Please help me collect some meta MeTa Data data. Ta! –Me.

February 29, 2012 11:29 AM

Hi Everybody! I'm trying to come up with a "MeFi glossary of terms / phrases / behaviors" to include in my PhD dissertation about linguistics and MetaFilter. If you could help me with this, that would be fantastic. I'm looking to create a list of the types of things that say to you (or to others) "Oh, that's so MetaFilter!" or "That sounds like something a MeFite would say." This could be anything from the use of a single character to a phrase or meme, to a way of doing things here. If you can think of something to add, please share it in the comments. Thanks!

This post is mod- and University of York ethics-approved. If you have any questions about this or the research I'm doing, please feel free to post it here or email me at [e-mail].

posted by iamkimiam to MetaFilter-Related at 11:29 AM (312 comments total)

The list of In Jokes on the Wiki might help.
posted by griphus at 11:34 AM on February 29, 2012 [5 favorites]

.
plo chops
we have cameras
overthinking a plate of beans
this [blank], it vibrates?
posted by entropicamericana at 11:35 AM on February 29, 2012 [1 favorite]

MeFi is my favorite abbreviation, e.g.: Hi all you MeFis and MeCha bunnies!
posted by bearwife at 11:36 AM on February 29, 2012

Phrases: "Miko's rules for breakups", "the whatch readin thread" (brought up in most gendered behaviour questions. i can't remeber it exacly but there is an amalgamation of the mods names like jessamattex. That was before the mods expanded of course
posted by saucysault at 11:38 AM on February 29, 2012

taters
posted by needled at 11:38 AM on February 29, 2012 [3 favorites]

^I have no excuse for all those typos. Sorry.
posted by saucysault at 11:39 AM on February 29, 2012 [1 favorite]

Also the Ask vs. Guess culture explication originated on MetaFilter.
posted by griphus at 11:39 AM on February 29, 2012 [4 favorites]

i can't remeber it exacly but there is an amalgamation of the mods names like jessamattex.

There were about a billion of those, I don't know if any specific form was ever settled on.
posted by cortex (staff) at 11:42 AM on February 29, 2012

"hope me mods"
posted by needled at 11:42 AM on February 29, 2012

Do you mean "unique to MetaFilter", or can it be stuff that also pops up elsewhere?
posted by Quietgal at 11:43 AM on February 29, 2012

I was just the other day musing about a 'Shit Mefites Say'-style video. I don't have the chops to make it, but here are the things that spring to mind...
OP
FPP
GYOB
DTMFA
MeFi/MeTa/AskMe
The blue/gray/green
Should I eat this?
First, be smart from the very beginning.
Favorites
HAMBURGER
Taters
Givewell
Same as in Town
$5
User numbers
Professional white background
Is this something I'd need to x to understand?
[un]Popular Mefi topics like Lady Gaga, Sarah Palin, My Little Pony
"I'll just close this up."
. in obit threads
Blink tag
Taglines
References to the image tag
Pony requests
Jingle Rock Bell
Ass-jittering cattle
FIAMO
Flagged as x
[Not] Best of the Web
Smalltext mod comment
The Ferris Bueller Fight Club theory
posted by Gordafarin at 11:45 AM on February 29, 2012 [8 favorites]

I'd never heard "pony" as a generic term for some new thing you wanted, before seeing it here.
posted by cashman at 11:46 AM on February 29, 2012

"Please don't do that here".
posted by cashman at 11:47 AM on February 29, 2012

The list of In Jokes on the Wiki might help.

Oh my god, I had no idea the taters mystery had been solved. My day is so much better now.
posted by something something at 11:47 AM on February 29, 2012 [5 favorites]

9622, pancakes, bunnies, SAIT
posted by ifjuly at 11:48 AM on February 29, 2012 [1 favorite]

"Do you mean "unique to MetaFilter", or can it be stuff that also pops up elsewhere?"

Either or. I'm just interested in whatever comes to mind that says MeFi/MeFite to you.
posted by iamkimiam at 11:49 AM on February 29, 2012

stop the asshattery, nunguzzler (that's just me though I think), when they came for the X i did nothing etc. ...
posted by ifjuly at 11:49 AM on February 29, 2012

get off my lawn.
posted by ifjuly at 11:50 AM on February 29, 2012

your favorite band sucks
posted by ifjuly at 11:50 AM on February 29, 2012 [3 favorites]

Take it to MetaTalk.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 11:51 AM on February 29, 2012

Talking about circumcising one's obese, de-clawed cat.
posted by ambrosia at 11:53 AM on February 29, 2012

Brand New Day
Take it to MeTa, folks.
Sixcolors
Internet detective work
Jessamyn's chicken-fucking picture (I haven't seen this but it's been referenced enough as to be legendary)
Hipsters/hipster hate
Topics Mefi does not do well: Israel/Palestine, cat declawing, cyclists, circumcision
Meetups and swaps
MeFi's own
Subjects of threads showing up in threads (I'm sure this happens elsewhere on the web but I mostly associate it with Mefi)
IANAD, IANYD/L/etc
Does anyone read the posts down here?
posted by Gordafarin at 11:53 AM on February 29, 2012

WHAT THE FUCK MATT
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 11:55 AM on February 29, 2012 [2 favorites]

metafilter: University of York ethics-approved.
posted by cjorgensen at 11:56 AM on February 29, 2012 [1 favorite]

Talking about circumcising one's obese, de-clawed cat.

You mean Palestinian cat, because the Israelis would never do such a thing.
posted by cjorgensen at 11:58 AM on February 29, 2012 [1 favorite]

WHAT. THE. FUCK. MATT.
[this is good]

MATT.
MATT.
MATT.

<juvenile statement goes here>
posted by killdevil at 11:58 AM on February 29, 2012

This is a bad _____ and you are a bad person for asking/saying it.

Everyone needs a hug.

posted by Tell Me No Lies at 11:58 AM on February 29, 2012 [2 favorites]

<thing>? on my Metafilter?
posted by killdevil at 12:00 PM on February 29, 2012

"Can we have a moratorium on ___ posts"

SAIT is worth paying attention to, IMHO. The acronym appears to be unique to Metafilter.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 12:01 PM on February 29, 2012

Pepsi Blue.
posted by killdevil at 12:01 PM on February 29, 2012

I have a fish. In my pants.
posted by killdevil at 12:03 PM on February 29, 2012

Harshing my general lifebuzz
GRAR-fest
We are not going to have Nerd Thunderdome.

and other Jessamyn-isms not yet specified
posted by killdevil at 12:04 PM on February 29, 2012 [2 favorites]

Snowflakes.

Elaborate discussions of how things should have been framed.
posted by philipy at 12:05 PM on February 29, 2012

If you could help me with this, that would be fantastic stellar.

FTFY
posted by Mister Fabulous at 12:05 PM on February 29, 2012

Oolong the rabbit and his head-performances
posted by killdevil at 12:05 PM on February 29, 2012

.
posted by philipy at 12:06 PM on February 29, 2012

What does the period mean?
posted by killdevil at 12:07 PM on February 29, 2012 [3 favorites]

It means "a silent pause", usually used in threads referring to some who has just passed away.
posted by philipy at 12:08 PM on February 29, 2012 [1 favorite]

Todd Lokken
posted by mattbucher at 12:08 PM on February 29, 2012 [1 favorite]

spousing, enspousing
fighty
grar
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 12:09 PM on February 29, 2012 [4 favorites]

It means "a silent pause", usually used in threads referring to some who has just passed away.

"What does the period mean?" is also a wonderfully Metafilter-esque turn of phrase. If I didn't know what it meant I'd have to turn in my MeFi ID card.
posted by killdevil at 12:11 PM on February 29, 2012 [1 favorite]

What does the period mean?

