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4chan Glossary

Since I think I know what I mean.

Chances are, if you're new to imageboards and 4chan, you've seen some rather strange phrases thrown about. This page will attempt to explain the sources of these, if not the reasoning behind their usage.

Contents

Anonymous

Source: The dictionary, stupid.

If you leave the name field blank, your name is set to 'Anonymous'. Most posts on imageboards are made anonymously. This essay goes over some of the advantages of allowing anonymous posting.One of the overarching jokes of 4chan/imageboards is the idea that 'Anonymous' is all just one person posting over and over. Looking at it that way, Anonymous is a sick, depraved nutjob that should be locked up.

Camwhore

Source: All of the internet; web cameras.

A 'camwhore' is anyone who sits in front of a camera and takes pictures to post on the internet, sometimes claiming they have 'fans'. Often the girls are moderately ugly, but try and hide it with 'arty' camera angles and such. Low lighting and emo-ness abounds. Male camwhores often have no qualms about posting shots of their erect penises. A common response is 'tits or GTFO', since Anonymous will take free boobs, no matter how nasty.

Cockmongler

Source: The World's Largest Dinosaur Page

This creepy-looking fellow hails from Drumheller, Alberta. The picture linked above had the text 'I'll mongle your cock!' added, and one of /b/'s most enduring memes was born. He mongles cocks; what else do you need to know? AKA 'grinman' from a prank thread for newbies gone horribly, horribly wrong.

Desu

Source: Rozen Maiden's Suiseiseki.

Desu is one of those strange things that no one's sure who posts all the damn time, but everyone hates it; secretly, everyone posts it when it's needed. Which is to say, all the time. Possible orgins: comes from a role-player of Suiseiseki, who ends all of her sentences with '~desu'; comes from a spammer; comes from a retaliation against a Gaston thread. All of these might be valid-- at this point, it doesn't really matter. As the frequently-cited /b/ rules states: "It needs more desu. No exceptions."

About.com page on the proper usage of 'desu'

Do a barrel roll!

Source: From Star Fox 64's Skippy character.

A generic response when anyone asks for advice on /b/. Skippy the Bunny says it during the opening level of Star Fox 64. The shot of him saying this has been 'shopped onto a number of pictures of people/animals/etc in bad situations.

Draw Whore

Source: As far as I can tell, /b/.

A draw whore is a mutation of camwhore that, instead of a semi-ugly person with a webcam, has a person drawing pictures in response to threads. Moderately popular, as long as the person in question is relatively skilled and quick enough to respond quickly to the thread.

harbl

Source: From the now-defunct /z/.

First, a history lesson: /z/ was a creation of a happy, naive time at 4chan. moot looked at what he had created, and said: "Why not let the users do something for a change?" Thus, /z/ was born. /z/ was /b/, but with even less of a point. Moderators were elected by vote, and they could change the css of the board however they wished. One of the early moderators was a fellow named SovietRussia. SoRu (as he was known) was crazy. Random backgrounds, random music, random moderation... sorta like FYAD, but less coherent. Anyway, SoRu was in #4chan one day (might have been #/z/ or something, reports vary), and was talking about a trip, when he typed the word 'harbl'. The word took off overnight, infecting /b/ and living there to this day. So what does it mean?

It had been a typo of 'harbor'.

/b/tards turned it into something resembling the 2ch word 'tanasinn', which explains everything in the universe-- if only someone could understand it. Generally, it's used as a word for male genetalia.

moot

Source: All of 4chan.

moot is the owner of 4chan. For the first few incarnations of the site, he was active and involved in day-to-day matters; these days, he appears to delegate much of the duties and moderation. He posts with the tripcode moot#faggot, which translates to moot!Ep8pui8Vw2. Posting with it is an auto-ban.

moot, along with W.T. Snax, has a character that is often used in drawings related to 4chan. It's a japanese-cat-style little girl wearing a pink shirt (can be seen in the random 404-images on the site). That character is spawned from the IRC quote "<moot>I wish to be the little girl".

sage

Source: Futuba channel, the first and largest imageboard (japanese).

To 'sage' a thread is to put the word sage in the e-mail field. This prevents your stupid post from bumping the thread to the top of the board. On 4chan, it's generally considered a sign of disapproval of the subject of the thread. Personally, I sage most of my comments as a habit (rarely do I think my contributions are worth bumping to the top of the board).

The word comes from the japanese 'sage' (pronounced sa--gay, not s-age), which means 'to lower'. The opposite is called 'age', but since all posts default to this, there's no reason to put that in the email field.

Stick it in the pooper

Source: Unknown, assumed /b/.

A generic response when anyone asks for advice on /b/. "'What should I do, /b/?' 'Stick it in the pooper.'" Has also spawned the variation 'needs moar pooper', and is sometimes used along with 'Do a barrel roll!'.

Tripfag

Source: Homegrown on /b/.

A 'tripfag' is an insult aimed at anyone who posts on a board using a tripcode. Generally only used if the user in question is drawing attention to themselves in some fashion (posting an unpopular opinion, for example). To generate your own tripcode on any imageboard, just append your username with #sometext. Moot's tripcode is moot#faggot; if you post using it on 4chan, you get auto-banned.

Weeaboo

Source: The term 'weeaboo' first was seen in this comic.

Weeaboo entered into the 4chan lexicon after 'wapanese' was wordfiltered to 'weeaboo' for a short time on /b/. Weeaboo means much the same thing that wapanese did: someone who idolizes Japanese culture, arts, and especially anime and manga in what /b/ considered a foolhardy attempt to become Japanese. Most often used to refer to Western fanartists who ape the 'manga style' (that phrase itself a misnomer) badly, or those who fawn over the latest average anime to be released. The phrase can also be used to refer to anything even resembling this style.

Related is the idea of 'reverse weeaboo', or Japanese who express a liking of Western culture. When Former Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi visited Graceland, /b/tards cried out 'reverse weeaboo!'

W.T. Snax

Source: /b/.

At one time, the most visible member of the moderation team at 4chan. He was the face of moderation for /b/, and took lots of heat for bans. He and moot have been immortalized as characters in the drawing circles of 4chan; he is a cute girl with the cartoony letters 'WT' on her forehead and a banhammer at the ready. Was famously fired by moot, but returned at Otakon '06 as a moderator again after 'massive public outcry' (/b/tards complained). Current status: Unknown.

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