this idea I call the Main Character Syndrome. I know the name is ridiculous, but it sounds like what it is. Main Character types see themselves as a Hero-Savior and everybody else as a secondary prop. The Main Character feels more real than everyone else. It's the same way that infants don't have object permanence: if I don't see it, it doesn't exist. In the case of adults, I count and you don't. I matter more than you.

2020 May 5, J. S. Park, The Voices We Carry: Finding Your One, True Voice in a World of Clamor and Noise, Moody Publishers, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC:

[…], than try to do something actually useful for humanity with that hypercapitalism exploitation money, like save the climate or solve world hunger or erase extreme poverty Or fucking help trafficked children, lmao. But that wouldn't stroke their massive egos enough, I guess. Main Character Syndrome much? I'd rather have hundreds of multi-millionaires than one billionaire lmao. Greedy, narcissistic, sociopathic fucks. Cuz that's not even 'being rich,' that's fucking Smaug-levels of money-hoarding.

2022 April 30, Carlos Avitia-Velazquez, Javier Avitia-Velazquez, Curb Children, Seven Proxy Press, →ISBN:

(by extension, derogatory) The phenomenon of thinking of oneself as the protagonist in the "movie" of one's life (and, thus, usually as unrealistically important or distinguished).


stage business

(theater, idiomatic, term of art) Actions performed by an actor on stage done for dramatic effect; especially, action carried out with a prop or piece of clothing, usually away from the focus of the scene, with or without any dialogue.


control booth

(theater) A room or area in a theater or studio which contains technical equipment for controlling things like lighting and sound for productions.


god mic

(On God mic.) We worked through this — AUDREY. I know and I want to be a team player. I want to be one of the guys and all that, but there are, what, eight hundred people coming tomorrow night and I don't know what the fuck I'm doing!

2015 May 15, Nicky Silver, Too Much Sun, Dramatists Play Service, Inc., →ISBN, page 9:

COLLECTIVE RAGE: A PLAY IN 5 BETTIES premiered at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company in September 2016. ... Scene titles: The scene titles are probably best projected but they might be announced before each scene by somebody with a God mic.

2018 January 24, Jen Silverman, Jen Silverman: Three Plays: The Roommate; The Moors; Collective Rage: A Play in 5 Betties., Bloomsbury Publishing, →ISBN:

(theater) A microphone typically kept backstage or in the control booth for speaking to the audience from offstage.


non-equity

The United Professional Theatre Auditions holds combined auditions annually for actors who are available to work full ... Theater professionals from both Equity and non-equity theaters, summer and year-round theaters, dinner theaters,[…]

2008, Shelly Field, Career Coach: Managing Your Career in Theater and the Performing Arts, Infobase Publishing, →ISBN, page 212:

(theater) Of a production: open to performers who are not members of the Actors' Equity Association union.


director of music

director of music (plural directors of music)

musical director
musical director#English


meme magic

The site confirms that in 2016, ‘moderator TehDonald [sic] of the /r/the_donald subreddit submitted a post promoting … Nimble America, remarking that the community had “proven that shitposting is powerful and meme magic is real.” Meanwhile, Redditor NimbleRichMan [i.e., Luckey] submitted a /r/the_donald post asking for help defeating Hillary Clinton by donating to Nimble America’.

2017 June 19, T. J. Coles, President Trump, Inc.: How Big Business and Neoliberalism Empower Populism and the Far-right, Clairview Books, →ISBN, page 88:

As activists interested in generating a wedge between American Muslims and the LGBT community argued, “meme magic is real boys, so spread this meme. Drive this wedge” (Lyons 2017). The implication of this was that support for Trump did not mean liking the guy; it meant supporting his candidacy through extreme online versions of his campaign rhetoric and performance.

2018 December 11, Julie A. Webber, The Joke Is on Us: Political Comedy in (Late) Neoliberal Times, Rowman & Littlefield, →ISBN, page 307:

Meme magic—the half-joking idea that Donald Trump could be “memed” into victory through judicious 4chan shitposting—became part of the site's rhetorical landscape. Due to the valiant efforts of brave shitposters, the “God-Emperor,” as Trump was frequently known on the site, would be propelled to the White House, where he would quench his thirst with an endless supply of liberal tears.