It means you're growing up, IIRC.
posted by found missing at 12:12 PM on February 29, 2012 [9 favorites]

Secret Quonsar gift exchanges
posted by killdevil at 12:13 PM on February 29, 2012

We're not going to add that, but there's a Greasemonkey extension for it.
posted by killdevil at 12:14 PM on February 29, 2012 [5 favorites]

I'm going to close this up now.
posted by killdevil at 12:14 PM on February 29, 2012 [1 favorite]

Hoppitamoppita.
posted by Kat Allison at 12:15 PM on February 29, 2012 [5 favorites]

Cortex's giant donut
posted by killdevil at 12:15 PM on February 29, 2012

Have we had Hurf Durf Butter Eater yet?
posted by PeterMcDermott at 12:17 PM on February 29, 2012 [6 favorites]

-filter, e.g. relationshipfilter
posted by needled at 12:17 PM on February 29, 2012 [1 favorite]

No idea where it originated, but when I see herpa derp, hurf durf and variations thereof, I think Metafilter.
posted by Glinn at 12:18 PM on February 29, 2012

Please stop the asshattery.
matthewchen is spamming.
Punch 'Em in the Dick.
The Ballad of Steven Slater.
Thou Shalt Always Filter.
posted by sarahnade at 12:19 PM on February 29, 2012 [1 favorite]

this.
posted by emelenjr at 12:19 PM on February 29, 2012 [3 favorites]

longboat(-ing)
posted by Dano St at 12:19 PM on February 29, 2012

[text crossed out, but i don't know how to do that]

fixed that for you
posted by insectosaurus at 12:20 PM on February 29, 2012

This is why we can't have nice things.
posted by Measured Out my Life in Coffeespoons at 12:21 PM on February 29, 2012

[text crossed out, but i don't know how to do that]

FTFY

Use the [strike][/strike] tag except with triangle brackets because I don't know how to make those.
posted by griphus at 12:22 PM on February 29, 2012 [4 favorites]

thanks griphus!
posted by insectosaurus at 12:22 PM on February 29, 2012

There is no cabal.
posted by sarahnade at 12:23 PM on February 29, 2012 [3 favorites]

Connecting stories together for no other reason than their proximity to each other on Metafilter seems like a behavior that's very specific to Metafilter. i.e., "First Britney Spears, now this!" in a thread about mathematics just above a thread about Britney Spears. (That's not a real example, but you get the idea.)
posted by roll truck roll at 12:24 PM on February 29, 2012

meh
YMMV
favoriting
Previously on Metafilter
special snowflake details follow
posted by bearwife at 12:24 PM on February 29, 2012

Everybody needs a Hug.
Off your Meds. (now archaic)
Cut my right arm off.
posted by adamvasco at 12:25 PM on February 29, 2012

Please don't do this here.
posted by killdevil at 12:25 PM on February 29, 2012

Should I eat this?
posted by insectosaurus at 12:26 PM on February 29, 2012

Cat pictures are required to answer cat questions.

(might also be required for dogs, birds, any other pets)
posted by royalsong at 12:27 PM on February 29, 2012

For AskMefi:

"EmpressCallipygos nailed it" or "I agree with EmpressCallipygos".
posted by WidgetAlley at 12:27 PM on February 29, 2012

Flagged to hell
posted by killdevil at 12:27 PM on February 29, 2012

Trunk muffins
posted by kamikazegopher at 12:28 PM on February 29, 2012

This will not Wendell
posted by Secretariat at 12:28 PM on February 29, 2012 [5 favorites]

They'll let you do anything to get a PhD these days, won't they?
posted by crunchland at 12:28 PM on February 29, 2012 [1 favorite]

get your own fucking blog
posted by iamabot at 12:30 PM on February 29, 2012 [1 favorite]

For a while there, the schmoopy was strong among us, but as a term, it seems to have diminished in the last year.

I would add the terms ( I don't think they've been mentioned yet):

chatfilter
* swaps (or exchanges, but most of the swapping activity tends to be called a swap)
take it to memail
derail (I think this one is key because it echoes the structure of comments/discussions)
posted by julen at 12:31 PM on February 29, 2012

"snowflakey"

"the blue," "the green," etc
posted by radioamy at 12:32 PM on February 29, 2012

cheeseburger
posted by Secretariat at 12:32 PM on February 29, 2012

Chatfilter, newsfilter etc
posted by dg at 12:32 PM on February 29, 2012 [1 favorite]

Please hope me!
posted by Rock Steady at 12:35 PM on February 29, 2012

Note that the original "is this something one would need a television to know the answer?" does not include a dangling preposition.
posted by Ardiril at 12:36 PM on February 29, 2012 [1 favorite]

I have no idea how these people got their cats wedged into their scanners, or why.
posted by troika at 12:37 PM on February 29, 2012

The disdain for the "@username" style of address is, I think, unique to MeFi, but it seems to be fading in the face of incessant assh@ery.
posted by Rock Steady at 12:38 PM on February 29, 2012 [1 favorite]

You get an awful lot more "Hey, that reminds me of a story" on here than you do on the other sites where I hang out. Like, in a post about a musician, it's totally normal for someone to come in and spend a couple screens all like "Let me tell you about the summer I turned 13 and my family moved to Idaho and the horrible misadventures we had on the way there. That was really a formative experience for me and it turned me into the person who I am today. Oh, right, we were talking about music — so anyway, while that was happening, one of this guy's songs was on the radio a lot, which was what made me think of it." And we treat that as fully on-topic and even tend to reward it with a lot of favorites. Might happen some on other sites, but not on any other sites I hang out on, and I tend to think of it as classic MeFite behavior behavior, especially when the poster really gets into the story and goes into a lot of novelistic detail.

Things like Robocop Is Bleeding's story about The Wheel fit into this category for me too, or a closely related one: "Instead of participating in the ongoing debate/discussion, I'm going to write a short fictional piece that expresses my feelings on the issue." On the other sites I hang out on, I think that would seem like some sort of overwrought affectation. (Hell, on some sites, if you start telling a story in the middle of a thread, it's a way of saying "This topic sucks and I want to talk about something else." Like we sometimes do with recipes.) But here we really dig that sort of fictional elaboration if it's done well and we interpret it as an expression of engagement and interest.

(And speaking of recipes... Yeah, the thing where posting recipes means "Shut up, I'm bored with this topic." I don't know if it's totally unique, but it sure is a thing that we do.)
posted by nebulawindphone at 12:39 PM on February 29, 2012 [2 favorites]

iamkimIam, I know more about this than you can possibly imagine.
Eyeballkid hates us all.
Son of Minya's Hand
There is no Cabal
Russian Girls Incident
Languagehat Signal
Ghostbusters II
The Great Enspousening
Cortex' deletion reasons
Eponysterical
[Yes, you still have to answer the question, even in a Pokeman relationshipfilter question. -cortex]
Paphnuty
Fedora
Christ, What An Asshole
NOT -IST
CORTEX HAS BEEN ASSIMILATED
posted by zarq at 12:39 PM on February 29, 2012 [2 favorites]

Note that the original "is this something one would need a television to know the answer?" does not include a dangling preposition.
posted by Ardiril at 8:36 PM on February 29 [+] [!]

Now that is a quintessentially MetaFilterian observation.
posted by HandfulOfDust at 12:40 PM on February 29, 2012 [2 favorites]

Also... alphabet threads
posted by zarq at 12:40 PM on February 29, 2012

Goddammit, zarq, you beat me to "Christ, what an asshole."
posted by Madamina at 12:42 PM on February 29, 2012

The treaty of Westphalia
Metafilter Withdrawal Triage Recommendations
SLYT, SLNYT, etc.
IANADoctor/Lawyer/Teacher/Teenage girl (I think MeFi is the only one that plays with variations like that)
Shruggo
posted by Phire at 12:46 PM on February 29, 2012 [2 favorites]

"EmpressCallipygos nailed it" or "I agree with EmpressCallipygos".

Really?
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 12:47 PM on February 29, 2012 [3 favorites]

Sorry!
posted by zarq at 12:47 PM on February 29, 2012

... as opposed to the usual mangling, "Is this something I would need a television to know about?"
/shudder
posted by Ardiril at 12:48 PM on February 29, 2012

;-P
posted by Ardiril at 12:48 PM on February 29, 2012

Oh, and another one — I didn't notice this until I spent some time off the site, because it seemed like basic politeness and not site-specific etiquette to me. Here, it's considered totally beyond-the-pale rude to ask for favorites or (in Projects, where there is such a thing) upvotes. The stunt Hermitosis pulled with favorites, and later references to it, are kind of an exception — but that was all kind of jokey weirdness and not business as usual for the site. We definitely never feel like anyone is entitled to favorites for anything, and nobody would say something like "You complimented my post but didn't mark it as a favorite — how rude! I'm insulted!"

