Wiki: Memes



  • TDWTF Meme Dictionary Wiki

    Continuing the discussion from Know Your Daily WTF Memes:

    @DoctorJones said:

    This should be a Wiki so we can edit it! You're the worst of the worst!

    Go wild. I may swipe a few and stick them in the FAQ section... -- @PJH.


    In this time of change and upheaval to our wretched hive of scum and villainy community, I think it is important for us to remember our shared traditions, and to make sure newcomers are told about them. I am referring, of course, to the various memes that have developed on the Daily WTF over the years and which are part of our common cultural heritage. Or maybe not, but it's fun to talk about them, so without further ado:

    General Memes

    TRWTF is PHP
    Also known as TRWTF is Java, TRWTF is Javascript, TRTWF is VB, or TRWTF is PERL. This is brought on by haters who don't know the language well enough. Most functional programmers think with a stick up their behind part. So any other language is TRWTF.

    TRWTF (The Real What the Fuck)
    No specific origin
    Also known as TR‌:wtf:. Expression used in article comments (and sometimes in forums topics presenting a WTF) to denote that the commenter thinks there is a detail in the story even more egregious than the ostensibly presented WTF, this detail being considered TRWTF; the poster may or may not be dismissing the "original" WTF as not really being a WTF, but expresses that TRWTF tops it.

    Wooden Table
    origin: Web 0.1
    Expression used as a shorthand to designate (as a WTF) a rube-goldbergian publishing process, typically on a web site (sometimes actually involving a wooden table, as in the original post, but not necessarily). Also used for emphasis when discussing a rube-goldbergian process in general: "it only lacks a wooden table", for instance. Notable for having been used by Raymond Chen outside of TDWTF.

    "Brillant" Paula Bean
    origin: The Brillant Paula Bean
    Often simply brillant. Typically used as an exclamation for emphasis in response to WTF code. Note the lack of the second "i"; putting it in is similar to failing a triforce on 4chan.

    FileNotFound
    origin: What Is Truth?
    Also FILE_NOT_FOUND, file_not_found, etc. The mythical ternary truth value; you can count on there being a comment remarking the lack of this alternative whenever booleans are discussed (and sometimes when they are not).

    Clbuttic
    origin: The Clbuttic Mistake
    Exclaimed at least once in response to all search-and-replace censorship reports.

    FTFY (Fixed That For You)
    no specific origin
    This is typically a quoted reply to a post, with subtle changes made to the quote for comedic effect.

    Irish Girl
    origin: BustedTees ad campaign, circa start of 2008; here is the T-shirt product page
    Before Alex switched to hand-picked sponsors, an ad campaign from BustedTees ran on The Daily WTF. It pictured the "Irish I were drunk" tee on a model, a lovely redhead (named Erica Sullivan). She was an immediate hit with The Daily WTF readers. She has been referenced (under the fan nickname Irish Girl) and her image appeared in a variety of contexts in the community, but a persistent one was the (image) comments to Mandatory Fun Day (see that entry). The Daily WTF is not the only community on which she made an impression, many others noticed her, often before she became a meme on The Daily WTF, such as the College Humor community, which led to a College Humor interview with her; she is most often known elsewhere as the "BustedTees Girl" (the "Irish" tee having probably been released in 2008, therefore after these communities noticed her)

    Mandatory Fun Day
    origin: webcomic series
    Written by Alex, drawn by George E. McDougall, then Mark Bowytz. Some (like me) liked it, others did not, but is still referenced to this day. A lot of image manipulation and meme creativity occurred in its comments, culminating in Magenta Kong.

    Frames Securely Mediate, By Design
    origin: I am right and the entire Industry is wrong
    Also Secure multi-mediation is the future of all webbing, etc. "Advice" is given in an email to liberally use HTML frames, culminating with the following: Frames securely mediate, by design. Secure multi-mediation is the future of all webbing. The expressions get instantly adopted by the community, often put as a humorous way to solve whatever problem it is posted in response to.

    President's Sick Daughter
    origin: Human Heat Sink
    Also just president's daughter. Notional damsel in distress involved in many imagined plots, the sillier the better; she must often be saved from a fatal disease, but she can also be kidnapped, or in other danger, or can even be the adversary.

    Proven Fix
    origin: The Proven Fix
    A fix which has been mathematically proven (on paper) to be correct, and therefore needs no testing before putting into production, but turns out to not actually work. Suggesting that there may have been an error in the claimant's proof usually leads to defensive maneuvers, a blathering meltdown, and ragequit over having to work on a defective system that still didn't work after it had been fixed, even when the fix was proven to be correct.