2020 June 16, Tara Isabella Burton, Strange Rites: New Religions for a Godless World, Hachette UK, →ISBN:

Weirdness also refers to the way in which the group members' self-perception as a coherent entity is connected to a quasi-religious experience of their individual identities being subsumed by something greater than themselves – a particularly common sentiment among 4chan anons, for instance, expressed by mythologizing their collective efforts as 'meme magic'.

2021 July 29, Melody Devries, Judith Bessant, Rob Watts, Rise of the Far Right: Technologies of Recruitment and Mobilization, Rowman & Littlefield, →ISBN, page 176:

One of the first comments, which quickly became the top voted comment on the thread, simply said “meme magic”, linking to a post on 4chan that, three weeks earlier, combined a series of memes to tell a story about how Trump arrested Hillary Clinton.

2022 July 18, Paul Dawson, Maria Mäkelä, The Routledge Companion to Narrative Theory, Taylor & Francis, →ISBN:

(Internet slang, humorous) The (supposedly supernatural) power of Internet memes to have a meaningful impact on the real-world when used en masse in a targeted way.


sitdram

I like comedy, and occasionally watch a little stand up on Comedy Central, but I've never liked the sitcom format, or sitdram, or whatever. Always seemed too prepackaged to me, too pat.

2000 March 6, Magog, “sorta off topic”, in alt.startrek.borg (Usenet), retrieved 2022-06-07:

As for AMC, I don't think you can put a 5-day a week soap in the same class as a sitcom or sitdram.

2001 May 8, Aisling Willow Grey, “AMC: When do you think it jumped the shark?”, in rec.arts.tv.soaps.abc (Usenet), retrieved 2022-06-07:

What set ER apart, IMO, was that it seemed not to be just another hospital show. For me, it is when they leave the hospital situations that the show loses its edge and becomes just another TV sitdram.

2002 March 12, Edie, “OT-ER swordfight”, in alt.tv.highlander (Usenet), retrieved 2022-06-07:


commit sudoku

en-verb

commit sudoku (third-person singular simple present commits sudoku, present participle committing sudoku, simple past and past participle committed sudoku)

commits sudoku (present singular third-person)
committing sudoku (participle present)
committed sudoku (participle past)
committed sudoku (past)

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

(by extension) To commit suicide by any means.


goblincore

A cousin to the ever-popular Cottagecore, Goblincore celebrates parts of nature that many would perceive as dirty or unsettling, like frogs, snails, and mushrooms.

2020, Piper Daffron, "At The Core", Season Magazine (Indiana University), Volume 3, Issue 1, Fall/Winter 2020, page 4

[Amanda] Brennan thinks goblincore’s “spooky and cozy nature” will only make it more popular in autumn.

2021 July 30, Ellie Violet Bramley, “Goblincore: the fashion trend that embraces ‘chaos, dirt and mud’”, in The Guardian:

But that's not all, mushroom motifs have been popping up all over the fashion space (likely thanks to the nature-inspired goblincore trend).

2022, "Fashion Trends For The Year Ahead", Billions Luxury Magazine, Spring 2022, page 28

(aesthetic) An aesthetic and fashion movement that celebrates unidyllic aspects of nature, such as dirt, moss, mushrooms, and insects.


maidenless

en-adj

maidenless (comparative more maidenless, superlative most maidenless)

more maidenless (comparative)
most maidenless (superlative)

Elden Ring
GamesRadar+
Know Your Meme
Kotaku

From maiden + -less. Popularized by its use in a quotation in the video game Elden Ring, released on February 25, 2022, referring to the "Maiden" guide who allows the player to progress.

big divorce energy ()

psychological state characteristic of a recently-divorced person

You might be maidenless, but this Banished Knight's Greatsword replica from Elden Ring will give you the confidence you need to absolutely slay in all arenas of your life.