So I was genuinely shocked when I started hanging out on Stack Exchange sites and discovered that the social norms for voting there are totally different. If you compliment an answer but don't upvote it, that is considered rude. Sometimes you'll get someone flat-out saying "Hey, if you liked my answer, you really need to upvote it." Blew my mind completely. So, I don't know if their approach or ours is more common, but boy is there a cultural difference there.

Wait, was this even what you were asking for? Or do you specifically want memes and catchphrases and whatnot?
posted by nebulawindphone at 12:49 PM on February 29, 2012 [1 favorite]

Brandon Blatcher: " Really?"

I see this a lot. "Nthing EmpressCallipygos" or "What EmpressCallipygos said." But I read Ask very selectively. it may only be happening on threads I read -- topics she's attracted to.
posted by zarq at 12:49 PM on February 29, 2012

@nebulawindphone: I really liked reading your observant comment regardless.
posted by Ardiril at 12:55 PM on February 29, 2012

"EmpressCallipygos nailed it" or "I agree with EmpressCallipygos".

Yeah, I see "Right on, Philosopher Dirtbike" and "You're totally right, Philosopher Dirtbike!" a lot.
posted by Philosopher Dirtbike at 12:57 PM on February 29, 2012 [2 favorites]

Oops, wrong login!
posted by Philosopher Dirtbike at 12:57 PM on February 29, 2012 [9 favorites]

Also:

nthing

And quoting with italics, not quotes

and apologies for typos and misspellings, blamed on cell phone or tablet used to post them.
posted by bearwife at 12:58 PM on February 29, 2012 [1 favorite]

The mods here (and occasional users channeling mods) have a particular turn of phrase that I don't recall hearing from anyone else.

"This is a 'behave yourself' kind of thing" instead of "Please behave yourself".

I think use of this pattern is restricted to modly pronouncements - not, for example, pronouncements about the ethics of cat declawing - and it always reads as strikingly odd phrasing to me.

1 2 3
posted by emilyw at 1:00 PM on February 29, 2012 [1 favorite]

In an obit thread, "I briefly met X one time..." or "I knew him a long time ago when..."

Before I post in an obit thread, I think how my comment might appear to someone likely to have known the deceased person.
posted by mattbucher at 1:01 PM on February 29, 2012 [1 favorite]

admin please hope
posted by nathancaswell at 1:07 PM on February 29, 2012

Old and a bit obscure now but:
Elephant piss
Migs signal
posted by ODiV at 1:17 PM on February 29, 2012 [1 favorite]

* gets popcorn *

Also there was the witty banter between users Pot and Kettle.

And gong to meetups and asking "Are you a friend of Matt?"
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 1:17 PM on February 29, 2012 [2 favorites]

"On (lack of) preview," which still gets some use I think even though we have live preview now.
posted by ODiV at 1:18 PM on February 29, 2012 [1 favorite]

the thing where posting recipes means "Shut up, I'm bored with this topic." I don't know if it's totally unique, but it sure is a thing that we do.

I've seen it on another site first, and on that site meant to be a sort of BatSignal that "the person who started this particular discussion thread is a troll, Do Not Engage."
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 1:18 PM on February 29, 2012

SWEATER STUFFERS
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 1:28 PM on February 29, 2012

And gong to meetups and asking "Are you a friend of Matt?"

Oh god. The first meetup I went to, over at Revival in the East Village, I had my little entrance all planned out. I would ask, with a deadpan expression, "is this the Cory Doctorow Appreciation Society meetup?" and everyone would laugh and laugh and things wouldn't be awkward. I practiced it my head on the train.

So I show up and, naturally, there's a bunch of people who are clearly the MetaFilter meetup and I'm about to lay my Big Joke on the first person I see (I think it was jason's_planet.) And I open my mouth and suddenly every bit of social grace just evaporates and I'm barely able to mumble.

"isthisthecorydoctorowfanclub"
"Pardon?"
"...is this the Cory Doctorow fanclub?"

...and he gives me just the most sincerely apologetic look and tells me, quietly, that no, he's sorry but it's the wrong group. At that point, I just wanted to say "OH OKAY" and leave. But instead I managed to ask if this was the MetaFilter meetup (because, you know, I was planning to go to two meetups that day at the same place or something) and yeah.
posted by griphus at 1:31 PM on February 29, 2012 [23 favorites]

And quoting with italics, not quotes

Oh yes, absolutely. I sometimes do it on other sites and it really confuses people.

Do you see how meta I went there? Also, using small text for an off-topic aside is a MeFi trope.

I meta-ed again!
posted by Rock Steady at 1:34 PM on February 29, 2012 [6 favorites]

An old one: on identifying portabello mushrooms.
posted by filthy light thief at 1:34 PM on February 29, 2012 [2 favorites]

But now you have a story to tell griphus!
posted by royalsong at 1:35 PM on February 29, 2012

But I read Ask very selectively. it may only be happening on threads I read -- topics she's attracted to.

THIS.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 1:38 PM on February 29, 2012

When I get to the meetup I'm going kill your dog.
posted by charred husk at 1:39 PM on February 29, 2012

Doesn't get used much anymore but: Choke on a bucket of cocks.
posted by WinnipegDragon at 1:39 PM on February 29, 2012

Could we not make this into another ______ vs. ______ thread?
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 1:44 PM on February 29, 2012 [1 favorite]

☃
Flash Friday
posted by beandip at 1:45 PM on February 29, 2012 [1 favorite]

"Vote quidnuc kid" +/- cthulhu reference
posted by Diablevert at 1:45 PM on February 29, 2012 [1 favorite]

"Choke on a bucket of cocks" gets used pretty frequently in our house. Generally while changing TV channels and accidentally landing on Fox News, or when reading about some outrageous new malfeasance by the corrupt and incompetent state legislature, etc.
posted by BitterOldPunk at 1:45 PM on February 29, 2012 [1 favorite]

People in askmefi pretending to need a picture of the baby/dog/cat/tortise before they can answer a question, like here here and here

The actual phrase is: This thread is useless without pictures.

What does "SAIT" mean?
posted by John Cohen at 1:53 PM on February 29, 2012

MeFi is the only place I know where it's normal to link each letter in a word like this. I haven't noticed it a lot lately but it seemed to be really common in FPPs.
posted by sveskemus at 1:54 PM on February 29, 2012

What does "SAIT" mean?

Same as in town. (I.e. $20.)
posted by sveskemus at 1:54 PM on February 29, 2012

Yesterday I got a flyer in the mail from the Cox cable/telecom company, about their new service bundles. I asked my wife whether we need to buy a bundle of Cox, and she said we didn't, so I tossed it.
posted by fantabulous timewaster at 1:56 PM on February 29, 2012

Same as in town. (I.e. $20.)

Oh. Thanks. I had never seen the acronym.
posted by John Cohen at 1:57 PM on February 29, 2012

Shitty top-of-the-thread snark comments.
posted by Sebmojo at 1:57 PM on February 29, 2012

But now you have a story to tell griphus!

Oh, yes! And I made plenty of friends, too.

P.S.: If any of you are ever a meetup and some dude (who may or may not have totally blown his pre-planned icebreaker) sits down next to you and starts staring into space, awkwardly and unblinkingly, you should totally say 'hello'.

thanks zoomorphic
posted by griphus at 1:57 PM on February 29, 2012 [2 favorites]

tl;dr
posted by John Cohen at 1:58 PM on February 29, 2012

"This is offensive".

"Can we not do this?"

"Therapy."
posted by Decani at 2:03 PM on February 29, 2012 [1 favorite]

Brandon Blatcher: " THIS."

THAT
posted by zarq at 2:03 PM on February 29, 2012 [3 favorites]

Metafilter: some phrase from the thread
I am particularly guilty of the above.

%someuser wins the thread.

