Terminology
Sometimes strange and obscure slang words are used throughout this wiki. These words can go out of fashion at the drop of a hat, so it's important to keep a dictionary of definitions and etymologies lest we forget.
The majority of these words were once the common vocabulary of 4chan, and later adopted by other sites. Other words come from various places in the internet.
PROTIP: Use CTRL-F to search through this list.
Japanese-Derived Terminology
Moonspeak
Originally a semi-derisive term for Japanese, used whenever things like scans of Japanese magazines (fairly common in /a/, /m/, and /v/) are posted, typically to ask for a translation of the moonspeak.
The term was first coined in /b/, when someone posted a picture from the Tick comic book where the hero is fighting ninjas speaking in Japanese characters, and he tells them he doesn't understand their moon language. Thus, languages like Japanese were initially called "moon language," but this failed catch on and now 'moonspeak' is the generally accepted term.
Its use has since expanded to mean any language that isn't English, especially if it uses lots of special characters (like umlauts) or, as with Japanese, a different character set entirely (which is even worse if you don't have the fonts installed). The most common examples on /b/ are Scandinavian languages like Swedish and Finnish, owing to the relatively large number of /b/tards in those countries; other European languages have also been called moonspeak, usually German and Russian.
Korean has also shown up on /b/ from time to time, usually in pictures. Numberous threads of "true" moonspeak (Japanese) also appear very early in the morning on /m/. This is suspected to be from actual Japanese posters, as early morning in America is evening in Japan.
The symbols used in Japanese, Chinese, and Korean (and sometimes also other languages that use different character sets from English) are known as "Moon Runes".
While Moonspeak is the universal term for a different language, Spanish has been dubbed Taco Speak.
A reference to the term appears in the videogame Disgaea 2, the description of the rune staff item claims "Some crazy moon language is carved in it"
Tsundere
Tsundere's have become so common in anime that the characters themselves are becoming aware of it.
The term “tsundere” (pronounced as “soon-dare-ay”, the “tsu” being like “tsunami”) is not so much a meme in and of itself as it is an unusual term you’re going to need to be familiar with before you can browse /a/.
A tsundere is one of several character archetypes (or stereotypes, as some view them) common to anime and manga, usually specific to female characters. A “tsundere” is a girl who initially displays a combative, angry, ill-tempered, possibly violent or generally mean nature towards the person she has affections for, or that has romantic feelings directed at her. This is commonly exemplified with things like insulting, patronizing, complaining about or having angry outbursts against whichever character they have romantic tension with, but later as they come to terms with how they feel, the mean façade dissolves into a more loving, gentle, honest and affectionate disposition.
A chart showing the basic behavioral patterns of the tsundere.
In the midst of their angry disposition, they may hint at their kind, affectionate nature but overshadow or conceal it with meanness (“You forgot your lunch again today? Jeez, you’re such an idiot! How many times this week is that?! …..Well, if you’re too much of an idiot to bring your own lunch, I guess I wouldn’t mind making one for you each day. Don’t get any wrong ideas! It’s not that I like you or anything! It’s…it’s just you’re too dumb too remember it yourself, and I can’t let you starve. Be grateful…”)
Tsun, tsun.....
The way such characters misrepresent their feelings of love towards another character as meanness or anger and being unwilling to accept the fact they have affections for another character points to an immature nature, as such behavior can be seen in how little kids show their affections for each other (grade-schoolers tend to pick on the person they secretly like). This personality-type may also operate on the mechanic that the harder it is to get, the more you want it. Because of this, the “tsundere” personality is considered highly cute and attractive in characters among the denizens of /a/ and many anime fans in general, with many /a/nonymous having a tsundere waifu (though most Anons fully recognize and admit to the fact that the tsundere factor is only cute in fiction, and is rather unattractive and annoying in real-life).
....dere, dere.