    Embedded System
    origin: nice_num, mean_programmer and The c-bitmap
    Also without a filesystem, no filesystem, etc. Most visitors of The Daily WTF program enterprise software, and that is where most WTFs tend to come from. But The Daily WTF is read by programmers (and even non-programmers!) of all backgrounds. "nice_num", for once, seemed to come from the embedded world., and reaction to it was binary: some commenters piled on the "WTFs", while others who had some embedded background said this was exactly the way to go to implement that functionality if there was no built-in way to do it (which was impossible to tell from the context provided) and the "WTF" was thus not a WTF. But when the "C-bitmap" was posted, this time the background was clearly an embedded project, and commenters with an embedded background all piled on to say this was a perfectly reasonable solution for an embedded system, which probably didn't have any filesystem and so any other way to load resource data. Unfortunately, it was then picked up as a snide remark by some to ironically justify WTFs afterwards (sometimes just referencing the embedded bit, sometimes also referencing the lack of a filesystem), including and especially if the WTF had nothing to do with embedded constraints and the lack of a filesystem in particular. Full disclosure: I am an embedded developer and it may have colored the description of the meme, but I am right nonetheless.

    Lyle Can Do Better
    origin: Anything You Can Do Lyle Can Do Better

    Meme Vader
    Or "I have X'd your Y, pray I don't X it any further." These showed heavily in the article comments for a while but they were usually moderated away pretty quickly.

    • I have moderated your comments, pray I don't moderate it further.
    • I have commented on your article, pray I don't comment further.
    • I have memed your thread, pray I don't meme it further.

    Now What?
    origin: Hypothetical Question

    No Quack
    origin: No, We Need a Neural Network

    SSDS
    origin: Why is Everybody so clueless…, and this for the background

    Bert Glanstron
    origin: Tables Turned
    Also In case you can’t tell, this is a grown-up place, banned from your mommy and daddy’s modem, etc.

    X Is Y. Z, But It Is (Still) Y
    origin: forum topic columny name

    Directive 595 Part 4 Is As Follows
    origin: Directive 595

    TDEMSYR
    Don't ask. This doesn't even make sense you retard!

    No Laughing Matter
    origin: better left unsaid
    Also: show some sensitivity, let me assure you, etc.

    Right Or Wrong, It's Just The Way…
    origin: I'd rather not show it.

    Et Al.
    Many memes from the Internet at large are known to and referenced in The Daily WTF community. Of note is enterprisey, to designate a system or a "feature" of a system that makes the system more complicated and/or compliant with the buzzword of the day, most notably XML.

    BitchComplain and SPANK!SPANK!SPANK!*
    origin: enlightened
    From some very unusual error messages dug up when grepping the EFL code. The error "BITCH!" was censored to "COMPLAIN" at one point, providing the former meme, but "NAUGHTY PROGRAMMER! SPANK SPANK SPANK!" was left alone.

    ##Discourse-Specific##

    [X] is a barrier to reading
    Snarky response to any disliked Discourse feature or misfeature, real or imagined. E.g. "next page buttons are a barrier to reading".

    💽🐎
    "Disc horse", the unofficial emojified Discourse logo/name. Usually used when it's doing something stupid, which is always. See also: :doing_it_wrong:

    The Discourse logo/name has also been created as a custom emoji hack:

    :doing_it_wrong:
    "doing_it_wrong", a frequent response from Discourse devs when things broke in non-intuitive ways. A close relative of the "holding it wrong" iPhone meme, this acknowledges the almighty devs as the ultimate knowers of the one Right Way; the users, as usual, are :doing_it_wrong:.

    This icon was the forum avatar of Discourse's creator, Jeff Atwood (formerly named CodingHorror, now named @end).

    Discourse Syndrome
    Very similar to Stockholm Syndrome, only it afflicts those who must use unworthy software. Invoked to point out that a poster is slipping in their opposition to Discourse.

    Discoursistency / Consistent inconsistencies / Inconsistent consistency
    Discourse has a high track-record of inconsistencies, whether by faulty design or by buggy implementation (or both). You may even say it is very consistent in this manner.

    sexy

    Everything is sexy. Especially dinner plates.

    Why can't I talk about Belgium?

    It was discovered that Discourse had introduced a word filter into the core software (as opposed to an addon). It was shiny! It had to be tested!

    Around the same time we were talking about H2G2's censorship in the States, whereby the word fuck in the Rory Award for "The Most Gratuitous Use of the Word 'Fuck' in a Serious Screenplay." was replaced with Belg­ium.

    So when suggestions were offered as to what to stick into the filter for such testing, naturally it was a Belgian who suggested Belgium. elgiu and b.....m were also added to see if sub-words could be blocked or if there was a regex hiding behind the scenes.

    They remain there as a legacy, and as a source of amusement and puzzlement.

    Jeff (verb)
    To move part of a topic to another location, especially without it being requested. This refers to the common practice at meta.d where legitimate bug report topics would be moved, locked, and/or deleted without any explanation from the mods.