%someuser, FTW

FTW = For The Win
posted by theora55 at 2:07 PM on February 29, 2012

Brandon Blatcher: THIS.

zarq: THAT

THOSE.
posted by SpiffyRob at 2:08 PM on February 29, 2012 [2 favorites]

Iamkimiam, will you be able to post a link to the completed work?
posted by theora55 at 2:08 PM on February 29, 2012

also, poo-flinging.
posted by theora55 at 2:08 PM on February 29, 2012

Brandon Blatcher: THIS.

zarq: THAT

SpiffyRob: "THOSE."

THESE
posted by zarq at 2:10 PM on February 29, 2012

The 'This is just to say' poem has been parodied endlessly on this site ("I have eaten
the plums/that were in/the icebox" turns into whatever craziness someone, usually cortex, can put together).

The Zalgo approaches meme, with the crazy font that I no longer remember how to do--definitely not unique to Mefi but it's the site I associate it with.
posted by librarylis at 2:10 PM on February 29, 2012

You can't just declare someone the winner of a thread by fiat. There have to be numbers and measurements involved in these things. The mods have instituted a foolproof, objective measure to one's standing in a thread and it's called the "offensive" flag.
posted by griphus at 2:10 PM on February 29, 2012

sockpuppets

gripus, FTW
posted by theora55 at 2:12 PM on February 29, 2012

Hi! I'm from the Internet!
posted by Horace Rumpole at 2:15 PM on February 29, 2012 [1 favorite]

WOW!
352 comments,
ALL BY DELMOI! (mostly)
posted by infinite intimation at 2:19 PM on February 29, 2012 [2 favorites]

MeFi is the only place I know where it's normal to link each letter in a word like this. I haven't noticed it a lot lately but it seemed to be really common in FPPs.
posted by sveskemus at 1:54 PM on February 29 [+] [!]

Too many people were reading the articles; we had to hide the links.
posted by Stagger Lee at 2:24 PM on February 29, 2012

Bannination, Banhammer

Burn Him/Her

Number 1 being both a signal of leadership, and his actual user number.

Hatred of Comic Sans, use of comic sans in the post about comic sans.

references to disposing of a body or to scarabic.

1) thing 1
2) thing 2
3) ???
4) Profit

needs more cowbell/some other thing
posted by theora55 at 2:27 PM on February 29, 2012 [1 favorite]

"Jiggling the ___" which I admit is oft-said outside of MeFi, but I remember it because it was suggested as a way for one person to manage endless flight delays.

MORE SOAP PLEASE.

MetaFilter was where I first saw "tl;dr" but I heard it originated elsewhere?

Finally, "Double."
posted by CancerMan at 2:42 PM on February 29, 2012

Special snowflake
posted by St. Alia of the Bunnies at 2:46 PM on February 29, 2012

"Iamkimiam, will you be able to post a link to the completed work?"

My plan is to finish the PhD by next summer (2013) and my hope is to be able to make it accessible to anybody who would be interested in reading it...what's the point of research if you can't share that work with the community that made it possible, as well as the public and other researchers who might benefit from it? So, yeah, I'm all for it, but I need to work out the logistics. I've also got a MetaFilter-focused article coming out in a special edition of an academic journal (my first published paper!) scheduled to print in December of this year. Unfortunately, that one will be tied up in all the access privileges that you normally get with journals...i.e., if you have an institutional login and your institution subscribes to the journal, then you should have access to the article.

I absolutely loathe the barriers-to-information situation in academia.
posted by iamkimiam at 2:46 PM on February 29, 2012 [4 favorites]

General life buzz. As in "Excess GRAR levels harsh my general life buzz."
posted by IndigoRain at 2:49 PM on February 29, 2012

The.
posted by grouse at 2:52 PM on February 29, 2012 [2 favorites]

Brandon Blatcher: THIS.

zarq: THAT

SpiffyRob: "THOSE."

zarq: THESE

THE AFOREMENTIONED
posted by nebulawindphone at 2:55 PM on February 29, 2012 [5 favorites]

Demonstrative.
posted by iamkimiam at 3:03 PM on February 29, 2012 [1 favorite]

> plo chops

My wife has warned me that using that phrase in any context in her presence could lead to a posting on this website.
posted by The Card Cheat at 3:07 PM on February 29, 2012

Quonsmas! Being quonsed!
posted by ocherdraco at 3:08 PM on February 29, 2012

Citation?
posted by Ardiril at 3:08 PM on February 29, 2012

There were a lot of interesting technical things that one used to be able to do that are now verboten. Use of the IMG element, and the marquee tag.

Off-topic commentary in small letters.

Communicating information via tags or the post title (the latter typically causes confusion when it is important information).

%someuser wins the thread.

The phenomenon that this sort of thing seems to have decreased dramatically since the advent of favorites.

posted by grouse at 3:06 PM on February 29 [+] [!]


« Older This rather excellent comment ...


This thread is closed to new comments.










































 
posted by grouse at 3:10 PM on February 29, 2012 [9 favorites]

Post by proxy; Why no?
posted by jamjam at 3:11 PM on February 29, 2012

Brandon Blatcher: THIS.

zarq: THAT

This

and

up.
posted by filthy light thief at 3:14 PM on February 29, 2012

Recipes
Poetry and songs
posted by P.o.B. at 3:18 PM on February 29, 2012

grouse, I totally fell for that just now. I kept looking for the deletion reason.
posted by ocherdraco at 3:18 PM on February 29, 2012 [2 favorites]

"MetaTalk is your option." (this is newish and mostly said only by mods, maybe only jessamyn?)
(And generally, mod explanations have their own voice - own vocabulary and tone.)

"mods" as the preferred term, I feel like, post-dates my joining the site; when I joined I feel like there was a wider variation in what people called mathowie and jessamyn (when calling them anything other than their names).

One odd thing about discrete mefi cultural tokens (phrases as opposed to the general tenor or voice of commenters on the various parts of the site) is this: new members can consult the FAQ or wiki to learn certain things about site culture, and among these are some phrases/in-jokes. So there's one route of transmission of these things that is not organic, it's from some people deciding that a phrase is noteworthy enough to put in such a document, and other people reading up on site culture and learning that a phrase is regarded as part of site culture and starting to use it to fit in. In some cases, over the years, the FAQ or wiki has been out of date, so it describes OLD catch phrases that are not used very much anymore, so couldn't be transmitted organically - yet new members pick them up from the FAQ or wiki. I had some phrases like this when I joined, can't remember what... offhand "we have cameras" might be an example.
posted by LobsterMitten at 3:19 PM on February 29, 2012 [1 favorite]

People not signing their comments with their names, nicknames, or random crap (as seen in so many other forums).

Term/thing: Infodumpster
posted by filthy light thief at 3:20 PM on February 29, 2012 [1 favorite]

I just came here to buy a used car.

What is all this?

[couldn't find an example to check wording]
posted by jamjam at 3:21 PM on February 29, 2012 [1 favorite]

languagefat*
[+]
paraphrase: "If everyone is siding with Alia/konolia against you, you should really re-examine your position."
appending parts of the site name to any related endeavor (MeFight Club; MetaQuilter)

*I should note that I love and respect languagehat. I'm merely mentioning the meme.
posted by ocherdraco at 3:22 PM on February 29, 2012 [2 favorites]

Hivemind
posted by jamjam at 3:25 PM on February 29, 2012

You like demonstratives? Well how you like deez demonstratives?
posted by nebulawindphone at 3:25 PM on February 29, 2012

griphus: Also the Ask vs. Guess culture explication originated on MetaFilter.

tangerine declined to take all the credit, but I think she summarized the concept well.
posted by filthy light thief at 3:26 PM on February 29, 2012

deez monstratives
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 3:26 PM on February 29, 2012 [2 favorites]

datawankery
posted by cortex (staff) at 3:31 PM on February 29, 2012 [1 favorite]

You know who also is trying to come up with a "MeFi glossary of terms / phrases / behaviors" to include in their PhD dissertation about linguistics and MetaFilter?
posted by nooneyouknow at 3:37 PM on February 29, 2012 [1 favorite]

And I was going to say "summon [username]" was a MeFi original, but summon bevets was apparently started elsewhere. That said, I think Summon Languagehat is totally MeFi territory. Apparently that card is not the only design (though the "schwa glowing in the night sky" card has disappeared - anyone have a copy? gnofi had one, or at least a different link, which is now dead).