The term “tsundere” came to use through otaku Internet-slang, and is derived from the Japanese terms “Tsuntsun” meaning aloof, pointed, angry or mean, and “Deredere” meaning lovestruck or affectionate. Tsunderes are characterized by their angry and mean façade that eventually collapses into a softer, loving temperament, often with tears. This transition is often characterized by /a/nons as going from “tsun, tsun” to “dere, dere”, with images of the same character’s conflicting natures often being placed side by side. These have also been described as going from “tsunbitch” to “dere dere-mode”. Though it’s not invariable, the twin-tails hair-style is often associated with tsunderes. /a/ has also described characters, or even itself, as being capable of tsundere-like behavior. For example, /a/’s on the surface word-of-mouth hatred for Lucky Star conflicting with its denizens’ apparent love for the series has lead many to describe /a/ as being “Tsundere for Lucky Star”.
The first ever tsundere.
Many view Naru from the manga and less impressive anime Love Hina as the original archetype for the modern tsundere, though many argue “Naru’s not tsundere, she’s just a bitch”. More agreed upon examples include Rin from Fate/stay night, Shana from Shakugan no Shana, Nagi from Hayate the Combat Butler, Akane from Ranma ½, Louise from Zero No Tsukaima, and possibly even Suiseiseki from Rozen Maiden. Haruhi from The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya and Kagami from Lucky Star have both been argued to be tsunderes, but many claim there simply isn’t enough evidence to make them fit the bill. It can be argued that the “tsundere” archetype is nothing new or even specific to anime with many claiming the first real tsundere to be Katherina from Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew or that characters like Helga Patacky from Hey Arnold! fit the tsundere-mold 100%.
Another regularly seen archetype from girls in anime and manga is the Yandere (with similar terminology derivatives); a female character who’s initially kind, loving or otherwise normal but is later revealed to be dangerous, unstable or psychotic.
Yandere
Unlike a tsundere, who is cold and unfriendly but occasionally nice, yandere are ostensibly nice characters prone to intense psychotic episodes. Although they're often used to deconstruct cutesy stereotypes in anime and generally freak out the audience, /a/ tends to be fond of them, either because they create a bizarre feeling of protectiveness in Anonymous or mirror the kind of berserk lashing out otaku dream of. EXAMPLES: Asakura Ryouko Hot, sexy, and dangerous Also known as Canada, Eyebrow-tan, and Knife-tan, she is the psychotic alien bound to kill Kyon in The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. Cute and HOT on the outside but unemotional on the inside, she tries to murder him without hesitation while maintaining a cheerful face and voice. Killed by Yuki, her death is covered up as having to "move to Canada."
Euphemia Li Britannia
The Euphienator in action Also known as "Euphie". A character from Code Geass who initially was nice, sweet, utterly boring spoiled princess. Originally, the only Anonymous who really cared about her were the ones wanting to see incest between her and her half-brother, Lelouch Lamperouge (or her extremely hot, badass, and possibly bisexual older sister Cornelia Li Britannia). As was the case with Kaede Fuyou, her popularity skyrocketed due to her unexpected and intense bloodlust. In her Geass-induced state, Euphie slaughtered approximately 200,000 "Elevens" within the span of about five minutes. She is now also known as "genocide-tan" or "the Euphienator". Commonly used to sage posts made by "Japanese posters". Her Yandere status is debated as the massacre was only triggered because of Lelouche's accidental use of his Geass.
Kaede Fuyou
OH SHI- A character from the harem anime Shuffle! which is based on a hentai game of the same name. Suddenly exploded in popularity on /a/, /e/, and /h/ when she was revealed to be psychotic in episode 19 (some time after her childhood male friend Rin 'ditched' her for Asa). Shopped pictures made to include her holding a boxcutter and other shopped pictures with Asa's face scribbled over with black marker (as Kaede did in the anime) became commonplace for a few days. Her psychosis proved to be brief and disappeared after episode 21, making her popularity a relative flash in the pan. Still holds a special place in many 4channers' hearts, due to her charming and 'perfect housewife' personality. She was later immortalized in a Flash loop (http://dagobah.biz/flash/kaedepsycho.swf) featuring a .gif of her trembling with a deranged expression on her face with the song "They're Coming To Take Me Away" by Napoleon XIV as background music.
Her weapon of choice is the boxcutter, which has become a meme in itself.