    ##Community Server-Specific##

    Community Server
    (Former) backend software used for the Daily WTF forums. "Not taken seriously by the community" would be a nice way to put it: it is constantly abused (with such constructs as "signature guy", see that entry), mocked, blamed for everything, etc. Kept being used for a long time at least in part due to a lack of alternative forum software available on the .NET platform.

    Filed under
    This is a reference to Community Server forum tags. No one takes the CS tags seriously. Popular tags, at least at one point in time, were:

    • an overcomplicated character with many, many combining marks, more or less coming from Michael Kaplan, which renders differently in every browser,
    • "everybody get your steak knives",
    • "we need a new tag cloud attack",
    • "FUCKING HELL WHY DOES IT DELETE TWO CHARACTERS WHEN I HIT BACKSPACE ONCE?",
    • a tag (originally emulating a captcha) that happened to contain a Unicode right-to-left override char, making all tags shown after this one in the cloud right-to-left; more devastating than any tag cloud attack,
    • etc…
      The tag cloud has been reset multiple times (with a new popular tag after that being "half of the contents of the forums left with the tags"). Sometimes tags of a post contain more information than the post itself.

    Forum Avatars
    They are often plays on the default forum avatar (a grey head/bust shape on a lighter grey background): Alex's is Hitchcock's profile using the same colors, others have it reversed, pixellated/censored, with something else instead of a head, add odd details (horns) on the shape, use the basic shape but with different foreground/background colors or patterns, etc.

    Post Cunt
    Spelling mistake typically made by Nagesh. This is in spite of fact that Nagesh knows how to spell count correctly. Post count is an overrated feature of forum sometimes used to distinguish old-timer from noobies. This of course is not a correct representation of this forum.

    Pendantry
    Ironic misspelling of pedantry, often accompanied by images of pendants.

    Signature guy
    The old CS forum allowed all sorts of bullshit markup in posts, this allowed you to break the layout of the page in some very cool ways. This led to people creating specially crafted signatures to insert fake posts below their posts. These fake posts (usually depicted as being from a fictional account, such as the Fabulous Darth Vader) became known as Signature guy.


  • Discourse touched me in a no-no place

    @PJH said:

    I may swipe a few and stick them in the FAQ section...

    Nice one, that's a good idea.


    Filed under Knowing meme knowing you, aha!

  • Considered Harmful

    If we explain all our inside-jokes, how else can we feel smugly superior to all the newcomers?



  • @error said:

    If we explain all our inside-jokes, how else can we feel smugly superior to all the newcomers?

    Post Count?


  • Considered Harmful

    @rad131304 said:

    @error said:
    If we explain all our inside-jokes, how else can we feel smugly superior to all the newcomers?

    Post Count?

    😢



  • You mean that thing that Discourse cleverly hides (contrary to just about every other forum software)?



  • Why would you want to see it? It's about how much you listen, not how much you talk [/sarcasm]



  • I thought we already claimed ?!...!? as sarcasm tags?

    Interestingly, except for here, it seems the more I talk, the less people listen anyway...


  • Discourse touched me in a no-no place

    @Arantor said:

    I thought we already claimed ?!...!? as sarcasm tags?

    No. ⸮ is for sarcasm/irony. ‽ is for other stuff.



  • @PJH said:

    No. ⸮ is for sarcasm/irony. ‽ is for other stuff.

    Except, of course, for those of us for whom ⸮ is just a placeholder, with no easy way to determine which unsupported Unicode character it is.

    Filed under: Unicode is a barrier to reading


  • Discourse touched me in a no-no place

    @HardwareGeek said:

    Filed under: Unicode is a barrier to reading

    Filed under: Here's a nickel, kid. Get yourself a better font.



  • It isn't all font based. See my previous post here which links to external sources showing that the OS plays a role in UniCode support. If the OS you are using doesn't support the UniCode character you want to view, no font will fix your viewing issue.



  • @Arantor said:

    I thought we already claimed ?!...!? as sarcasm tags?

    Interestingly, except for here, it seems the more I talk, the less people listen anyway...

    You can use either, but they each break random other types of formatting.


  • Discourse touched me in a no-no place

    @abarker said:

    If the OS you are using doesn't support the UniCode character you want to view, no font will fix your viewing issue.

    Then spend that nickel on a better OS. I'm sure we can find you another one for the font…


  • Banned

    I don't know, now we are talking a whole ten cents.



  • I like that the forum software has in-built security to stop people revealing their passwords.

    My password is "*******"

    Filed under: Forum Security



  • Really? Let me try: "hunter2"

    Edit: doesn't look like stars to me



  • @ben_lubar said:

    Really? Let me try: "*******"

    Edit: doesn't look like stars to me

    I'm confused



  • Ah, the good old days.


