O RLY?: Difference between revisions

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As featured in The Independent Tiger Weekly.

O RLY?, short for "Oh, really?" is a popular Internet meme, typically presented as an image macro. The usual conversation flow starts with O RLY?, triggering a YA RLY response, and then ending with NO WAI!!! (though sometimes OIC is used instead). An additional exchange of SRSLY? SRSLY! or YA WAI... may follow.

O RLY? is typically used in a sarcastic or sardonic manner: it may be used to mock AOL speak or indicate that the original post was blatantly obvious. One may also troll by posting O RLY? in response to a lengthy post. (see also TLDR).

Origin

The phrase "O RLY?" was first popularised on Internet forums in mid-2003 as one of many phrases that arose during a Something Awful Forums fad of compressing words by removing unnecessary letters. The earliest publicly viewable^[1] archives of its use date from somewhat later, but there are older uses in the registration-only archives. The first image macros did not include (registration required)^[2] the now ubiquitous Snowy Owl image macro.

The original O RLY owl image macro is based on a photo taken by nature photographer John White, which was posted by him to the newsgroup alt.binaries.pictures.animals. Posters on the random board, /b/, at 4chan photoshopped in the O RLY? phrase as a response to the wordfiltering of the word "repost" to "owl"^[3].

The owl image macro quickly spread to other websites such as Fark and YTMND, spawning many more image macros involving owls. The frequent posting of the O RLY? owl has annoyed some webmasters to the point that the posting of it on some message boards will result in a user ban.

Variations

The "O RLY?" phrase finds itself included in a variety of other images. These include "O WILLY" (with an image from The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air), "BOB MRLY" (a reference to reggae artist Bob Marley), "The O RLY? Factor" (a parody of The O'Reilly Factor), "O R'LYEH?" (with a picture of Cthulhu), and "O BLAARGGAG??!?" (with a picture of the original owl and Abyss of Soul Calibur 3's horribly mutated teeth superimposed over its beak). There is also the "¿O VRD?" variant, showing the owl in a sombrero ("VRD" is short for "verdad," which can be a Spanish translation of "really.") Another one using the sombrero-hatted owl is "O RLMENTE?". There is a bereted owl with an "O Vrai?" and an owl with religious icons reading "O Holyrly?"

There is also a character in Soul Calibur 3, Olcadan, who has an owl's head and will say "Oh, Really?" on a random basis.

O RLY? ASCII art

ASCII art versions of the O RLY? image macro were also created.

 ___
{o,o}
|)__)
-"-"-
O RLY?

 ___ 
{o.o}
|)_(|
-"-"-
YA RLY

  ___
 {o,o}
 (__(|
 -"-"-
NO WAI!

References

^ Something Awful Forums thread with usage of O RLY image macro
^ Something Awful Dictionary topic on O RLY
^ 4chan wordfilter thread

External links

gallery Gallery including original concept
Select RLY tool Site contains a widely used tool for drawing the ASCII O RLY owl in most text fields.
orlyowl.com A site for users to upload and view other versions of the O RLY owls.

[1] Something Awful Forums thread with usage of O RLY image macro

[2] Something Awful Dictionary topic on O RLY

[3] 4chan wordfilter thread

[1]

[2]

[3]

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 ==Origin==
+The phrase "O RLY?" was first popularised on [[Internet forum]]s in mid-2003 as one of many phrases that arose during a [[Something Awful Forums]] fad of compressing words by removing unnecessary letters. The earliest [http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=677909&highlight=o+rly publicly viewable]<ref>[http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=677909&highlight=o+rly Something Awful Forums thread] with usage of O RLY image macro</ref> archives of its use date from somewhat later, but there are older uses in the registration-only
-The phrase "O RLY?" was first popularised on [[Internet forum]]s in mid-2003.
+archives. The first image macros [http://forums.somethingawful.com/dictionary.php?act=3&topicid=456 did not include (registration required)]<ref>[http://forums.somethingawful.com/dictionary.php?act=3&topicid=456 Something Awful Dictionary topic on O RLY]</ref> the now ubiquitous [[Snowy Owl]] image macro.
 The original O RLY owl image macro is based on a photo taken by nature photographer John White, which was [http://animalpicturesarchive.com/animal/ViewImg.cgi?img=a7/Snowy_Owl_Nyctea_scandiaca_005-by_John_White.jpg posted by him] to the [[newsgroup]] ''alt.binaries.pictures.animals.'' Posters on the random board, /b/, at [[4chan]] photoshopped in the O RLY? phrase as a response to the [[wordfilter]]ing of the word "repost" to "owl"<ref>[http://4-ch.net/dqn/kareha.pl/1123315554 4chan wordfilter thread]</ref>.