Shizuru Fujino
From Mai-HiME and one of the earliest known yandere since Kaede Fuyou. The HiME are a group of girls who obtained powers and guardians. The turning point of the series started when it is revealed that one HiME must eliminate the rest in order to preserve the world. Shizuru is an old friend of Natsuki Kuga and nursed her back to health after she was attacked by another HiME. Late at night, Natsuki overhears an argument with Shizuru and two other characters and finds out that she may have been sexually molested by Shizuru. Shizuru tries to make another advance on Natsuki again only to end up rejected. She then proceeds to kill those she considered as Natsuki's enemies. This seemed to be purely situational, as the version of Shizuru in Mai-Otome doesnt go nuts and seems to genuinely be Natsuki's girlfriend (though this might be an effect of her huge popularity with fangirls) so the crazy bitch torch is passed to Tomoe.
Ronery
Ronery is the 4chan equivalent of the word "lonely", i.e. feelings of friendlessness, social abandonment or isolation that many 4chan users experience.
The misspelling of the word with an "R" is done to mimic the way a person with a thick Japanese accent would pronounce the word "lonely" (a Japanese accent often causes L's to be pronounced as R's, due to the mechanics of many Eastern languages). Its rise to prominence was caused by the movie Team America: World Police and the song I'm so Ronery.
SO RONERY
The statement so ronery ;_; or SO RONERY! often comes as a reply to images of Japanese men with hug pillows, advertisements for sex products for lonely men, or other things that indicate lonelyness.
Ronery Threads
Though all boards across 4chan have users that feel lonesome, /v/ and /a/ users are known to be particularly ronery, with "Ronery Threads" popping up on said boards from time to time, the sole purpose of which is to communally dwell upon feelings of social isolation the users have. These threads usually contain the question "Anonymous, what's it like to hold a woman in your arms?". Some /v/irgins or /a/ssholes step up and attempt to answer this question, claiming they’ve actually hugged a girl before, while other users sit back and long to one day feel the feeling these people describe. Some Anonymous denounce or simply ignore these threads, claiming them to be puerile vortexes of self-pity. Other Anons get so emotionally involved in such threads that they claim to actually get moved to the point of tears.
Even when surrounded by friends, it is still completely possible to feel isolated and lonely, so the ronery condition could be said to be something not specific to 4chan, and instead something the majority of normal people actually deal with. Others take a more pessimistic view to the condition, saying that the roneriness seen on 4chan is due to the users’ offstandish disposition and geeky, reclusive lifestyle.
Either way, the feeling of being ronery is something everybody can relate to, at one point in their life or another.
WRYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY
WRYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY is the battle cry of Dio Brando, the vampire nemesis of Joseph Joestar, star of Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, made popular by a flash featuring a stick figure (assumed to be Dio Brando) dropping a steamroller on his victim. While the character and the noise originate in the Japanese manga, the stance of the stick figure, the use of vehicles as weapons, and the sound file itself were taken specifically from a Capcom fighting game based on the manga.
It is pronounced "REEEEEEEE", NOT "Rye", as is the common misconception.
The meme inspired a series of parody/tribute movies called WRYYYYYYOWNED, where Dio uses his special moves to put the hurt on various overly-reposted Flash movies and characters on 4chan.
Dio actually does throw a steamroller on Jojo at the end of part 3 of the manga.
WIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
The meme has been seen as WIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII, a reference to Nintendo's console, but with Dio Brando replaced with Dark Samus from Metroid Prime 2 & 3, and the steamroller replaced with the Wii console.
Keikaku
A word/meme originating from a japanese fansub of Death Note, Wherein the subber added a note to clarify that "keikaku" means "plan". Naturally, /a/ thought this was hilarious and spread the meme from there.
Nouns
AIDS
AIDS is a disease that kills.
"Enjoy your AIDS"
Another way of saying "You're a stupid faggot", due to the fact that AIDS has been historically considered a "gay" disease. Also used when the poster is talking about something sexually unwise, like sleeping with a strange girl (you might catch something from him/her/it) or engaging in rape or pedophilia (you'd go to "pound me in the ass" prison and catch something there). The original macro (in which the text is seen overwriting a screenshot of Heero Yuy) was the creation of "Rabbi Bob Hitler", a /b/tard whose disgust at its popularity would later lead him to stop posting altogether.