  • Considered Harmful

    @RTapeLoadingError said:

    @ben_lubar said:
    Really? Let me try: "*******"

    Edit: doesn't look like stars to me


    I'm confused

    No, see, we all see *, but he sees hunter2 because it's his password. See, when I type my password, *, I can see it fine, but you won't be able to.


  • Discourse touched me in a no-no place

    (The terrifying thing is that I know how to implement such a disaster for real. I don't really want to think about it though.)



  • @dkf said:

    Filed under: Here's a nickel, kid. Get yourself a better font.

    dilbert.com/strips/comic/1995-06-24/

    strips/comic/1995-06-24/

    1995-06-24

    1995
    ###1995
    ##1995
    #1995


    Filed under: fffuuuuuuuuuuuuu-


  • Banned

    Shh. Shhhh. We'll all be dead soon.



  • >le maymay arrows xD xD xD



  • Wait, shouldn't this topic be in Meta?



  • Proper categorisation on TDWTF is TRWTF.


  • 🚽 Regular

    As much as I like Fabulous Vader, you should credit Quietust as the original Signature Guy creator.

    I think morbiuswilters deserves a mention for being the frist to make a speech balloon too.

    Credit where credit is due.


  • ♿ (Parody)

    @ben_lubar said:

    Wait, shouldn't this topic be in Meta?

    General Discussion was meta before there was Meta.



  • So meta is the meta of meta discussion.

    MIND == BLOWN.


  • ♿ (Parody)

    @Arantor said:

    MIND == BLOWN.

    Sheesh. Computer nerds, still doing it wrong.


    Filed Under: That's what @mikeTheLiar said



  • Unlike you who is just bitter, cynical and jaded, I'm proud to be a computer nerd.


  • ♿ (Parody)

    @Arantor said:

    Unlike you who is just bitter, cynical and jaded, I'm proud to be a computer nerd.

    I'm not just bitter, cynical and jaded. I have other qualities, like being a computer nerd.



  • Wait, wut? First you're telling me that computer nerds are doing it wrong, then you're telling me you're a computer nerd.

    That must mean...

    ... you were doing it wrong too ...

    Filed under: even programmers make logical fallacies sometimes, gotta keep it fresh


  • ♿ (Parody)

    @Arantor said:

    First you're telling me that computer nerds are doing it wrong, then you're telling me you're a computer nerd.

    That must mean...

    ... you were doing it wrong too ...

    Technically, the "still" part was because I recently chastised @error about the same thing. I won't deny that I've occasionally had my mind blown. While that was sometimes fun, it would still be more funner to do it right.



  • My mind was merely ironically blown ;) Or something. Too many WTFs have definitely left me bitter of late and I'm trying to get better.


  • Considered Harmful

    @boomzilla said:

    Technically, the "still" part was because I recently chastised @error about the same thing.

    As far as I know, I got the meme right.


  • ♿ (Parody)

    @error said:

    As far as I know, I got the meme right.

    Sheesh. Computer nerds....I'm sure @mikeTheLiar would Get It.



  • @Zecc said:

    As much as I like Fabulous Vader, you should credit Quietust as the original Signature Guy creator.

    I think morbiuswilters deserves a mention for being the frist to make a speech balloon too.

    Credit where credit is due.

    We need to get a list of all the Signature Guys and have a poll on which one was the best.



  • I agree with whatever @mott555 posted just above.



  • @Arantor said:

    MIND == BLOWN

    mind.setBlown(true);



  • #define MIND BLOWN
    


  • @HardwareGeek said:

    mind.setBlown(true);

    Don't give me that superfluous shit.

    Mind.blow();


  • kills Dumbledore

    proper categorisation is a barrier to reading



  • [code]
    sudo blown 777 mind
    [/code]


  • Discourse touched me in a no-no place

    @HardwareGeek said:

    mind.setBlown(true);

    UPDATE OR ROLLBACK BodyConfiguration SET status = 'blown' WHERE bodyPartName = 'mind' AND status IS NOT 'blown';

  • ♿ (Parody)

    Q: What did the fan say to the hair dryer?
    A: Why don't we blow each other?



  • @dkf said:

    UPDATE OR ROLLBACK BodyConfiguration SET status = 'blown' WHERE bodyPartName = 'mind' AND status IS NOT 'blown';

    $('head').attr('mind','blown');



  • @dkf said:

    UPDATE OR ROLLBACK BodyConfiguration SET status = 'blown' WHERE bodyPartName = 'mind' AND status IS NOT 'blown';

    That last condition may not be needed depending on how many blown minds are already in the database, but first we need to hire some expensive DB consultants to come up with a performance and cost-benefit analysis plan to properly understand that condition and its effects and any side effects, so we can see if it's worth changing the query.



  • This post is deleted!


  • @abarker said:

    (post withdrawn by author, will be automatically deleted in 24 hours unless flagged)

    (post withdrawn by author, will be automatically deleted in 24 hours unless flagged)


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