See also: Summon Mutant (not sure if this image/phrase has actually been used on *.MeFi)
posted by filthy light thief at 3:38 PM on February 29, 2012

You know who also is trying to come up with a "MeFi glossary of terms / phrases / behaviors" to include in their PhD dissertation about linguistics and MetaFilter?

Dr. Hitler?
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 3:39 PM on February 29, 2012 [1 favorite]

Yep.
posted by nooneyouknow at 3:40 PM on February 29, 2012

self-link / self-linker
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 3:41 PM on February 29, 2012 [1 favorite]

LiveJournalism School.
posted by Bunny Ultramod at 3:43 PM on February 29, 2012

jamjam: I just came here to buy a used car.

What is all this?

[couldn't find an example to check wording]

You're looking for fred.
posted by filthy light thief at 3:45 PM on February 29, 2012

Still just Hitler, MA until that dissertation's finished. (And seeing as he's dead, he's probably writing pretty slow.)
posted by nebulawindphone at 3:45 PM on February 29, 2012

lol butts
posted by elizardbits at 3:56 PM on February 29, 2012 [3 favorites]

What about the site itself?

wall of text
no images
communal
random topics from slyt to science articles
posted by P.o.B. at 4:01 PM on February 29, 2012

Not summon, but "paging ..." perhaps.
posted by Ardiril at 4:02 PM on February 29, 2012

Doesn't get used much anymore but: Choke on a bucket of cocks.

Now, there's an expression I don't miss. So much disrespect for cocksucking out there, despite all the joy it brings to the world.
posted by LMGM at 4:10 PM on February 29, 2012

Flash Friday
posted by mightshould at 4:16 PM on February 29, 2012

People still [something that I know damn well people still do but I want to show off how cool I am that I no longer do that thing, or at least pretend I no longer do that thing so as to appear somehow above everybody].

Example. There are about ten billion others.

Which reminds me of another Mefi thing:

Christ, what an asshole.
posted by bondcliff at 4:23 PM on February 29, 2012

You have been banned.
posted by kinetic at 4:29 PM on February 29, 2012

Zippity bop!
posted by LionIndex at 4:31 PM on February 29, 2012

Hitler, MA

What's that, like a mostly German suburb of Lowell?
posted by jonmc at 4:50 PM on February 29, 2012 [3 favorites]

Lawyer. Now.
Doctor. Now.
Emergency room. Now.
posted by contraption at 4:50 PM on February 29, 2012

"Calling someone out" is something that happens elsewhere, but the Metafilter Callout is its own little ritual.
posted by contraption at 4:52 PM on February 29, 2012

and the flameout! and the flounce.
posted by LobsterMitten at 5:00 PM on February 29, 2012

Use the [strike][/strike] tag except with triangle brackets because I don't know how to make those.

Use the <strike></strike> tag

FTFY. Use the HTML entities &lt; and &gt; for the "less than" and "greater than" symbols. If you want to type out those entities and not have them get interpreted as the symbols (as I've done here to demonstrate them) you'll also need to use the ampersand entity &amp; to make &amp;lt; and &amp;gt;
posted by contraption at 5:01 PM on February 29, 2012 [2 favorites]

Oh, then there are the qualification disclosure/disavowal acronyms, the simpler forms of which I've seen elsewhere but also more complex variations that might be unique to the site:

IANAL
IANAD
IAALBIANYL
IAADBIANYD
IANADBIAARN
IANADBIPOOTV

etc. In general, amalgamations or elaborations on existing internet acronyms that may take a moment of figuring out (but which can be figured out if you have a certain level of internet/Metafilter literacy.)
posted by contraption at 5:09 PM on February 29, 2012 [2 favorites]

Get thee to a Doctor
posted by P.o.B. at 5:16 PM on February 29, 2012

Is this a thing?

What.
posted by MexicanYenta at 5:18 PM on February 29, 2012

Also:

[X] ALL THE THINGS!
posted by MexicanYenta at 5:19 PM on February 29, 2012

Is this a thing?

I hate this expression.
posted by jonmc at 5:19 PM on February 29, 2012

I hate this expression.

also, this.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 5:24 PM on February 29, 2012

Thank you.
posted by jonmc at 5:25 PM on February 29, 2012

Seriously?!
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 5:26 PM on February 29, 2012

I know, right?
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 5:27 PM on February 29, 2012

No, sillily! (Is that a word? I don't know and I don't care)
posted by jonmc at 5:27 PM on February 29, 2012

Use your words.
This is just to say...

And I wish, I wish, I wish I had remembered to ask Matt if he was a 'friend of Jessamyn' at the Wellington meetup.
posted by roobot at 5:33 PM on February 29, 2012 [1 favorite]

"Metafilter doesn't do [questions about obesity, circumcision, declawing] well."
posted by jayder at 5:37 PM on February 29, 2012

Not so much.
posted by Trurl at 5:58 PM on February 29, 2012

You know who else...
posted by Trurl at 5:59 PM on February 29, 2012

I miss amberglow.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 6:02 PM on February 29, 2012 [1 favorite]

As part of "This." often the next thing typed is something like "I was just coming in here to say that."
posted by ifjuly at 6:03 PM on February 29, 2012

On preview.
posted by grouse at 6:07 PM on February 29, 2012

Please don't do that here.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 6:20 PM on February 29, 2012

sarahnade writes "There is no cabal."

This goes back at least as far as USENET and it doesn't really make any sense here to boot as of course there is a Cabal; Matt and his helpers.

ODiV writes "'On (lack of) preview,' which still gets some use I think even though we have live preview now."

Well usually it's about someone else's comment you missed by not previewing; live preview actually exasperates that problem vs. the old no live preview way of doing things..
posted by Mitheral at 6:24 PM on February 29, 2012

threadshitting
threadsitting
posted by P.o.B. at 6:26 PM on February 29, 2012

"It's not a can't thing, it's a won't thing."
posted by johnofjack at 6:38 PM on February 29, 2012

;>
posted by StickyCarpet at 6:42 PM on February 29, 2012

Oh, never mind--I think that's actually just a variation of emilyw's observation on modly pronouncements.
posted by johnofjack at 6:42 PM on February 29, 2012

"That is all."

that is all
posted by lampshade at 7:07 PM on February 29, 2012

"That is all."

That is a (MetaFilter's own) John Hodgman thing, and everyone who is not (MetaFilter's own) John Hodgman really needs to stop doing that already, because, frankly, he overuses it plenty all by himself. I'm sure he appreciates the plug, though.

MeFi is my favorite abbreviation, e.g.: Hi all you MeFis and MeCha bunnies!

MeFi is the site. The people are MeFites. Don't even get me started on post ignorantly misused as a synonym for comment. Yuck.

On an unrelated topic: Shouldn't this comment be impossible? Isn't there anti-spoofing stuff in the thing?
posted by Sys Rq at 7:18 PM on February 29, 2012

Isn't there anti-spoofing stuff in the thing?

I thought so, but I'm not sure what it specifically looks for.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 7:26 PM on February 29, 2012

beanplating - great compound word verb I now use in my to recognize my own mental processes.
posted by meinvt at 7:38 PM on February 29, 2012

"I posted this thing here on meta so you guys could help me get my PHD"
posted by idiopath at 7:39 PM on February 29, 2012

Knowing that jonmc works at a bookstore, coldchef works with dead bodies, sonascope spends his days inside a giant clock, jessamyn is the most famous librarian in the world, and mathowie likes to ride bikes.

Having big metatalk blowouts about favorites and what they are for every six months or so.

There is a very interesting and endearing type of "modspeak" used by cortex especially but all most of the mods generally - they tend to use turns of phrase or words that I don't see in that context anywhere else.
posted by davey_darling at 7:42 PM on February 29, 2012 [1 favorite]

SAIT is worth paying attention to, IMHO. The acronym appears to be unique to Metafilter.