Cancer
Cancer is a disease caused by an uncontrolled division of abnormal cells in a part of the body. The term has been applied to the spread of newfaggotry and shit posts on the Internet.
X is the cancer that is killing Y
The meme "X is the cancer that is killing Y" is a standard reply to anything the poster thinks is overused faggotry or otherwise ruining the board in question.
CP
CP is the acronym for child pornography used to covertly mention the topic, usually in threads on 4chan /b/ and sometimes seen on the greater Internet.
Prompts to post CP on 4chan are usually met with cheese pizza, Captain Picard, colored pencils, and "Inb4 404".
OC
Original content (OC) is any media that hasn't been posted to an imageboard before. Usually this means content that was made by the uploader himself. Rarely is the uploader also someone very popular, in which case the original content would be seen on the content owner's popular website.
When the term original content is used in reference to pornography or camwhores, it usually means that the media is "fresh" or new, and hasn't been posted or uploaded multiple times to every site out there. If the source of the media isn't the camwhore itself, it comes first hand from the person who took the pictures or captured the video.
/b/
Despite the "no original content on 4chan" meme, /b/ is surprisingly able to create OC with relative ease. Some of the OC becomes small scale in-jokes exclusive to /b/; some traveling to the furthest reaches of the Internet. Unfortunately, /b/ is often left in the wilderness, while less offensive websites take the glory, such as LOLCats and ORLY Owl spin-offs.
Quite a bit of original content comes from the use of Rule #34. Occasionally, artist-residents of /b/ have made request threads and populated them with the artistic demands of Anonymous. One such artist was Kristal, who regularly had mini-contests on /b/, with the 10th post in the thread being the winner of having their request drawn by Kristal, and the 10th post after that drawing, and so on. Kristal's work used to be located at http://kristal.smonson.com/gallery/v/4chan/.
Raid
Raid
What in other contexts may be called hacking or cracking. It is an activity where people post personal information about a person or organization and then hack, harass, or otherwise target on an individual using online methods of communication. Has generally fallen out of favor with /b/ and requests for such are generally met with "Not your personal army kid"
Meme
A unit of cultural knowledge that is repeated and passed on many times. Examples of memes range from catchphrases and songs, to fashion trends and activities. Online, it has come to symbolize any popular media online that is, at least initially, user‐created.
Image Macro
A popular medium for distributing memes. Relies on a specific sort of juxtaposition of image and text. One example of an image Macro is a so‐called ‘demotivational poster’.
Forced Meme
An attempt to “create” popularity with an image, catchphrase, or activity. Usually seen by Anonymous as poor form. Typically done by repeatedly posting the same 'meme' over and over again to create artificial demand.
Translator's Note
On occassion fansubbers encounter words thrown out in anime that they wouldn't expect a viewer to be familiar with, usually because the term is rather obscure or thickly cultural/regional. In many instances, the fansubbers themselves are not familiar with the terms either, so for everyone's sake they embed a subtitle at the top of the viewing window detailing some elaboration on a word or background information. "*Translator's Note" became a meme when a screenshot of Milfeulle Sakuraba of Galaxy Angel started circulating around /a/. The single subtitle, "hai", was untranslated, and instead the fansubber put a translator's note at the top that said (we shit you not) ""hai" means "yes" in japanese". Now a common meme for mocking new or careless fansubbers, the most popular variant spoofs another meme Just as Planned as "Just according to keikaku" with "translator's note: keikaku means plan" (this version is where the "*Translator's Note" name comes from). Also used for not exceptionally common English words (some fansubbers apparently deem words like "debris" and "photosynthesis" worthy of a TL**). The TL and its companion, the "Cultural Note", are also used as a substitute for the classic /v/ meme PROTIP.
- Editor's Note: "TL" stands for "TransLation".
4Chan Wordfilters
On many websites, Wordfilters are in place to remove swears and slurs from the public use, to create a "friendlier" atmosphere. It reality this is absolutely fucking stupid and only servers to limit discourse. In general, when a filtered word is used, it is either removed or replaced with something completely different.