2023 February 6, Adam Rothbarth, “The Best Unique Video Game Merch 2023”, in VICE, archived from the original on 2023-03-04:

(Internet slang) Single; lacking a girlfriend.


clussy

en-noun

clussy (countable and uncountable, plural clussies)

Blend of clown + pussy. This gained attention with the character Geiru Toneido from the Ace Attorney video game series.

Going to a circus for some clownjobs and wet clussy.

2018 March 9, Otto Fuchs (@ValeFuchs), Twitter:

come collect this clussy🎈[two selfies of the tweeter cosplaying a gender-swapped Pennywise]

2019 May 25, shannon (@babyybatt), Twitter:

Been seeing a lot of people thirsting for some clussy from the clown girl in ace attorney 🤡

2022 June 28, XyroNi (@XyroNi09), Twitter:

(slang, humorous) The vagina of a clown; by extension, sex with a clown.


blorbo from my shows

blorbo from my shows (plural blorbos from my shows)

From a December 2021 post by Tumblr user thelustiestargonianmaid complaining about enthusiastic reblogs: "Bitches will be like 'prev tags omg' on my post and I check the preg^([sic – meaning prev]) tags and it's like ‘blorbo from my shows.'"

no one can make me feel bad for talking excessively about blorbo from my shows

2022 January 7, Turner (@shiraseceo), Twitter:

my fatal flaw is that i can’t live my life without depending on blorbos from my shows for serotonin

can’t talk right now, gotta meticulously curate a playlist for blorbo from my shows

2022 March 28, eerie indiana (@indybree), Twitter:

(fandom slang, endearing, neologism) A fictional character or celebrity of whom one is especially fond.


blorbo

i love it when fictional characters have their birthdays established it literally serves no purpose. there is no reason. nothing but joy of "oh today is my little blorbo's birthday" and saying birthday wishes into the void

2022 January 27, lesbians for edelgard (@C0REZI), Twitter:

Waiting for my blorbo to return to my screen like a WWII housewife waiting for her husband

2022 February 27, Sarah Z (@marysuewriter), Twitter:

love it when a hockey twitter blorbo gets traded and I find out that he's not nearly as good as I just assumed he was

2022 March 15, Beata (@CBeataE), Twitter:

Of course, all your blorbos are back for the big magical confrontation between those who crave power and those who defend against its abuses.

2023 October 31, Olivia Waite, “A Handful of Luscious, Soapy, Sexy Romance Novels”, in The New York Times:

blorbo from my shows
blorbo from my shows#English

(fandom slang, endearing, neologism) Ellipsis of blorbo from my shows.


stunning and brave

en-adj

stunning and brave (comparative more stunning and brave, superlative most stunning and brave)

more stunning and brave (comparative)
most stunning and brave (superlative)

From "Stunning and Brave", an episode of South Park that satirizes social justice activists and political correctness.

Take the case of [...] a fifty-two-year-old transgender woman who raped two women before being sent to jail […] Stunning and brave!

2020 July 21, Rob Smith, Always a Soldier: Service, Sacrifice, and Coming Out as America’s Favorite Black, Gay Republican, Post Hill Press, →ISBN:

Live your truth. Be like one of these stunning and brave heroes of oppression: HEROES. OF. OPPRESSION. Your heart will bleed for each of these brave lads and lasses—not to mention lxsses—who suffer at the hands of the patriarchy.

2021 November 2, Babylon Bee, The Babylon Bee Guide to Wokeness, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN, page 13:

The exact same rule applies to US President Joe Biden, who is forever exempt from such allegations. It doesn't matter that black people aren't the property of the left, nor does it matter that they can vote for whoever they choose in a free country, he was absolutely justified when he said, 'If you are African American and you vote for Donald Trump you ain't black.' Stunning and brave.

2022, Konstantin Kisin, An Immigrant's Love Letter to the West, Little, Brown and Company, →ISBN:

(Internet slang, derogatory, sarcastic) Used to express disrespect, in particular to suggest someone (especially a transgender person) or something has been promoted as good but is actually bad.


Sabbath Queen

A character, usually portrayed as a beautiful woman, who represents the shechinah and the Jewish Sabbath.