Nope. On alt.religion.kibology at least as early as 2001.
posted by kenko at 7:49 PM on February 29, 2012 [1 favorite]

every six months days or so.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 7:53 PM on February 29, 2012 [2 favorites]

That is a (MetaFilter's own) John Hodgman thing,

It was a thing long before Hodgman used it to name his book. It's a (usually jokey) snobbish, and dismissive way to accentuate and end a statement. The urban dictionary definition(s) go back as far as '03, so people were aware of it, at least, by that time. Besides, iamkimiam is looking for anything that commonly, not specifically, happens on MeFi.

That is all.
posted by P.o.B. at 7:53 PM on February 29, 2012

Wisecracks don't help people find answers.
posted by ocherdraco at 8:01 PM on February 29, 2012

E.g. here.
posted by kenko at 8:02 PM on February 29, 2012

"I posted this thing here on meta so you guys could help me get my PHD"

I was already with the snark, got to the end of the post, had already mentally composed my, "Why don't you try spending some time on the site first and this shit will be obvious," then I saw the username and thought, "Oh. Ok. She's fine."
posted by cjorgensen at 8:06 PM on February 29, 2012

Metas about people making wisecracks
posted by P.o.B. at 8:07 PM on February 29, 2012

♫
this line rhymes with that one
as you suspect it might
because this bit was writ by
user flapjax at midnite
posted by ocherdraco at 8:08 PM on February 29, 2012 [1 favorite]

dg mentioned it way up-thread, but I want to repeat it: chatfilter. That's actually my automatic word for that now, even when it's on another site or even at work. Chatfilter.

Similarly, datawankery. I accidentally said that at work once, and everyone thought I was being kind of snotty. But really, that's just the word I think of for that, even when I do it.
posted by ctmf at 8:30 PM on February 29, 2012

cjourgenson: in case it wasn't clear, that wasn't snark, it is the kind of thing I would only see on mefi.
posted by idiopath at 8:33 PM on February 29, 2012

also there's this thing where people go against the Grician maxims to indicate sarcasm or derision but I often go against them out of general ineptitude or failure to read the room. Anyway no contempt intended.

Also without our friend iamkimiam I wouldn't have even heard of the Grician maxims.
posted by idiopath at 8:41 PM on February 29, 2012

Relationshipfilter (in addition to chatfilter, previously mentioned).
posted by DiscourseMarker at 8:53 PM on February 29, 2012

My MetaFilter usage tends to wax and wane, so I'm not sure when this started happening, but I feel like I've been seeing an increasing number of posts with "(potential trigger)" included as part of the description. This concern seems new, but MeFi is the only online community I participate in, so perhaps its a culture-wide thing.
posted by mumkin at 9:16 PM on February 29, 2012

Who here likes pancakes? I like pancakes.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 9:38 PM on February 29, 2012 [1 favorite]

great/less great/not so great (cortex uses these a lot when talking about user behaviors)
posted by Scientist at 9:51 PM on February 29, 2012

friendslinking
posted by Scientist at 9:52 PM on February 29, 2012

"I'm not even wearing any shoes right now!"

"cordless commenting" for when someone is commenting on an iPhone.

"I'm falling out of my hat laughing" as a reference to the comedian/magician thread that was popular a little while ago.

"Get him/her a jar of nuts!" in response to any AskMetaFilter gift-related questions.

Abruptly ending comments with SIXTY EIGHT—
posted by yaymukund at 10:09 PM on February 29, 2012

the witty banter between users Pot and Kettle

I do so wish that they might return some day.

Please, whoever has them locked away in a cupboard, take them out to play again?
posted by Meatbomb at 10:09 PM on February 29, 2012 [1 favorite]

Maybe, when the time is right. But only if I can find a way to use them without being a total asshole about it.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 10:29 PM on February 29, 2012 [1 favorite]

is GRAR unique to MeFi? I've never seen or heard of it before here.

Also, RTFA/Read The Fucking Article, I've never seen before here either.
posted by 1000monkeys at 10:32 PM on February 29, 2012

nebulawindphone: The stackexchange norm is what it is at least in part because stackexchange sites are trying to collect multiple answers to the same question, some of which will be good and some of which will not be so good. So the upvotes are needed to help the good answers rise above the noise. Metafilter, being more of a discussion site, doesn't need this.

The downside of this is that because SE sorts people's answers by the number of upvotes they've received, SE sites are not good for discussion. Every so often people try to ask chatfiltery questions on such sites (at least math.stackexchange and mathoverflow, the two I know reasonbly well; note mathoverflow is not SE but it uses the same software) and those questions get shot down at least in part because the software is not meant for that. You lose all sorts of valuable information like who commented before whom.
posted by madcaptenor at 10:39 PM on February 29, 2012 [1 favorite]

Nope. On alt.religion.kibology at least as early as 2001.

That particular search returns nothing, but I was able to construct a more general one that found it.

Nice to know its origins, if origins they be.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 10:42 PM on February 29, 2012

Whups, missed your second comment.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 10:44 PM on February 29, 2012

"Twenty bucks, same as in town" is a punchline that Kibo (and probably other Kibologists) used (sarcastically? absurdistly? let's just say kibologically...) on a.r.k. a number of times, which is where I picked it up as a reader and occasional commenter back in the day; it's the punchline to an old joke typically about a religious monk/nun wandering the city, encountering confusing things including an offer of "a blow job", and when having returned to the monastery/convent and debriefing to the head monk/nun, asking what a blow job is and being told that what it is is twenty bucks, a same as in town.

I don't remember seeing it abbreviated as SAIT on a.r.k but I can't say for sure that it never was. But I started recycling the punchline here at some point, and someone eventually called me on it I think, and it became a running joke on mefi somewhere in that stretch and the SAIT or $20SAIT variants started to be a thing after that.

is GRAR unique to MeFi? I've never seen or heard of it before here.

Also, RTFA/Read The Fucking Article, I've never seen before here either.

GRAR is a basically novel coinage to mefi (basically just Jessamyn making a monster noise at some point I think). RTFA is old Usenet-era slang.
posted by cortex (staff) at 10:51 PM on February 29, 2012 [1 favorite]

RTFA is old Usenet-era slang.

Don't forget its cousin "RTFD" where "D" is "document[tation]." Said by tech people with the kind of social skills tech people are famous for.
posted by drjimmy11 at 10:55 PM on February 29, 2012

I believe it was originally RTFM.
posted by grouse at 10:57 PM on February 29, 2012 [2 favorites]

Aside from "I'm not wearing any pants right now!" I have never seen any of these in action.
posted by P.o.B. at 10:58 PM on February 29, 2012

Akin to the (There is no) CABAL, are the references to MetaFilter Bronze/Gold/Platinum/Mithril levels of membership.

$5 noobs.

Large Metal Chickens.
posted by arcticseal at 10:59 PM on February 29, 2012 [1 favorite]

OP IS A FAG
posted by falameufilho at 11:23 PM on February 29, 2012

oops wrong forum
posted by falameufilho at 11:24 PM on February 29, 2012 [2 favorites]

NSFW

"We have cameras."

[more inside]

"bucket of cocks"

Everyone needs a hug.

"low user number"

"high user number"

"the 15K club"

"the 17K club"

the longboaters
posted by Lynsey at 11:27 PM on February 29, 2012

Akin to the (There is no) CABAL

The whole cabal thing is a Usenet thing too.
posted by PeterMcDermott at 12:07 AM on March 1, 2012

One that never quite caught on: "Fuck You. I live in Cambridge"
posted by clearly at 12:25 AM on March 1, 2012

"cant link because I'm on my phone"
Caturday
How can I ask out my barista without seeming creepy
Posting askmes about whether to DRMFA already knowing that you should
posted by ellieBOA at 12:38 AM on March 1, 2012

for those in the dark, DRMFA is do re me fa already, AKA sing a song and all will be well
posted by idiopath at 12:57 AM on March 1, 2012

Banjos!
posted by arcticseal at 1:30 AM on March 1, 2012

That is all.

Isn't that how they ended the announcements in the MASH movie?