Drama
Drama, among other things, is a deactivated wordfilter for almost anything relating to furries, because according to moot and WT Snacks, "furries cause drama". Despite being an inactive wordfilter, furries are still occasionally referred to as "drama", and furry fans and artists are sometimes called "dramafags".
DSFARGEG
DSFARGEG is a forced meme by the moderators of 4chan. On April 10th numerous threads were stickied in which many people were banned for posting in, along with the original poster. One of these was the random selection of letters DSFARGEG, accompanied by an image of a monster riding a motorbike. During the next few days similar events took place, every time with the post DSFARGEG being one of the topics stickied. Another recurring theme was that one unfortunate poster would receive a ridiculous amount of short term bans and/or warnings. For this time, posting DSFARGEG nearly always led to a sticky and/or a ban. This has often resulted in the front page of /b/ being almost completely full of stickies. In reality, the monsters depicted on the dsfargeg.jpg picture are the characters from the Japanese children's show Ponkikki. The episode pictured is a parody of another Japanese TV program, Kamen Rider, a sort of "Power Rangers on Bikes"-like show.
Duckroll
All roads lead to Duckroll. A delightful trap (in the literal sense) in which someone starts a Duckroll thread and then inserts links to it in other threads, as if those links are quotes from posts earlier up in the thread. This causes victims to unintentionally end up at the Duckroll thread, often confused and angry. To troll /b/ in this fashion is sometimes called duckrolling. If a user is duckrolled, then the user is "required" to post a duckroll link in another thread.
Duckroll first appeared in /b/ in mid-November 2006, where to many people's surprise, Duckroll took off and became very successful because /b/ took much glee in duckrolling each other.
Duckroll has evolved as well, with a /v/ spinoff called Psyduckroll (wheels on a Pokémon called Psyduck) and YouTube videos that are comprised solely of a stillshot of Duckroll[1]. This in turn lead to Rickroll, /v/'s official answer to Duckroll, and from there to hybrid YouTube videos that combine a Duckroll still shot with Rickroll music (sometimes with Rick Astley's face also shooped onto the Duckroll image[2][3], or with other images like Mukroll[4], another Pokémon-based variant). Some have dubbed this development "Dickroll". Duckroll Warning System
A Greasemonkey script[5] that flags duckroll links with the text "[duckroll]". Often posted in Duckroll threads.
Rickroll
See also: Rickroll
The (arguably) more famous variant of the duckroll.
Fortune
On 4chan /b/ you could add #fortune to the name field and it would add a "fortune cookie" fortune to the end of your post as a word filter. This was removed shortly after almost all other word filters were removed. Despite it's removal from /b/, #fortune is still in use on many other image boards and /s4s/
Sinistar
On February 6th, 2008, the 4chan mods put a sticky on /b/ with a flash picture of html visible through the broken background, and Sinistar followed your mouse. There were also sounds from the game Sinistar, such as, "I hunger!" The message was accompanied by the words, "OH GOD". It has been a meme ever since, although a forced meme.
Weeaboo
Did someone just say "Weeaboo"? Pot, kettle, etc. Weeaboo, also seen misspelled as Weaboo, is a synonym for "Wapanese", which in turn means "wannabe Japanese" and/or "white Japanese" (in line with the more mainstream term "wigger[1]"). It stems from an old wordfilter to that effect in /b/. The word itself comes from an issue of the (web-) comic The Perry Bible Fellowship[2], wherein it means something else (and more to the point, nothing in particular), but a single panel from the strip in question[3] is still considered synonymous with the meaning it has on 4chan.
"Wapanese" itself is a derogatory term for an American or European (usually white) who is obsessed with Japan to the point of wishing to be Japanese. Wapanese typically make statements about the superiority of Japanese culture to their own, that Japanese women are more attractive than anyone else, etc. The term is often used on 4chan when a moderator deletes fanart made by Americans or of American characters. "Weeaboo" has since taken on a life of its own, and is used by /b/tards who don't watch or like anime to taunt /b/tards who make more than passing mention of it, even if they're not obsessive otaku. "Weeaboo" has almost completely eclipsed "Wapanese" on 4chan, the latter is rarely used anymore.
It is usually seen as a grave insult, but then again it is often pointed out that anyone browsing 4chan qualifies as a weeaboo by default (especially on /a/). In essence, it's used derogatory for someone who does not adhere to 4chan's usual negative stance towards using random Japanese terms and emoticons for no good reason, and who is thus "more weeaboo" or at least more openly weeaboo than the usual 4chan user.
Since its inception, the term "Weeaboo" has been used in a more distorted way to its original meaning. 4channers on any non-anime orientated boards will often use "Weeaboo" as an insult for liking anything remotely Japanese as opposed to being reserved soley for those who are utterly obsessed with Japan.
Concepts
E-Penis
Derisive term for online reputation, derived from the idea of guys equating their penis size to their manliness. The term is mainly used in reference to tripfags. A poster who actively tries to establish a reputation is said to be making his e-penis bigger.
Lulz
A nominalization of the acronym LOL. Essentially laughter (usually at someone or something’s expense). An equivalent word would be schaudenfreude.
Usually, Anonymous's goal is to do it for the lulz.
The word lulz originated when "DESU" was Wordfilter to lulz. It's current meaning was defined after the FOX News report on Anonymous.
Profit
This joke originated with episode 217 animated sitcom South Park, titled "Gnomes". In this episode, the Underpants Gnomes are stealing everyone's underwear. When the main characters ask why the Gnomes are stealing everyone's underwear they show a chart:
| Phase 1 | Phase 2 | Phase 3 |
|---|---|---|
| Collect underpants | ? | Profit |
None of the gnomes were aware of what the middle step was, though they each assumed that one of the other gnomes did.
Memes
The quote was originally a large single question mark. In the process of becoming a meme on 4chan and many other boards, it had multiple question marks added to it to compensate for the lack of font size control:
Do something ??????? PROFIT
Sharpie in pooper
Sharpie in pooper is a traditional camwhore technique used to provide proof of being real, when the camwhore is posting pictures to the boards, and also as a means to humiliate the camwhore and brand her.
The related techniques of keyboard on head and shoe on head were also heavily used during the early years of video on the web.
Related articles
Verihand and Verisign
Verihand is the procedure of identifying oneself as being the person whose picture is posted, typically a camwhore or attentionwhore. Traditionally done by posting a picture of writing on the hand with a timestamp, the term expanded to cover any body part that had writing Verisign is the same concept, but done on a piece of paper rather than their body.
Win
A perceived victory, usually in the context of raiding/trolling. Sometimes treated as though it was a countable noun (i.e. “many wins”, “much more win”, “epic win”)
Fail
A perceived or even actual failure. Sometimes accompanying massive amounts of spaghetti being dropped or an absolute public embarrassment. In the modern age this term has seen spread beyond the internet culture so far that it's usage is considered cringe to some
People and Groups
AOL Police
Dickgirl
Loli
Jailbait
Lulzkiller
Hivemind
Netizen
Scilon
Troll
Fag
Emailfag
Moralfag
Furfag
Newfag
Oldfag
Samefag
Tripfag
OP
Waifu
White Knight
Adjectives
GAR
"&"
&
B&
Underage-B&
V&
Verbs
Griefing
Genuflect
HABEEB IT
F5
Memetic Phrases
Are they still on Namek?
AMIRITE
Chii turns on, Chii turns off
Cute, not pedo
Cabbage
DO NOT WANT
DINOBOT HAS SPOKEN, MY RIGID GRILL STRUCTURE
DRR DRR DRR
Epic Win
FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU
ILLEGAL IN CANADA
Barrel roll
COMBO BREAKER
TITS OR GTFO
FGSFDS
GB2
IF THIS IS TRUE THEN HERE IS WHAT YOU DO
LOL
Fanta Sea
LURK MOAR
First, Bring It On
Fansubbers = stupid
IT'S A TRAP
Shit Bricks
O RLY
OH SHI
I see what you did there
lol i dunno
LOL WUT
Never Forget
No girls on the internet
Stick it in the pooper
Internet. Serious Business
Pic Related
TIME PARADOX
Tuffdawgz
Dividing by zero
What is a man
Pic Unrelated
Pool's Closed
VTEC JUST KICKED IN YO
X is that way
Year of the X
You should be able to solve this
Your resistance only makes my penis harder!