Caturday

I'm not from 4chan, but I think Caturday is.
posted by Kalthare at 2:07 AM on March 1, 2012 [1 favorite]

Has anyone mentioned crouton petter yet? That has to be my favourite MeFi phrase.
posted by fight or flight at 2:45 AM on March 1, 2012 [7 favorites]

Akin to the (There is no) CABAL

First they came for the Cabal
And I didn't speak out because I didn't exist.
posted by the Cabal at 2:56 AM on March 1, 2012

I'm convinced that one day I'm going to blow my shabby MeFite cover by using 'grar' in conversation (I do this verbally) and then, after a tense moment, both me and whoever recognized it will carry on as though nothing happened.
posted by cmyk at 3:17 AM on March 1, 2012 [1 favorite]

Pretty Flowers

and

Rusty Bottoms

those were the days
posted by flapjax at midnite at 3:43 AM on March 1, 2012 [2 favorites]

Those who say "Meffy" and those who say "Mee-Figh"
posted by flapjax at midnite at 3:46 AM on March 1, 2012

what
posted by zarq at 4:05 AM on March 1, 2012

Let's try this again.

I think the fact that deleted threads still exist and are accessible, rather than being permanently poofed, leads to some interesting bits of Mefi culture which may be worth exploring. Like when there's 5 obit threads that all pop up at the same time and then are summarily deleted until a good thorough one shows up, and so many users have the Deleted Threads script that we're all aware it happened and often make references to it. On any other number of forums, people who arrived late to the party would never know it happened, or it wouldn't get mentioned.
posted by Gordafarin at 4:13 AM on March 1, 2012

I'm quite fond of "knock it off"/"cut it out" as admonishments.

Not so fond of "congresscritter", but that certainly isn't MeFi-centric.

Batshitinsane.

Metric fuckton.

A metric fuckton of batshitinsanity.
posted by Chichibio at 4:51 AM on March 1, 2012

zarq: "what"

also, "wat"

that is not mefi specific though
posted by idiopath at 5:08 AM on March 1, 2012

It is not unique to Metafilter and not necessarily the first thing that springs to mind, but I associate the concept of recreational outrage with MeFi, and find it pretty useful, both on the site and in real life.
posted by TedW at 5:13 AM on March 1, 2012

Greasy Honky Pie

Fedoras

Tom Swifty

"I for one..."

jamon ham

sitting or standing?

"This is just to say..."

Sexy sex

I can't watch Futurama and hear Kif sigh without thinking of jessamyn

Banjos

Buttered cats
posted by dogmom at 6:12 AM on March 1, 2012

Pinstripes with the fedoras

"Does anyone here like pancakes?"

"Bacon!"
posted by jgirl at 6:59 AM on March 1, 2012

This broom, it vibrates?
Surely this...

I think the fact that deleted threads still exist and are accessible, rather than being permanently poofed, leads to some interesting bits of Mefi culture which may be worth exploring.

James Brown died?
posted by cortex (staff) at 6:59 AM on March 1, 2012

"Look at these assholes" type sites.
posted by ctmf at 7:13 AM on March 1, 2012

LOLXIANS
posted by grouse at 7:40 AM on March 1, 2012

cortex: " James Brown died?"

I hear the Cabal is planning to resurrect Michael Jackson on the anniversary of his birth, August 29th. Then... after he's done a global tour and regained his former "King of Pop" title, we'll kill him off again on the anniversary of his death: June 25th.

Just to spawn another 30 obit threads.
posted by zarq at 7:55 AM on March 1, 2012

What about Paphnuty?
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 8:09 AM on March 1, 2012

Oh yes, I have an real live MeTa to offer you on "metafilterisms"

I also once understood (maybe wrongly) that a Finn was a Mefite because he said he was already 'Taken' and it seemed to me to be such a colloquialism...
posted by infini at 8:50 AM on March 1, 2012

How about the term 'copypasta' for a block of text that has been copied and pasted from another source.
posted by oozy rat in a sanitary zoo at 8:57 AM on March 1, 2012

datawankery
posted by cortex (staff) at 10:31 PM on February 29 [1 favorite +] [!]

See, this is how insidious MeFi is. I was recently at a metrics conference and mentioned (into the mic) that I was there for concrete information on what to count and how to count it, not datawankery. I totally just thought that was the accepted term for it. I did not realise it came from MeFi and was a unique and therefore particularly delightful term until 400 people tweeted it, it trended in Ireland, and it then ended up being mentioned in the Irish Times.
posted by DarlingBri at 9:45 AM on March 1, 2012 [11 favorites]

How about the term 'copypasta' for a block of text that has been copied and pasted from another source.
posted by oozy rat in a sanitary zoo at 8:57 AM on March 1
[+] [!]

Wow, never knew that was a mefi thing!
posted by ellieBOA at 9:53 AM on March 1, 2012

Wow, never knew that was a mefi thing!

It's not.
posted by grouse at 9:55 AM on March 1, 2012

I believe copypasta is a non-mefi term that's found some footing here, actually. I associate it with Something Awful and 4chan, but have no idea if either were progenitors of the term.

and it then ended up being mentioned in the Irish Times.

oh god link please
posted by cortex (staff) at 9:56 AM on March 1, 2012

WANK AWAY
posted by SpiffyRob at 10:00 AM on March 1, 2012 [1 favorite]

Yup, SpiffyRob has it; that's the one. (It is a measure of my life that I was delighted to make #datawankery trend on Twitter and cared not at all that I wasn't name checked in the Irish Times.)
posted by DarlingBri at 10:17 AM on March 1, 2012

arcticseal: " Large Metal Chickens."

Oh man. Not that. That chicken has its own facebook page, with over 36,000 fans. It's still active after 9 months.

The mefi thread was... stunning.
posted by zarq at 10:54 AM on March 1, 2012

The Verbose Surrealist's 7,483 Things to Do with a Lobster and a Lightly Soiled Pair of Lederhosen. "Lobster/Lederhosen" for short. Lobster/Lederhosen had even developed other recurring themes, including Pat Sajak, the International Olympic Commission, and the Bubble Spiral.
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 11:01 AM on March 1, 2012 [3 favorites]

Calling out logical fallacies by name:
strawman
ad hominem
"No True Scotsman"

Using faux-HTML instead of emoticons to convey nuance:
[/sarcasm]

Using Unix commands to correct errors in previous comments:
s/mine/mind

Begging the mods for an edit window.
posted by Quietgal at 11:11 AM on March 1, 2012

DADA 4 LYFE
posted by Meatbomb at 11:12 AM on March 1, 2012 [2 favorites]

pr0n as a SFW stand-in for porn (though not so much, lately)
posted by beagle at 11:43 AM on March 1, 2012

I'm pretty sure "Have you stopped beating your wife?" is also from here.
posted by cellphone at 12:48 PM on March 1, 2012

I'm pretty sure "Have you stopped beating your wife?" is also from here.

No, it's a textbook illustration of a loaded question.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 1:23 PM on March 1, 2012

I'm pretty sure we invented the loaded question though.

Also, sarcasm.
posted by ODiV at 1:24 PM on March 1, 2012 [2 favorites]

Wasn't 'anecdata' coined here (by Jacalata?)? Also, not directly on MeFi, but metachat invented 'eponysterical'.
posted by dg at 2:05 PM on March 1, 2012

We have even less claim to "anecdata" than we do to "the."
posted by grouse at 2:14 PM on March 1, 2012 [1 favorite]

A quick google turns up citations for "anecdata" from the early nineties.
posted by madcaptenor at 5:24 PM on March 1, 2012

I stand corrected.
posted by dg at 7:20 PM on March 1, 2012

The Verbose Surrealist's 7,483 Things to Do with a Lobster and a Lightly Soiled Pair of Lederhosen (DevilsAdvocate)

There's a semi-complete index to this in my profile.
posted by ocherdraco at 7:29 PM on March 1, 2012 [1 favorite]

Free Quonsar!
posted by islander at 9:42 PM on March 1, 2012

I saw someone post a list with the term "sarcasm font" and did wonder if they were a mefite.
posted by infini at 10:35 PM on March 1, 2012

Also, kindly support incipient doctoral types - comment moar
posted by infini at 10:39 PM on March 1, 2012

butt elephants
posted by a humble nudibranch at 12:15 AM on March 2, 2012

Ralph
posted by ocherdraco at 1:47 AM on March 2, 2012 [3 favorites]

in need of a brisk rogering
amirite?
[has favorites]
USA-ian not American (or however the continental pedantry goes)
tastes like a 9-volt battery
posted by Rhomboid at 4:33 AM on March 2, 2012

"Previously" is mentioned above, but there's also Previouslier, Previousliest.

"More Inside" is mentioned above but it's worth mentioning that its origin was users putting it at the end of a post an then putting more info into the first comment (you had to be quick with that). It was then incorporated into the site architecture.

"MeFiMail me"

"Take a time out"
posted by beagle at 5:36 AM on March 2, 2012 [1 favorite]

the narwhal and the unicorn
posted by ocherdraco at 9:56 AM on March 2, 2012

Oh! I can't believe no one's mentioend this yet -

[LOCATION/ACTION]! That's where I'm a viking.
posted by Phire at 10:09 AM on March 2, 2012

Is that literal or metaphorical disbelief?
posted by cortex (staff) at 10:29 AM on March 2, 2012 [1 favorite]

Fave-whoring
Favorite-whoring

313 comments and nobody's mentioned that?!?
posted by jayder at 11:56 AM on March 2, 2012

No, it's a textbook illustration of a loaded question.

Oh, sorry, I thought we were merely pasting things in this thread that had been appropriated from elsewhere and are also required to falsely attribute its origin to Metafilter, like half the comments here.
posted by cellphone at 12:37 PM on March 2, 2012 [2 favorites]

Looks like someone's got a case of the Mondays!
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 12:55 PM on March 2, 2012

Oh, sorry, I thought we were merely pasting things in this thread that had been appropriated from elsewhere and are also required to falsely attribute its origin to Metafilter, like half the comments here. (cellphone)

But the point is that regardless of their origin, these are phrases and patterns that come up a lot on MetaFilter. If something is posted in this list it doesn't mean that it originated here; it means it shows up here repeatedly.
posted by ocherdraco at 2:13 PM on March 2, 2012

Another thing I thought of: in regards to "ways of doing things" that are common to MetaFilter, there's a strong culture of posting and commenting in good faith: if a question on Ask seems odd, most members still answer it at face value; if a commenter represents themselves outlandishly, we interact with them assuming that's true until proven otherwise.

As a corollary to this, one of the quickest ways to come under fire from other site members is to not post/comment in good faith: e.g., Scott Adams commenting under a username that hid his identity and defending himself through it.
posted by ocherdraco at 5:09 PM on March 2, 2012 [2 favorites]

in regards to "ways of doing things" that are common to MetaFilter, there's a strong culture of posting and commenting in good faith

And after seeing it from the mods so often, I now associate the phrase "in good faith" itself as very MetaFilter, even though obviously it didn't originate here. I also learned "astroturfing" from MetaFilter and think of it as a "that's so MeFi" term.

Also in the "ways of doing things":

- The transparency of policy and feature/technical discussions on MetaTalk, and being able to participate on those discussions.

- Profile pages not being search-indexable; being respectful of people's personal info and not pasting it in threads [corresponding FAQ entry]. Not pasting MeMails or other private communication from other members without permission. This and the no-self-linking (except in your profile page or as relevant comments) is very ingrained in me now, and I find it pretty jarring when I see personal info or self-links posted on other sites.

- While I do associate the concept of "flagging" content with MeFi, it's not as MeFi-specific to me. I think "FIAMO" -- or specifically, the "move on" part of "flag it and move on" -- as being much more MeFi-specific, and that it helps exemplify the MeFi policies for keeping comments as relevant as possible.

- For the most part, writing in complete sentences and not using txt-speak.

- A propensity for wordplay, including (but certainly not limited to) puns (e.g. by flapjax at midnite and cortex); comments specifically in the style of Shakespeare, or in haiku form (or based on William Carlos Williams' poetry, as mentioned earlier).

Other things that I don't think have been mentioned yet (at least, they didn't come up when doing an in-page search):

- Jokes about (or based on) "how is babby formed?" from Yahoo Answers. Related: Jokes about Yahoo Answers, and discussions about Q&A sites in general.

- The modmobile (posted from before restless_nomad and taz joined the staff) [origin of idea in MeTa; a real mod-mobile; the next few comments about adding mods to it (including artwork from thsmchnekllsfascists and cortex)].
posted by rangefinder 1.4 at 11:12 PM on March 5, 2012

If "ways of doing things" are to be included then I would like to point out this...

The first rule of Metafilter is that we talk about Metafilter.
posted by philipy at 6:01 AM on March 6, 2012

Also, you can do quite a lot in the way of allusions, and it will work.
posted by philipy at 6:02 AM on March 6, 2012

I first noticed "Google-fu" on AskMe, and it's been used a lot on the site. I'm not sure how frequently it's used here compared to in other communities, though.
posted by johnofjack at 5:51 PM on March 6, 2012

I first noticed "Google-fu" on AskMe, and it's been used a lot on the site. I'm not sure how frequently it's used here compared to in other communities, though.

Earliest instance of "Google-fu" on Google Groups is Feb. 20, 2002

Earliest instance on Metafilter: March 28, 2002

Urban Dictionary lists earliest use as 2003.

The inevitable AskMe about the origin of google-fu.
posted by beagle at 6:31 PM on March 6, 2012

Thanks, beagle. iamkimiam did say she wanted us to mention phrases/words that suggest MeFite to us even if they're used elsewhere, but after you posted that it occurred to me that I'm actually not active on most other online communities (I skim boingboing and occasionally comment on Making Light, and that's about it) so my input here might not be very useful.
posted by johnofjack at 4:40 AM on March 7, 2012

*puts stage direction of an amusingly juxtaposed response in between asterisks*

After reading the whole thread I feel like I've just mainlined the Blue, Green and Grey.
posted by Hardcore Poser at 9:48 PM on March 7, 2012 [1 favorite]

How about people making the same comments over and over again that other people up thread have already made? This thread is rife with about a bajillion examples.
posted by P.o.B. at 2:24 AM on March 8, 2012

How about people making the same comments over and over again that other people up thread have already made? This thread is rife with about a bajillion and one examples.
posted by P.o.B. at 9:06 AM on March 9, 2012 [1 favorite]

Actually I see a lack of repeated comments as a indicator of Metafilter. I give credit to the single page un threaded comment display style.
posted by Mitheral at 1:15 PM on March 9, 2012

A few more:

- "I like pie"

- MeMu / MeFiMu

- Another example of wordplay: palindromes

- The MeFi version of WWJD: "What would jessamyn do?" (Just mentioned it in the latest MeTa thread about T-shirts.) This MeTa thread thanking jessamyn put the phrase front and center; the oldest reference I could find in a quick search was from 2007.)

- Also, how the different abbreviations for the sites are used (MeFi, AskMe, MeTa). For instance, it's common to see "AskMe" as shorthand for Ask MetaFilter the website (e.g. "AskMe has a lot of interesting questions today" or "Check out this cool AskMe thread"), but it's also common to see it refer to a thread/question on Ask MetaFilter (e.g. "Here's the latest AskMe about food safety"). Similarly I've also seen "MeTa" being used to mean the MetaTalk website or a MetaTalk thread. However, I don't recall seeing "MeFi" used as a substitute for "MetaFilter thread" -- instead it seems to be widely used as a reference to the main MetaFilter website or the MetaFilter universe in general.
posted by rangefinder 1.4 at 11:35 PM on March 10, 2012

Hi everybody...just wanted to say thanks for all the ideas and comments. This is fab! Also, to all the people who emailed me offline with ideas, too. Really great stuff.

I purposely didn't want to get involved too much in this thread...just let things happen and see where it all goes. Thanks again!
posted by iamkimiam at 8:43 AM on March 18, 2012

The wonderful "Be Safe And Smart On Metafilter" comic
posted by namewithoutwords at 9:37 AM on March 18, 2012 [2 favorites]